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Elizabeth Haysom

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Elizabeth Haysom
Born
Elizabeth Roxanne Haysom

(1964-04-15) April 15, 1964 (age 60)
Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe)
NationalityCanadian
Criminal statusParoled
Parent(s)Derek William Reginald Haysom (deceased)
Nancy Astor Benedict Haysom (deceased)
Conviction(s)Accessory to murder before the fact (2 counts)
Criminal penalty90 years imprisonment
Details
VictimsDerek William Haysom, 72
Nancy Astor Haysom, 53
DateMarch 30, 1985
CountryUnited States
State(s)Virginia

Elizabeth Roxanne Haysom (born April 15, 1964[1][better source needed] in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia[2]) is a Canadian citizen who, along with her then boyfriend, Jens Söring, was convicted of orchestrating the 1985 double murder of her parents Derek and Nancy Haysom in Bedford County, Virginia.[3]

Haysom served 32 years of a 90-year prison sentence at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia after pleading guilty to two counts of accessory to murder before the fact in 1987.[3] She and Söring were paroled on November 25, 2019, more than 30 years after they were first convicted of the deaths of Haysom’s parents in 1985.[4]

Early life

Elizabeth Haysom is the child of Nancy Astor Benedict Haysom, an artist, and Derek William Reginald Haysom, a steel executive who served as president of two Nova Scotia crown corporations (Sydney Steel and Metropolitan Area Growth Investments).[5][6] Derek and Nancy had a combined total of five children from previous marriages.[3] Born in April 1964, Elizabeth attended boarding schools in Switzerland and England (Wycombe Abbey), then enrolled at the University of Virginia. It was there she met 18-year-old Jens Söring who quickly became her boyfriend.

Murders

On the morning of April 3, 1985, when Söring was 18 and Haysom was 20, the bodies of Derek and Nancy Haysom were discovered. They had been slashed and stabbed to death in their home in the Boonsboro neighborhood of Lynchburg, Virginia.[5] Both Derek and Nancy were almost decapitated.[7] The couple's bodies were not discovered until days after the murder. During the timeline of the murder, Haysom had rented a car. She and Jens drove to Washington, D.C., to establish an alibi.[3][8][9]

Flight to England

Haysom and Söring were not initially suspects in the Haysoms' murders, and Haysom organized all the details for her parents' funerals. Within a few weeks, authorities had checked the records for the rental car the pair used and found that the total mileage during the rental far exceeded the single round trip to Washington, D.C. that they claimed to have taken.[3] The Virginia police turned their focus to the couple, who then fled the country. Six months after the murder, having been to a number of countries, Söring and Haysom went to England, where they were arrested on April 30, 1986.

Convictions

In 1987, Haysom, then 23 years old, pleaded guilty to two counts of accessory to murder before the fact and was sentenced to 90 years in prison – one 45-year sentence for each murder, to be served consecutively.[10][11][3] Söring pleaded not guilty, but was found guilty at his 1990 trial and sentenced to two consecutive life terms for first-degree murder.[12][13]

Haysom was incarcerated in the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia,[7] first became eligible for parole in 1995, and submitted a parole request every three years thereafter.[14] Haysom's sentence was subject to mandatory parole; she would have been released automatically in 2032, 45 years after her conviction.

Parole

On November 25, 2019, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam announced that both Haysom and Söring would be released, but not pardoned, and sent back to their respective home countries.[15] After more than 30 years in prison, Haysom was released from prison to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,[16] and then deported to her home country of Canada in January 2020.[17][18][19]

U.S. Representative Ben Cline issued a statement condemning her release as a cost-cutting attempt by the state of Virginia, and not based on merit.[20] Adrianne L. Bennett, then chair of the Virginia Parole Board, asserted that the decision to grant Haysom parole was also justified by her young age at the time the crime was committed.[21]

Jens Söring, Haysom's accomplice, was also granted parole in November 2019 and was deported to his home country of Germany after his release.[22]

In the media

The Söring/Haysom criminal proceedings were the first to be broadcast nationwide on American television.[citation needed] The Haysoms' murders have been profiled by 20/20, The Investigators, Geraldo Rivera, The New Detectives, City Confidential, Wicked Attraction, Deadly Women, On the Case with Paula Zahn, Snapped: Killer Couples,[23] and Southern Fried Homicide.

