{{short description|Canadian convicted felon}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Elizabeth Haysom | image = | caption = | birth_name = Elizabeth Roxanne Haysom | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1964|4|15}} | birth_place = Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia | conviction = Accessory before the fact to first degree murder (2 counts) | motive = {{ubl|Victims didn't approve of her relationship with Jens Söring over her own parents|Rage over mother's alleged sexual abuse of her (suspected)}} | sentence = 90 years imprisonment | occupation = | parents = Derek William Reginald Haysom (deceased)<br />Nancy Astor Benedict Haysom (deceased) | victims = Derek William Haysom, 72<br>Nancy Astor Haysom, 53 | date = March 30, 1985 | country = United States | states = Virginia | apprehended = April 30, 1986 | imprisoned = Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, Troy, Virginia, U.S. | criminal_penalty = 90 years in prison, paroled in 2019 after 32 years }} '''Elizabeth Roxanne Haysom''' (born April 15, 1964<ref>"Elizabeth Haysom,"[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5141659/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm IMDb.com]; Family trees on Ancestry.com give Haysom's birthdate as simply April 1964.</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=IMdB is not a reliable source|date=May 2022}}) is a Canadian-American 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.<ref>{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Donald P.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/08/24/pair-accused-in-murders-shared-paths/38929992-7c14-49df-9cc0-194024c82396/ |title=Pair Accused in Murders Shared Paths|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=August 24, 1987}}</ref><ref name="Elizabeth Murder">{{cite news |last=Conley |first=Jay |date=April 3, 2005 |title=Haysom murders, 20 years ago today: blood sweat and convictions |work=The Roanoke Times |url=http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/21202.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201105212/http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/21202.html |archive-date=February 1, 2013}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Elizabeth Murder"/> 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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Barakat |first1=Matthew |title=German national granted parole for infamous 1985 slayings of girlfriend's parents |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/26/jens-soering-elizabeth-haysom-granted-parole-virginia-killings/4306744002/ |website=usatoday.com |publisher=Associated Press/USA Today |access-date=November 29, 2019 |date=November 26, 2019}}</ref>
==Early life== Haysom was born in April 1964 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) to parents Nancy Astor Benedict Haysom, an American, worked as an artist, and Derek William Reginald Haysom, originally from South Africa and was a naturalized Canadian, who was a steel executive who served as president of two Nova Scotia crown corporations (Sydney Steel and Metropolitan Area Growth Investments).<ref name="Jens Germany">{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=Frank |title=Murderer Jens Soering could be sent to prison in Germany |url=https://www.richmond.com/news/murderer-jens-soering-could-be-sent-to-prison-in-germany/article_5412ccfc-bfeb-55b8-b9a6-5f8c1ee726f2.html |access-date=September 17, 2018 |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |date=January 16, 2010 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sampson |first1=Andrew |title=Netflix revisits Virginia murders that resonated in Nova Scotia nearly 40 years ago |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/netflix-true-crime-series-till-murder-do-us-part-1.7022130 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=November 12, 2023}}</ref> Derek and Nancy had a combined total of five children from previous marriages.<ref name="Elizabeth Murder"/> 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, a son of West German diplomat, 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 section of Bedford County, just outside of Lynchburg, Virginia.<ref name="Jens Germany"/> Both Derek and Nancy were almost decapitated.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name="Elizabeth Murder"/><ref>Bedford County Sheriffs Office</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UvpNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eIsDAAAAIBAJ&dq=haysom+murder&pg=3539,2195807|title=The Free Lance-Star - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com|access-date=April 25, 2018}}</ref>
