Nancy and Derek Haysom were a wealthy couple who placed immense pressure and high expectations on their daughter, Elizabeth, who was born in 1964. After being sent to a strict boarding school in England, Elizabeth struggled academically and had difficulty adapting, causing her relationship with her parents to deteriorate significantly. Following her expulsion from the school, she spent several months traveling across Europe, engaging in drugs and illicit work. She eventually returned to her parents' strict control and enrolled at the University of Virginia.At the university, Elizabeth met Jens Söring, a highly intelligent but socially awkward student and the son of a German diplomat. The two fell in love and began a romantic relationship. Elizabeth frequently complained to Jens about her parents, portraying them as highly controlling and even claiming that her mother had taken inappropriate nude photographs of her. Derek and Nancy openly disliked Jens, viewing him as arrogant, and urged their daughter to end the relationship, which deeply angered Jens.On the weekend of March 29, 1985, Elizabeth and Jens rented a car and booked a hotel room in Washington, D.C., establishing an alibi. Days later, on April 3, Elizabeth's parents were found brutally murdered in their home with no signs of forced entry or robbery. While the couple's alibi initially seemed solid, investigators noted that their rental car had 600 unaccounted-for kilometers on the odometer. When authorities requested Jens's fingerprints months later in October, he panicked, and the couple immediately fled the country.They traveled internationally living under fake identities and committed financial fraud until they were arrested for check fraud in London on April 30, 1986. In their apartment, investigators discovered their real identification documents and diaries containing references to their escape plan and an unspecified crime.Jens initially confessed to the murders, stating he had driven back from Washington, D.C. to confront the Haysoms about his relationship with Elizabeth, and violently attacked them after a hostile argument. Elizabeth admitted to knowing about the plan and encouraging him. However, during their subsequent trials in the United States, they turned against each other. Evidence presented in court, including personal letters, demonstrated that Elizabeth had heavily manipulated Jens to kill her parents due to her deep resentment and a desire to secure her inheritance.In 1987, Elizabeth was sentenced to 90 years in prison, and in 1990, Jens received a life sentence. Jens later published an autobiography retracting his confession, claiming he had only taken the blame to protect Elizabeth and that she was the actual perpetrator. After serving decades in prison, both were granted parole in 2019 and were extradited to their respective countries as free individuals: Jens to Germany and Elizabeth to Canada.

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