The Motive

Officials in Bedford County are convinced that Jens Soering is guilty of brutally murdering Derek and Nancy Haysom in their home in 1985, even though new DNA testing suggests two unidentified men were at the crime scene. The refusal of the Bedford County Sheriff's Office to reopen the case and test additional evidence for DNA has frustrated many people, including a former lead investigator in the Haysom murders. Elizabeth Haysom has kept largely quiet since her conviction of accessory to murder before the fact in her parents murders in 1987. However, she did speak out after the new DNA revelations in 2016 and doubled down on her claims that her boyfriend, Jens, killed her parents. She told a newspaper reporter that suffering years of sexual abuse was the reason she wanted her parents her dead.  Amanda Knox, the foreign exchange student who spent four years in an Italian prison for murdering her roommate before having her conviction overturned, dedicated a season of her podcast, The Truth About True Crime, to the Haysom murders. She weighs in on the case and talks about her connection to Elizabeth and Jens.

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Written and Reported by Rachel Ryan and Courteney Stuart
Sound production by Jaclyn Piermarini
Sound engineering by Taylor Thomas