==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.<ref name="Elizabeth Murder"/> 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.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/10/09/daughter-is-sentenced-to-90-years-for-role-in-va-slaying-of-parents/323ea1f0-bb5c-447d-b8f4-c69e15606c7a/ |title=Daughter Is Sentenced To 90 Years For Role In Va. Slaying of Parents |first=Dirk |last=Beveridge |date=October 9, 1987 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/soering-s-ex-says-he-is-guilty-new-letter-sent/article_ee518b0d-25f6-535c-801c-bac8ac86bb40.html |title=Soering's ex says he is guilty; new letter sent to governor |date=March 22, 2011 |newspaper=The Daily Progress |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Elizabeth Murder"/> Söring pleaded not guilty but was found guilty at his 1990 trial and sentenced to two consecutive life terms for first-degree murder.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wset.com/story/25868811/elizabeth-haysom-denied-parole |title=Elizabeth Haysom Denied Parole |first=Noreen |last=Turyn |date=June 25, 2014 |work=WSET|access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 29, 2013 |title=Jens Soering: Doubts, Politics & Possible Parole |url=https://www.wvtf.org/post/jens-soering-doubts-politics-possible-parole |access-date=May 21, 2022 |website=WVTF |language=en}}</ref>
Haysom, incarcerated in the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Martinez-Ramundo |first1=Denise |last2=Paparella |first2=Andrew |last3=Valiente |first3=Alexa |title=Convicted killer, after decades of maintaining innocence, believes freedom is 'finally in sight' |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/convicted-killer-decades-maintaining-innocence-believes-freedom-finally/story?id=52914848 |access-date=May 21, 2022 |website=ABC News |language=en}}</ref> first became eligible for parole in 1995, and submitted a parole request every three years thereafter.<ref name=FLS>{{cite news|title=Haysom parole request denied|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=199disorder50524&id=g_4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vwcGAAAAIBAJ&pg=5021,4633914|access-date=December 30, 2014|work=The Free Lance–Star|date=May 24, 1995}}</ref> Haysom's sentence was subject to mandatory parole; she would have been released automatically in 2032, 45 years after her conviction. During an interview in 2016, Haysom said Söring had killed her parents in a rage after learning that her mother had sexually abused her. Söring had contended that Haysom killed her parents on her own over the abuse, albeit she originally denied that any such abuse had occurred. In the same interview, Haysom said she was "profoundly ashamed" of her role in the murders of her parents and criticized Söring for maintaining his innocence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Frank |date=2016-09-11 |title=Ex-girlfriend: Jens Soering killed her parents because mom had sexually abused her |url=https://richmond.com/news/local/crime/article_5b0a3614-33fa-5304-af0c-381fc5640a61.html |access-date=2025-07-21 |website=Richmond Times-Dispatch |language=en}}</ref>
== 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/panorama/nach-mehr-als-30-jahren-in-haft-usa-wollen-verurteilten-doppelmoerder-soering-freilassen/25269510.html|title=USA wollen verurteilten Doppelmörder Söring freilassen|date=November 26, 2019|work=Der Tagesspiegel|access-date=November 26, 2019|language=de}}</ref> After more than 30 years in prison, Haysom was released from prison to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<ref>{{Cite web |title=ICE removes Canadian national after completion of accessory to murder sentence |url=https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-removes-canadian-national-after-completion-accessory-murder-sentence |access-date=May 21, 2022 |website=www.ice.gov |language=en}}</ref> and then deported to her home country of Canada in January 2020.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/jens-soering-convicted-of-sensational-1985-double-murders-released-by-virginia-parole-board/2019/11/25/42e2790e-0fc6-11ea-bf62-eadd5d11f559_story.html|title=Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom, convicted in sensational 1985 double murders, released by Virginia|last=Vozzella|first=Laura|date=November 25, 2019|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=February 16, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Heller |first=Nathan |date=December 21, 2019 |title=A New Chapter in a Double-Murder Case |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-new-chapter-in-a-double-murder-case |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en |access-date=March 24, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stuart |first=Courteney |date=February 13, 2020 |title=Haysom deported to Canada after release from ICE custody |url=https://www.cbs19news.com/story/41604174/haysom-deported-to-canada-after-release-from-ice-custody |access-date=November 13, 2020 |website=WCAV |language=en |archive-date=January 23, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200123235839/https://www.cbs19news.com/story/41604174/haysom-deported-to-canada-after-release-from-ice-custody |url-status=dead }}</ref> Söring was deported to his home country of Germany after his release.