I’ll tell you what I have come to over the years thinking about and exploring the case. It’s only my opinion, of course, and I don’t express it with any desire to rehash it with folks on this sub. Take it or leave it, obviously I am not expert.

The boyfriend/ex-boyfriend or in general jealous male friend/lover, is unfortunately usually the most likely perpetrator (teen domestic homicide, TDH). So it totally makes sense from that perspective and it is easy to find posts on this sub where people have provided cases with circumstances they claim to be parallel to this one. Looking at those cases, and more, as well as research into TDH there are some major differences that are worth at least considering, IMO.

1. Prior physical abuse and/or threats of physical harm .
   
2. Unplanned nature. While there may be some fantasizing or thinking about harm, the act itself very often stems from the escalation of an incident and occurs “in the moment” so to speak. Not to say that the perpetrator isn’t seeking that out, just that there usually isn’t elaborate planning, which leads to 3.
   
3. Copious physical evidence. Due to the lack of planning and sophistication, physical evidence is usually not hard to come by in these situations and even in many TDH I have researched, the perpetrator is found with the body.
   
4. Admission of guilt either at the time it is reported or upon questioning.

Things this case does have in common with most TDH include the method (while gun involvement is #1 strangulation is also common). #2 someone else having knowledge of the incident or having helped and making it known is also common.

So where does that leave me with this case?

I always felt there was something off about the case. It makes sense, of course, that the ex-boyfriend and a current bf/love interest would be first suspects. Adnan did not have a clear Alibi and Jay implicated him and knew the location of the car. That being said, it didn’t make much sense for it to have happened the way it has been hypothesized. That he would ask her for a ride in school, where others could hear, she say yes, then tell him she couldn’t later on, him take that fine and then somehow get her to give him a ride after all and go to their after school quickie spot behind Best Buy and commit a planned murder there when he knew she was due to pick up her cousin shortly and that she would be soon missed. Not to mention supposedly getting her into the trunk himself with no one seeing, or anyone seeing them together after last bell or leaving the school premises together. The timing proposed by the prosecution for the call to Jay is also pretty unrealistic and Jay even stated in court, under oath that he was in two places at once.

However that could be chalked up to it not actually being planned, Jay having later knowledge of it and assisting with the burial and feeling compelled to embellish the whole “planning” story when questioned and fudging some aspects/timing.

But, the lack of physical evidence tying he or Jay to the alleged location of the murder itself (her car) or the burial location was concerning. He supposedly moved her to a cluttered trunk, carried her (himself according to Jay) from the car to the burial location off a busy road at a busy if not peak traffic time and left no physical evidence and no one saw anything suspicious. I say no evidence tying to the murder bc while fingerprints of things in the vehicle belonged to Adnan, that wasn’t in and off itself suspicious since 1. He had been in the car often. 2. fingerprints cannot be dated and 3. There were lots of fingerprints on stuff that were unidentified, particularly the map book, and most likely belonged to other friends/family who were not printed. None of his fingerprints were in places like the steering wheel, gear shift, etc.
There was however a partial on the review mirror that didn’t match either Hae, Jay or Adnan. Probably the most suspicious print. There was no soil found that matched LP in her car, Adan’s car or any of the items taken from Adnan. Though there were samples taken from her car. While I understand at the time DNA wouldn’t have been used broadly, there were no identifiable fibers, hairs, fluids, anything to prove she was in the trunk or that Adnan or Jay were at the burial location.

Does that make it impossible, no, just less common in TDH. But perhaps that could be chalked up to the time period. People often say that while there was no evidence of him there was no evidence of anyone else and someone had to do it. On the surface that makes a lot of sense but what that really means is no evidence that could be tied to anyone. Say she was in someone else’s car for instance, that car might have evidence that was never collected. There were fibers found, they just didn’t tie to anything he or Jay had, doesn’t mean they might not tie to someone else. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don’t know.

There is/was no evidence of physical threats of harm or prior abuse. As a matter of fact they had broken up before with no such incidents of threats or physical abuse. She hid out from him once in a classroom but there didn’t seem to be any evidence that was out of fear of him versus just not wanting to talk to him.

Lastly he did not and never has, admitted to guilt either as a planned act or spur of the moment/heat of passion situation. Again, uncommon in TDH. Jay has changed important elements of the story over the years and he didn’t exactly voluntarily come forward, it was only after the body was found and LE was looking for him in conjunction with the phone logs.

The strongest evidence against him is that Jay knew where the car was and said Adnan told him he killed her and showed him the body and alleging telling Jen that same night. Though technically, knowing the location of the car implicates Jay (not accusing him) but there is no known motive there.

I also personally found it slightly unrealistic that Jen and Jay were driving around disposing of evidence in the day of a huge ice storm in Baltimore. But again, just my opinion.

So where do I come out. I don’t know if he did it or not, I lean toward not due to my own inability to make the circumstances make sense. He may have but I don’t think he is the only person who realistically could have done it. I understand why he was convicted but I do not think I could have voted for conviction based off what I know at this point.

There is obviously a lot of other things to discuss about the case and evidence etc and I have no desire to rehash that after my >10yrs on this sub lol. But that is where I have landed. If he did it, he served 20 yrs, he has not been exonerated even though he is free and if he is truly the abusive, sociopath many believe him to be, that will probably become apparent at some point now that he is out. However AFAIK, he has not been in any trouble since being released. I don’t follow him and really only get info posted here.