Elizabeth Haysom

Case record: Elizabeth Haysom

Background

Elizabeth Haysom (born April 1964) was a Canadian woman and the only child of Derek Haysom and Nancy Astor Benedict Haysom. Derek Haysom was a retired Nova Scotia steel executive. Nancy Astor Benedict Haysom was an artist. Derek and Nancy had a combined total of five children from previous marriages.

Elizabeth attended the English boarding school Wycombe Abbey before enrolling at the University of Virginia. At the University of Virginia, she met her former boyfriend, Jens Söring, who was 18 and described as the son of a German diplomat and a Jefferson Scholar at the university. Elizabeth became involved in a relationship with Jens Söring while she was a student at the University of Virginia.

The offence

On the morning of March 30, 1985, the bodies of Derek Haysom and Nancy Haysom were discovered in their Boonsboro, Virginia home. Both victims were slashed and stabbed to death. The source states that both Derek and Nancy were almost decapitated. The couple’s bodies were not discovered until days after the murder. The source also describes that the killings involved Derek and Nancy having their throats cut, and both having stab wounds.

Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring were described as having orchestrated the double murder of Elizabeth Haysom’s parents. In the described events, Jens Söring attacked Derek Haysom after being confronted by Derek, and then attacked and stabbed Nancy Haysom in the kitchen, leaving her to bleed to death on the kitchen floor.

Investigation

The case was investigated by Chuck Reid (one of the lead investigators on the case) and Ricky Gardner, described as a captain and investigator. The investigation included work by Bedford County officials and law enforcement, and it was described as a criminal investigation that led from Virginia to England.

The source describes that autopsies determined that both Derek and Nancy Haysom had 0.22 percent blood-alcohol levels. The investigation initially yielded few clues, and investigators focused on evidence including “a bloody footprint on the Haysoms’ floor.” Gardner and Reid began focusing on leads for a motive and on where Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring were at the time of the murders.

The source states that Wells made an unusual step by issuing weekly press releases to newspaper and television reporters starved for tidbits, while keeping certain matters private.

Neighbors and the community expressed fear and considered theories including that the murders might be related to a satanic cult.

Arrest and overseas developments

After the March 1985 murders, Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring were not initially suspects in the killings. Months after the March 1985 murders, Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring were arrested in London, England, for check fraud and shoplifting.

The source states that, at first, Söring confessed to committing the crime, but after being unable to be tried in West Germany, his country of citizenship, he recanted his story. After the British police searched the couple’s apartment, investigators found bogus passports, wigs, mustaches, fraudulent checks, and letters to each other, as well as a diary that led investigators to believe a murder had been committed.

Faye Massie, a secretary at the sheriff’s office in 1986, answered a phone call from a British investigator and described that the investigator asked whether there was an unsolved murder. Gardner and Jim Updike (the county’s commonwealth’s attorney at the time) then flew to England to interrogate Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring, and the source describes that confessions soon followed.

The source also includes a description that Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Söring drove to Washington, D.C., to establish an alibi.

Trial

Elizabeth Haysom did not go to trial for the murders. Instead, she pleaded guilty to two counts of accessory to murder before the fact. The plea was entered in 1987 in a Bedford County courtroom.

Sentencing

On August 23, 1987, Elizabeth Haysom pleaded guilty to two counts of accessory to murder before the fact. She was sentenced to 90 years in prison.

Appeals

No appeals outcome for Elizabeth Haysom was described in the provided text.

Outcome

Elizabeth Haysom was sentenced to 90 years in prison and was serving her sentence at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia. The source states that she will be eligible for parole in 2032, at the age of 68, and that she acknowledges her guilt as of 2011.

Aftermath

The source states that Jens Söring was convicted later and is serving a life sentence, with details on his parole eligibility and a transfer request involving Governors Tim Kaine and Bob McDonnell. It also states that Jens Söring continued to proclaim his innocence.

The source describes media coverage and mentions profiles including Geraldo Rivera, City Confidential, Wicked Attraction, Deadly Women, and On the Case with Paula Zahn.

Other details

The source includes extensive background allegations and statements about Elizabeth Haysom’s childhood experiences, including references to school life, reported assaults and “abuse,” and descriptions of her relationship dynamics with her parents and with Jens Söring. These details were presented as part of a longer narrative in the provided material and were not tied to a separate, individually stated conviction beyond Elizabeth Haysom’s guilty plea and sentencing described above.