The Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom case centers on the 1985 stabbing deaths of Derek and Nancy Haysom at their Bedford County, Virginia home, the convictions of their daughter Elizabeth and her boyfriend Jens Soering, and a fight over who actually held the knife that has now reached a Virginia court again in 2026. Both were paroled and deported in 2019 and 2020 after more than three decades in prison. DNA testing unavailable at trial has since excluded Soering from every viable sample taken at the scene, and his attorneys are asking the state to declare him innocent.
What Happened at Loose Chippings
On the evening of March 30, 1985, someone entered the Haysoms’ home, known as Loose Chippings, and killed both occupants. Derek Haysom, 71, was stabbed 25 times. Nancy Haysom was stabbed at least six times. Both had their throats cut. The bodies were not found until April 3, when a family friend went to check on the couple after Elizabeth Haysom said she could not reach her parents by phone.
There were no signs of forced entry. Nothing of value was missing. No weapon was recovered. Investigators did find a bloody sock print and traces of Type O blood that belonged to neither victim.1Justia Law. Soering v. Commonwealth – Virginia Supreme Court Opinion
How Soering and Haysom Became Suspects
Elizabeth Haysom, a 20-year-old University of Virginia student, and Soering, 18, the son of a West German diplomat, told police they had spent the weekend of the killings in Washington, D.C. But the mileage on Elizabeth’s rental car far exceeded a round trip to Washington. That discrepancy was the investigation’s first serious lead.
Before charges came down, the couple fled the country in October 1985. They moved through Europe and Asia for months before London police arrested them on check fraud charges on April 30, 1986. In custody, Soering confessed in detail to the murders across multiple interrogation sessions. He said he had driven alone from Washington to Bedford County, eaten dinner with the Haysoms, and then stabbed them and cut their throats.1Justia Law. Soering v. Commonwealth – Virginia Supreme Court Opinion
Soering later said he had confessed falsely, believing his father’s diplomatic status would protect him if he were tried in Germany, and hoping to spare Elizabeth from a Virginia death sentence.
The Extradition Fight
Getting Soering back to Virginia took years and produced a landmark human rights ruling. West Germany asked Britain to send him to Germany under an 1872 treaty. Soering’s lawyers took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, which held in July 1989 that extraditing him to face a possible Virginia death sentence would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.2European Court of Human Rights (HUDOC). Case of Soering v. the United Kingdom Britain eventually sent Soering to Virginia only after prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty. Elizabeth Haysom did not contest her extradition and had already been returned.
The Convictions
Elizabeth Haysom’s Guilty Plea
In August 1987, Elizabeth pleaded guilty to two counts of being an accessory before the fact to murder. She admitted helping plan her parents’ deaths but insisted Soering carried them out. The judge gave her two consecutive 45-year terms, totaling 90 years.3Roanoke Times. Soering May Shift Blame
Jens Soering’s 1990 Trial
Soering went to trial in 1990, pleaded not guilty, and recanted his confessions. He said he had lied to protect Elizabeth and had been in Washington while someone else did the killing.
Prosecutors relied on several pieces of evidence. His confessions contained details about the crime scene that would be hard for an innocent person to know. A witness said Soering had bandages on two fingers of his left hand and a bruise on his face at the Haysoms’ funeral, matching injuries he had described. His Type O blood matched unidentified blood at the scene; neither victim nor Elizabeth had Type O. Letters and diary entries by both defendants, along with their flight, filled out the case.1Justia Law. Soering v. Commonwealth – Virginia Supreme Court Opinion
The jury convicted Soering of two counts of first-degree murder. He received two consecutive life sentences.4FindLaw. Soering v. Deeds
Who Actually Killed the Haysoms
The verdicts did not settle the central factual question. Three theories have circulated for decades.
The first is the prosecution’s: Soering acted alone. It rests on his detailed confessions, the Type O blood match, his injuries at the funeral, and the documentary record. Critics note that none of his fingerprints were found at the scene and that parts of his confessions were inaccurate.
The second theory is Soering’s: Elizabeth, or people acting for her, killed her parents while he stayed in Washington. Elizabeth had written about using “mental powers” and “black magic” against her parents. She told investigators her mother had sexually abused her, fondled her, and taken nude photographs of her as a teenager. Her animosity is well documented, but no physical evidence puts her at the scene that night.
The third possibility, raised by later DNA work, is that one or more unidentified people were involved.
Elizabeth Haysom has always said Soering did it in a rage. Soering has always said he was nowhere near Bedford County. Both cannot be right.
What DNA Testing Showed
In 2009, Virginia conducted DNA testing on 11 viable samples from the crime scene. Forensic analysis of those results, examined in detail starting in 2017, found no DNA from either Soering or Elizabeth Haysom in any sample, including the Type O blood prosecutors had used at trial. Instead, the samples contained DNA from at least two unidentified males.4FindLaw. Soering v. Deeds
Forensic scientist J. Thomas McClintock, who analyzed the results, said the unidentified male profile or profiles at the scene were not consistent with Soering’s DNA. The Type O blood came from a male, but not from Soering.
The bloody sock print used at trial has also lost credibility. Forensic footprint analysis of the type relied on in 1990 has since been widely criticized as unreliable. Between the DNA exclusion and the sock-print problems, the physical evidence tying Soering to the scene has largely collapsed. What is left is his confession, which he says was false, and circumstantial evidence like the bandaged fingers and the bruise.
Parole and Deportation
On November 25, 2019, after more than 30 years in prison and repeated denials, the Virginia Parole Board granted parole to both Soering and Haysom. The board’s chair cited “their youth at the time of the offenses, their institutional adjustment and the length of their incarceration.”5U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE Removes German National After Completion of Sentence for Murder
Soering, a German citizen, was deported the same day on a direct flight from Dulles to Frankfurt. His parole conditions bar him from returning to the United States or contacting the victims’ family. Elizabeth Haysom, a Canadian citizen who had been held at Goochland Correctional Center for Women, was deported to Canada in 2020 and has not spoken publicly about the case since.6WVTF. With New Evidence, Jens Soering Asks His Conviction in the Haysom Murders Be Overturned
The 2026 Petition to Overturn the Conviction
In August 2024, Soering filed a pardon petition with Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office, pointing to the DNA results. “We now know with 100% certainty it is not my blood and the samples are not mixed, not contaminated, so we can trust the DNA test,” he said.
In February 2026, his attorney filed suit in Virginia asking the state to overturn the murder conviction. The filing relies on the DNA results and on new testimony from Sheena Haysom, a member of the victims’ family. She gave a DNA sample, and McClintock compared it against the two unidentified male profiles from the scene. He found that those profiles were roughly three times more likely to have come from a relative of Sheena Haysom than from a random person. She is asking the state to declare Soering innocent and open a new investigation.6WVTF. With New Evidence, Jens Soering Asks His Conviction in the Haysom Murders Be Overturned
Overturning a decades-old conviction takes more than doubt about the original evidence, and the petition faces long odds. Even so, DNA that excludes Soering, forensic footprint methods that have since been discredited, a family member supporting his innocence claim, and genetic material that may point toward the victims’ own relatives together form the most serious challenge to the case since 1990. Whether a Virginia court will reopen it, and whether the unknown males at the scene will ever be identified, remains unresolved.