20 episodes
Small Town Big Crime Rachel Ryan, Jaclyn Piermarini, Courteney Stuart
-
- True Crime
-
-
4.6 • 228 Ratings
-
A beloved couple brutally murdered in their home. Their daughter's boyfriend, Jens Soering, confessed to the crime and was sentenced to life in prison. But decades later, DNA evidence tells a different story. So who really killed Derek and Nancy Haysom and why?
-
The Crime Scene
It was the bloodiest crime scene investigators in Bedford County had ever seen. Derek and Nancy Haysom were stabbed more than thirty times in their own home. There was plenty of forensic evidence to collect, but detectives had few leads. After months of dead ends in the investigation, the couples' youngest daughter, Elizabeth, aroused suspicions with her strange behavior. When detectives started questioning her and her boyfriend, Jens Soering, the young lovers fled the country. To suppo...
-
The Trial
In 1985 Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom were bright, promising students at the University of Virginia when Haysom's parents were found brutally murdered in their Bedford County home. The young couple became the prime suspects in the crime and fled the country. They were arrested in London several months later, and British detectives found some disturbing letters. Haysom pleaded guilty to being an accessory before the fact in her parents' murders and testified against Soering, saying he comm...
-
Jens' Story
The weekend Derek and Nancy Haysom were brutally murdered in their home in Bedford County, their youngest daughter Elizabeth and her boyfriend, Jens Soering, had rented a car and driven to Washington, DC. After the killings, Elizabeth maintained Jens drove the 200 miles from Washington to Bedford County to confront her parents about their disapproval of their relationship and ended up stabbing them to death. But Jens has a very different story to tell. From behind bars at the Buckingham Corre...
-
The Blood
Type O Blood was found at the crime scene and was an important piece of evidence in convicting Jens Soering in the 1985 murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom. But newly tested DNA evidence suggests Soering wasn't at the crime scene, and the Type O blood belonged to an unidentified male. More testing revealed a second unknown male left blood at the scene. DNA experts don't believe Soering could have been at the Haysoms' home when they were murdered. A small town sheriff named Chip Harding st...
-
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 murd...
-
The Two Men
Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom were granted parole in November of 2019 after serving more than three decades in prison. But the parole board also ruled that Soering’s claims of innocence are without merit, and he was denied a pardon by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. In the eyes of the law, Jens Soering murdered Derek and Nancy Haysom, and officials in Bedford County maintain the case is closed. But the parole board investigation was done in secret so it’s unknown if any additional DNA te...
Customer Reviews
First Class Investigative Journalism
This is the most complete and thorough investigation work on the Haysem case I’ve ever heard
Superb Investigators
The women who have conducted the investigation necessary to produce this podcast are exemplary at their craft. They’re also superb at disseminating their labor and it’s outcome concisely and without prejudice. They’ve taken part in the recent Netflix docuseries on this case and both their insight and knowledge on the case stand out among those closer to the case at the time of the crime and its prosecution. Their investigation exemplifies how flawed our justice system is, and how much private citizens, with no professional training in police work nor JDs, can actually contribute with more success in finding truth and how easily our legal system can fall short in doing so.
I am still left perplexed by this case, with the no firm opinion on Jens’ guilt or innocence. If he is innocent, he certainly seems to do himself more harm than good when he opens his mouth. As for Elizabeth, I am convinced of her involvement in her parents’ murder, but only in the sense that she wanted them dead due to the effects of her childhood trauma, mental illness, and drug use. I am not convinced that she was the actual killer.
The lack of a provided “conclusion” at the end of this podcast as to what exactly happened on March 30th doesn’t reflect poorly on the investigators. It instead reveals the truth of many crimes: often only those who commit crimes know what actually happened. This fact is an unacceptable truth both to the justice system and society at large. Our justice system is so unwilling to admit if they’re unsure of facts and, more so, unwillingly to leave a case without a “guilty” verdict at its conclusion, even if the “guilty” is assigned to the wrong person. A “guilty” verdict is a win and we are culture that values winning over fairness, and even justice. We are also a culture deeply uncomfortable with doubt and the presence of ambiguity in our justice system, and in general.
So binge worthy!!
Finished all 18 episodes on a long car trip. WOW…can’t believe the ending! Finally a true crime podcast that answers the questions in the case instead of just retelling a brutal crime or an investigation with no satisfactory ending. 10/10!