33 Years Behind Bars for a Murder He Denies
A German-American man spent three decades in prison for a double murder he has always denied. A new Netflix series reopens the debate about who really killed Elizabeth Haysom's parents.
Quick Facts
The Night of the Ravelin: March 30, 1985
In the early morning hours of March 30-31, 1985, unknown assailants broke into the Haysom residence at 421 Oak Terrace Lane. Derek Haysom, 72, and his wife Nancy, 43, were found dead with numerous stab wounds—Derek suffered 36 stab wounds, Nancy 38. It was brutal, methodical, and violent.
Bedford County police and the FBI quickly focused their investigation on Elizabeth Haysom, the couple's daughter, and her boyfriend: a 19-year-old German exchange student named Jens Söring from the University of Virginia, who had entered the country using fraudulent documents.
Forbidden Love and Deception
Söring and Haysom met in 1984 at the university and quickly became a couple—but their relationship was marked by financial hardship and a dysfunctional family dynamic. Nancy's relationship with her parents was strained, and Derek was domineering and controlling.
Shortly after the murders, the pair fled together. They began forging checks and traveled to London, Bangkok, and Nepal. Police caught them for check fraud in London in April 1985.