Hae Min Lee biography: 10 things about Woodlawn High School student

Hae Min Lee (이해민) was a Korean-American teenager from Maryland, United States. She was 7 months older than former boyfriend Adnan Masud Syed, who is accused of murdering her.

On February 25, 2000, Syed was convicted of murder and all related crimes in the death of Lee and on June 6, 2000, he was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison. His conviction was vacated on June 30, 2016, reinstated on March 8, 2019, vacated again on October 11, 2022 and reinstated again on March 28, 2023.

In August 2023, more than 70 exonerees filed a legal brief urging the Maryland Supreme Court in Annapolis, Maryland to vacate Syed’s conviction again. On October 5, 2023, he and his mother attended a hearing there.

The panel of justices will consider the hearing and announce its ruling whether or not to vacate Syed’s conviction again. Here are 10 more things about Lee:

1. She was born in South Korea.
2. Her mother’s name is Youn Kim.
3. She and Syed were classmates at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland where she played lacrosse and field hockey.
4. While attending Woodlawn High School, she worked part-time at a Lens Crafters store.
5. She was 2 years older than her brother Young Lee.
6. In 1992, she and Young moved from South Korea to the U.S. with their mother. They lived with her grandfather Yong Kim in Woodlawn, Maryland. She attended the magnet program of Woodlawn High School.
7. On January 13, 1999, she failed to pick up her younger cousin from daycare after leaving the Woodland High School campus. Her family reported her missing. Her 1998 Nissan Sentra was also missing. That day, Syed allegedly murdered her and buried her body with the help of his friend Jay Wilds, then 19.
8. On February 9, 1999, she was found dead in Leakin Park in Baltimore. A passerby named Alonzo Sellers was looking for a place to urinate in the park when he found her partially buried body. She was 18.
9. On February 10, 1999, associate pathologist Marlon O. Aquino and assistant medical examiner Margarita A. Korell performed an autopsy on her body. The cause of death was strangulation and her death was ruled a homicide.
10. On February 28, 1999, Syed was arrested for her murder. On the same day, her 1998 Nissan Sentra was found in Baltimore.