Jens Soering wants to go home

Jens Soering's hair is graying. Not much else has changed for him in two decades inside prison walls, including his story. Soering is currently serving two life terms for the 1985 murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom at their Bedford County home.

"I'm innocent", said Soering at his sentencing in 1990 in Bedford County's Circuit Courtroom.

"I'm not a murderer.", Soering told us Friday during an interview inside the Buckingham Correctional Center. "I was convicted wrongly of two murders."

Soering now pins his hopes of getting out of prison on DNA analysis, a tool that didn't exist at the time of his conviction.

Results of DNA testing, performed in 2009 under Virginia's post conviction DNA testing program, eliminate Soering as a contributor of some evidence collected by investigators at the Haysom home in 1985. The report doesn't clear Soering, but doesn't implicate anyone else.

Soering has type O blood. That blood type was found at the murder scene. The samples collected were tested so much between 1985 and 1990 the collected blood was used up, leaving nothing to now compare to Soering's blood.

Soering contends it was Elizabeth Haysom who killed her parents, with the help of an unknown accomplice.

"She was there with somebody who has O type blood.", says Soering.

The 2009 DNA results also eliminate Elizabeth Haysom as a contributor. There are no DNA profiles for the victims, Derek and Nancy Haysom. That means it's unknown whether the tested samples came from either victim. The samples do not match anyone in Virginia's DNA database.

"It's not my job to find the perpetrator.", says Soering.

Soering has made attempting to get out of prison his life's work. The German citizen is asking Governor Bob McDonnell to parole and deport him, based on that DNA report. Soering is not asking the Commonwealth to clear his name by overturning his conviction.

"I don't think anybody owes me an apology really. That would be nice. That's like a daydream of mine.", says Soering. "I owe Virginia an apology and I've apologized many times and I'll do it again now. I am truly sorry. I really am for lying to the police. I should not have done it. I was dead wrong to do it."

Just after taking office in 2010, Governor McDonnell revokes the Commonwealth's consent to transfer Soering to a German prison. Soering believes he has a good chance of parole, even with McDonnell.    Soering says McDonnell didn't know about the DNA report when he made that decision.

"He's a man of honor, a former Attorney General for the state who can actually understand what these DNA tests are about. He's a Christian, a good Catholic.", says Soering.  "So the idea he would deny my request for parole simply for politics, that's not the man I've heard about and read about.  I'm going to trust in his character."

Soering claims the only thing he's guilty of is being an accessory after the fact, by going on the run with Elizabeth to cover up the crime he says she committed. If that had been all Soering was convicted of, he would have been out of jail after a year.

"Locking somebody up for 25 years for something he didn't do and continuing to lock him up, knowing what's now come out, that's evil.", says Soering.

Soering was 18 when the Haysom murders were committed. He is now 44 years old. If deported, Soering says he's already made living arrangements in Germany and has been offered a job with a small Catholic publishing house.

Taylor Thornley, a spokeswoman for the Governor's office, emailed this statement about Soering's petition.

“We are reviewing this petition. Jens Soering was found guilty of the brutal murder of two innocent Virginians. The Governor is committed to ensuring justice is served in this and all cases in the Commonwealth.”