Droves of Internet sleuths are investigating Adnan Syed’s case on Reddit in the wake of Serial. You might be surprised by the work untrained investigators are capable of doing.

by Evan Wood

illustration by Grace Molteni

Adnan Syed, the protagonist of the popular podcast Serial’s first season, is still incarcerated in Maryland, waiting to hear a decision on his appeal, which his attorney has called his “last best chance” for exoneration. Before last fall, Syed’s name was not known. But now a quick Twitter search of “#teamAdnan” will reveal scores of Serial fans who’ve espoused Mr. Syed’s cause and believe firmly in his innocence. Of course, not everyone is convinced Adnan deserves to be exonerated.

Serial has an engaged audience – many listeners have an opinion on the case the series explores, and some of them are actually investigating it themselves. Specifically, these amateur sleuths spend time on Reddit, poring over phone records, case files, and discussing popular theories.

“It’s facilitated by technology,” says Dr. Ines Segert, professor of psychology at the University of Missouri. Referring to amateur sleuthing, Dr. Segert explains that humans have an inherent desire to find causes that can explain certain behavior. “And now we’re in this environment where we get rewarded for doing that.”

These “rewards” can be strong physical motivators for those who receive them. “There’s been a lot of studies on technology,” says Dr. Segert, “that really show when you get that feedback you get a little squirt of dopamine in the reward center, and so of course, it’s going to feel great.” If you develop a popular theory for instance, or you point out a clue that someone else had missed, you experience the type of feedback Dr. Segert is referring to.

As reputations go, Internet sleuths are somewhere between Area 51 conspiracy theorists and people who call in on talk radio shows. Reddit’s analysis of the Boston bombings in 2013 ultimately led the erroneous-but-widely-believed accusation that Summeil Naphthi was involved in the attack. His friends and family were subjected to harassment until law enforcement definitively cleared his name. With that in mind, it’s easy to be skeptical of Reddit’s undertakings with the crime that Serial explores.

Breaking a case open is perhaps the Holy Grail for Internet sleuths, but it isn’t the only way to contribute to a case online.

Myka Cain—who was not necessarily voyeuristically interested in the case, but became involved because of her friendship with the accused—helped run a social media campaign in support of Ryan Ferguson, a Columbia, Missouri man who was wrongfully convicted of murder in 2005. Cain now handles booking and media appearances for Mr. Ferguson. Ferguson’s conviction was vacated in 2013, and he was released after serving more than nine years in prison. “With the power of social media,” says Cain, “we were able to present the facts and the public was able to read, base opinions, and make noise on their own.”

The main purpose of the campaign, whose website and Facebook page were titled “Free Ryan Ferguson” (now “Freed Ryan Ferguson”), was to disseminate information and keep Mr. Ferguson in the public eye. It also provided a network through which people could pass along petitions and organize letter writing and phone calls to government officials.

Mr. Ferguson recently participated in an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit in which he thanked his supporters, writing to one: “I would not be here if it weren’t for amazing people such as yourself.”

Ferguson recently penned his thoughts onSerial on biographile.com. He writes that he will be keeping an eye on Syed’s case, and doing what he can to help spread awareness.

“I can honestly say that, for the first time, I am now one of the many amazing supporters I have been so fortunate to have on my side” Ferguson wrote, comparing his support of Syed to that which he received from his own online supporters.

While support and information sharing are simple things that helped Ryan Ferguson’s cause, it’s worth noting that Internet sleuths have done a fair share of quality investigative work, too. The Doe Network, which is an online cold-case forum devoted to assisting with unidentified and missing persons cases, claims to have solved or helped solve more than 67 cases since 2001.

Bill Jensen, a writer and media consultant, has covered true crime extensively, especially cold cases. In March of 2014, Jensen chronicled a group of Internet sleuths who tried to have Luka Magnotta brought to justice after he videotaped himself killing two kittens and posted the footage online. The group was able to find Magnotta’s location, but by the time they did he had moved. In May 2012, Magnotta murdered a man and recorded himself doing so. He also posted that video online.

“They were able to find out where he lived,” says Jensen of the people investigating Magnotta online. “Nobody had been able to do that. But they were able to do it from this crazy Google maps search that they were doing. It was really intricate work that I was really impressed with.”

Jensen also points out that, more recently, a massive group of Internet detectives were able to discern the identity of several men and women in Philadelphia who targeted two homosexual men in a sporadic hate crime. After police posted surveillance video of the group, people used social media to find pictures of the group at a restaurant earlier that evening. This led to multiple arrests after they gave the information to the Philadelphia police. Jensen refers to this kind of collaborative investigating as a “crowd solve.” It’s what Reddit was attempting to do after the Boston bombings in 2013, and he believes it will become more and more prevalent over time.

“There will be murders solved by people,” says Jensen, “or at least suspects will come to light.” 

Dr. Segert agrees that the “crowd solve” phenomenon is apt to continue happening. She cites a book called Connected by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler (both are social scientists), which sorts people in a society into categories. Among them are “punishers.” As Dr. Segert explains: “Punishers are in the society to keep the freeloaders or the people who violate norms from getting away with it.”

According to Dr. Segert, when punishers see videos of people hurting animals or attacking innocent people, they associate that with violating norms, and they want to see the perpetrators—as their label suggests—punished.

“What a fantastic opportunity to do what you feel you need to do.” Dr. Segert says, referring to a crowd-solving scenario.

It’s easy to see how sharing information is a key component in a crowd-solve situation, but it’s also very important in cold cases. Jensen says that with cold cases, sometimes it’s just a matter of someone noticing a previously overlooked detail, or having enough time to devote to it.

“All of these unsolved murders, you don’t have anything to go on.” Jensen says. “If a citizen detective is able to give [police] a bit of hint, then [they] go take the ball and run with it.” But Jensen explains that, too often, police are unwilling to give out information, even in old cases with no leads.

“It’s just going to be a matter of a police department that is willing to put out as much information as possible and create a liaison,” says Jensen. “That’s what I foresee.”

In the meantime, Internet sleuths are on their own—if still supported by their own communities—trying to put a dent in the hundreds of thousands of cold case files in desperate need of illumination, or perhaps identifying perpetrators in the viral surveillance videos of tomorrow.

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Evan Wood is a writer living in Los Angeles. Follow him on Twitter @EvanAllenWood.

Grace Molteni is a Midwest born and raised designer, illustrator, and self-proclaimed bibliophile, currently calling Chicago home. For more musings, work, or just to say hey check her out on Instagram or at her personal website.