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Haysom remains in ICE custody, paroled two months ago |url=http://www.cbs19news.com/story/41563112/haysom-remains-in-ice-custody-paroled-two-months-ago |access-date=March 24, 2020 |website=www.cbs19news.com |language=en |archive-date=February 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227161605/https://www.cbs19news.com/story/41563112/haysom-remains-in-ice-custody-paroled-two-months-ago |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/26/jens-soering-elizabeth-haysom-granted-parole-virginia-killings/4306744002/|title=German national granted parole for infamous 1985 slayings of girlfriend's parents|last=Barakat|first=Matthew|website=USA Today|access-date=March 24, 2020}}</ref> Adrianne L. Bennett, then chair of the Virginia Parole Board, asserted that the decision to grant Haysom and Söring parole was also justified by their young age at the time the crime was committed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.richmond.com/news/local/crime/jens-soering-elizabeth-haysom-granted-parole-in-1985-slayings-of-her-parents-in-bedford-county/article_d826a9c3-194c-5d42-ba8b-1449c33dd947.html|title=Jens Soering, Elizabeth Haysom granted parole in 1985 slayings of her parents in Bedford County|last=Green|first=Frank|website=Richmond Times-Dispatch|language=en|access-date=March 31, 2020}}</ref>
==In the media==
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'',<ref name="Elizabeth England">{{Cite news |url=http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2010/jul/09/haysom_relatives_on_soering_decision_its_about_tim-ar-320639/ |title=Haysom relatives on Soering decision: 'It's about time' |last=Reed |first=Ray |date=October 3, 2013 |work=The News & Advance |archive-url =https://archive.today/20110108195945/http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2010/jul/09/haysom_relatives_on_soering_decision_its_about_tim-ar-320639/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 8, 2011 }}</ref> and ''Southern Fried Homicide''.
''Killing for Love'' ({{aka}} ''The Promise''), a feature documentary film, premiered at the Munich International Film Festival and was released theatrically in October 2016.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Steinberger|first1=Karin|last2=Vetter|first2=Marcus|title=Details - THE PROMISE|url=https://www.filmfest-muenchen.de/en/programm/filme/film/?id=4957|website=www.filmfest-muenchen.de|publisher=Filmperspektive GmbH|access-date=November 24, 2016|ref=the promise|archive-date=October 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030075852/https://www.filmfest-muenchen.de/en/programm/filme/film/?id=4957|url-status=dead}}</ref>
''Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom'', a four-episode true crime documentary limited series, was released on Netflix on November 1, 2023.<ref>{{cite news |title=Till Murder Do Us Part Netflix: Who is Jens Soering, where is Jens Soering now, where is Elizabeth Haysom now |first=Graham |last=Falk |date=November 1, 2023 |newspaper=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/till-murder-do-us-part-netflix-who-is-jens-soering-where-is-jens-soering-now-where-is-elizabeth-haysom-now-4393601 |access-date=November 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101162355/https://www.scotsman.com/news/crime/till-murder-do-us-part-netflix-who-is-jens-soering-where-is-jens-soering-now-where-is-elizabeth-haysom-now-4393601 |archive-date=November 1, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Haysom, Elizabeth}} Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American murderers Category:20th-century American women Category:20th-century Canadian murderers Category:20th-century Canadian women Category:American female murderers Category:American people convicted of murder Category:American people of South African descent Category:Canadian female murderers Category:Canadian people convicted of murder Category:Canadian people of American descent Category:Canadian people of South African descent Category:Parricides Category:People educated at Wycombe Abbey Category:People extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States Category:Canadian people imprisoned in the United States Category:Foreign nationals imprisoned in the United Kingdom Category:People from Harare Category:University of Virginia alumni Category:People convicted of murder by Virginia Category:People deported from the United States Category:Paroled people