Killing for Love (a.k.a. The Promise), a feature documentary film, premiered at the Munich International Film Festival and was released theatrically in October 2016.[24]

Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom, a four-episode true crime documentary limited series, was released on Netflix on November 1, 2023.[25]

References

  1. ^ "Elizabeth Haysom,"IMDb.com; Family trees on Ancestry.com give Haysom's birthdate as simply April 1964.
  2. ^ Baker, Donald P. (August 24, 1987). "Pair Accused in Murders Shared Paths". The Washington Post.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Conley, Jay (April 3, 2005). "Haysom murders, 20 years ago today: blood sweat and convictions". The Roanoke Times. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013.
  4. ^ Barakat, Matthew (November 26, 2019). "German national granted parole for infamous 1985 slayings of girlfriend's parents". usatoday.com. Associated Press/USA Today. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
  5. ^ a b Green, Frank (January 16, 2010). "Murderer Jens Soering could be sent to prison in Germany". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  6. ^ Sampson, Andrew (November 12, 2023). "Netflix revisits Virginia murders that resonated in Nova Scotia nearly 40 years ago". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  7. ^ a b Martinez-Ramundo, Denise; Paparella, Andrew; Valiente, Alexa. "Convicted killer, after decades of maintaining innocence, believes freedom is 'finally in sight'". ABC News. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  8. ^ Bedford County Sheriffs Office
  9. ^ "The Free Lance-Star - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  10. ^ Beveridge, Dirk (October 9, 1987). "Daughter Is Sentenced To 90 Years For Role In Va. Slaying of Parents". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  11. ^ "Soering's ex says he is guilty; new letter sent to governor". The Daily Progress. March 22, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  12. ^ Turyn, Noreen (June 25, 2014). "Elizabeth Haysom Denied Parole". WSET. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  13. ^ "Jens Soering: Doubts, Politics & Possible Parole". WVTF. October 29, 2013. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  14. ^ "Haysom parole request denied". The Free Lance–Star. May 24, 1995. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  15. ^ "USA wollen verurteilten Doppelmörder Söring freilassen". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). November 26, 2019. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  16. ^ "ICE removes Canadian national after completion of accessory to murder sentence". www.ice.gov. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  17. ^ Vozzella, Laura (November 25, 2019). "Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom, convicted in sensational 1985 double murders, released by Virginia". Washington Post. Retrieved February 16, 2020.
  18. ^ Heller, Nathan (December 21, 2019). "A New Chapter in a Double-Murder Case". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  19. ^ Stuart, Courteney (February 13, 2020). "Haysom deported to Canada after release from ICE custody". WCAV. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  20. ^ Barakat, Matthew. "German national granted parole for infamous 1985 slayings of girlfriend's parents". USA Today. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  21. ^ Green, Frank. "Jens Soering, Elizabeth Haysom granted parole in 1985 slayings of her parents in Bedford County". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  22. ^ "Haysom remains in ICE custody, paroled two months ago". www.cbs19news.com. Retrieved March 24, 2020.
  23. ^ Reed, Ray (October 3, 2013). "Haysom relatives on Soering decision: 'It's about time'". The News & Advance. Archived from the original on January 8, 2011.
  24. ^ Steinberger, Karin; Vetter, Marcus. "Details - THE PROMISE". www.filmfest-muenchen.de. Filmperspektive GmbH. Archived from the original on October 30, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
  25. ^ Falk, Graham (November 1, 2023). "Till Murder Do Us Part Netflix: Who is Jens Soering, where is Jens Soering now, where is Elizabeth Haysom now". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
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