Inside the reasons Serial's Adnan Syed's murder conviction was vacated after 'two others suspects exposed by podcast'

FANS of the Serial podcast were left shocked on Monday when Adnan Syed's conviction for the murder of his high school girlfriend was vacated.

Syed was freed after serving 23 years in prison following an investigation that revealed new crucial information, including two possible suspects, about the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee, 18.

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The 41-year-old was released under home detention after his lawyers argued that new evidence shows the case's original prosecutors failed to investigate and properly clear two potential suspects, as reported by CNN.

The investigation also revealed that prosecutors failed to turn over evidence that could have helped Syed to his defense lawyers.

The defense team had also questioned the legitimacy of witness statements and cell phone records that were crucial in Syed's conviction.

Following news of Syed's release from prison, journalist Sarah Koenig released a new episode of Serial: Season One - the 2014 podcast that made the Maryland case famous.

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"According to the prosecutor's office, they didn't set out to pick apart Adnan's case - their own case mind you," Koenig said in the episode released on Tuesday.

"They say it just kind of crumbled once they took a hard look."

While Syed has been freed, he has not been exonerated, and a new trial has been ordered.

However, Serial host Koenig said on Tuesday: "I do know that the chances of the state ever trying to prosecute Adnan again are remote at best."

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Prosecutors have 30 days since the conviction was vacated to decide whether or not to pursue a new case against Syed.

Syed was just 19 years old when he was convicted of murdering his former high school girlfriend and sentenced to life in prison.

Lee was found buried in a shallow grave in Maryland in February 1999. At trial, prosecutors argued that Syed strangled Lee after school in the parking lot of a Best Buy in a jealous rage after they broke up.

While police have not named any suspects, the Serial podcast did explore additional potential suspects.

RONALD LEE MOORE

Ronald Lee Moore was named by the true-crime 'Serial' podcast as a likely suspect in the 1999 strangulation.

Convicted burglar Moore was also based in Baltimore at the time of Lee's death.

Back in 2013, Moore was also named as the likely perpetrator of another 1999 killing involving a Baltimore woman, Annelise Hyang Suk Lee, 27.

The fact that Moore has now been credibly suspected of strangling two other women to death could increase speculation that he, and not Syed, was responsible for killing Hae Min Lee.

However, there will be no defense from Moore as he killed himself in 2008 while in prison on an unrelated burglary conviction.

DONALD “DON” CLINEDINST

Donald Clinedisnt, then 22, was Lee's boyfriend at the time of her death. The couple met at their jobs at LensCrafters.

The pair spent the night before Lee's disappearance together, and they reportedly had plans to see each other the next evening.

However, Clinedisnt was seemingly ruled out early in the investigation, having offered work as an alibi. He has denied any wrongdoing. 

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"They didn’t take any fingerprints from him, they didn’t take hair samples from him, they didn’t take DNA from him … even though the hair found on Hae’s body didn’t match Adnan’s," Rabia Chaudry, an attorney for Syed, told Oxygen.

"They didn’t think, ‘Maybe we should check the boyfriend.’"