Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 15, 1990 TAG: 9006150426
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Through two highly-publicized trials, the public has learned that the Haysoms drank too much, that their marriage was shaky and that Derek Haysom's image as a retired industrialist belied his modest estate.
The murders have laid bare the lives of a few other people who happened to get caught in the crossfire of testimony.
Two of those bystanders were singled out in testimony Thursday at the second trial in the Haysom murders. Both were seated in the packed Bedford County Circuit Courtroom when their names were mentioned.
Thursday's proceedings were taken up by the testimony of Elizabeth Haysom, the victims' youngest child who has been sentenced to 90 years in prison for her admitted role in helping plan her parents' murders.
Haysom, 26, was the prosecution's star witness against her former boyfriend, Jens Soering, who is charged with slashing the Haysoms to death in their Boonsboro home.
Bedford County prosecutor James Updike asked Haysom to read excerpts from a letter that Soering had written to her during holiday recess of their freshman year at the University of Virginia.
In one portion, Soering described his unhappy childhood as the son of a West German diplomat and details of his unhappy househould. His most stinging observations were reserved for his father, Klaus Soering, who sat in the second row behind his son.
A few people turned to see how the elder Soering would react to his son's harsh judgments. The diplomat - on leave from his post in Africa to stand by his oldest son - looked down, showing no emotion.
Updike's purpose in having that part of the letter read aloud in court was unclear.
In the afternoon, Elizabeth Haysom returned to the witness stand to face a three-hour cross-examination by one of Soering's lawyers, Rick Neaton of Detroit.
At one point, Neaton referred to comments that Haysom has made to investigators about nude photographs in which she was shown in "humiliating" positions.
Neaton asked Haysom if her mother had taken the photos and had shown them to one of her mother's friends, Annie Massie, who was seated in the first row behind the prosecution table.
Updike objected to the question about the photographs, a subject which he said was irrelevant to the case. Neaton apologized for the line of questioning, but argued that the nude photographs would shed light on Haysom's motives and the defense's contention that Haysom - not Soering - killed her parents.
"I frankly can't see a purpose at this point, but I will let you proceed," Circuit Judge William Sweeney told Neaton.
Later, under Neaton's questioning, Haysom testified that Massie had told her that she had seen the photos and complimented her on her physique. Then, Haysom said, Massie reached out and touched her breast.
Sweeney later chided Neaton for bringing up the photos. "It really hasn't been handled properly," the judge said.
It was too late, Sweeney said, to do anything. The jury, the packed courtroom and the media had heard it.
by CNB