20/20 - True Crime Vault: New DNA Analysis in a Murder

Episode Date: March 27, 2025

A man, convicted of murdering his girlfriend's parents in 1985, claims new DNA analysis exonerates him of the murder, which he and his girlfriend are serving time for. Included: interviews with investigators and a member of the Innocence Project. Originally aired: 02/09/18 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the FIZ loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with FIZ. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fiz.ca. Welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault, where heart-stopping headlines come to life. where heart-stopping headlines come to life. So you came here, saw where the attack began. Both Derek and Nancy's blood was on the floor here. The first thing in your mind was... What kind of gang came in here and did this?

Tonight on 2020, the brutal double murder of a successful husband and wife. Rumors of witchcraft. Who do? But was it a gang or their very own daughter and her boyfriend on the run? They're both guilty of something. Otherwise, why would they leave? Here's something from Stuttgart. Bangkok.

Luxembourg. Young lovers going on this crazy adventure. Life on the Lamb in London. Under-assumed names, passing bad checks, but then it all came crashing down on them. Two first-degree murder charges. Murder of their parents. Brought back to America in cuffs.

Back it up. And convicted. She told me that she had killed her parents. I wanted my parents out of my life. But was he her pawn? He had a choice whether he killed my parents or not. Did he actually kill for love or just confessed to it? The bottom line in this case is that one of them is lying.

Now a new film and new evidence tonight claiming he's innocent. You say that Jens confessed to a crime he didn't commit out of misguided love, loyalty, lust for Elizabeth Hasem. You have a guy who has only been with one woman in his life and he turned out to be the devil. This evening right here he's speaking out but if he didn't do it who did? We know two guys did it. Somebody watching this show right now knows them they walk among us. Good evening, I'm David you and I'm Elizabeth Vargas and this is 2020. Los Angeles, California, the Lemley Royal Theater, it's opening night the movie right up Hollywood's alley to

obsessed lovers of grisly murder, sex and betrayal. lovers, a grisly murder, sex and betrayal. My parents died because Jens and I were obsessed with each other. But it turns out in the genre of You Can't Make This Up, Hollywood didn't. The movie, Killing for Love, is actually a documentary in theaters now. A deep dive into the real life case of Jens Surring. Behind bars for nearly 32 years for a brutal crime, he says he didn't commit. It's a natural human emotion to want somebody to blame. Jens' multi-decade crusade for freedom

has now attracted a dream team of A-list supporters. That's screen legend Martin Sheen leading the Q&A at that LA screening. He could not possibly have been at the scene. There's also music mogul Jason Flom, the man responsible for launching Katy Perry's career. And a founding board member of the Innocence Project. He is somebody who could have and should have known better and he was blinded by love. Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel has advocated for Jens' release, but his two strongest advocates ironically aren't high profile celebrities or hot or hot-shot defense attorneys.

They're police officers. As far as him physically killing these people, No, I don't think he did. One is an investigator who originally worked on the case. Show me. The other, a current sheriff, now re-investigating it. If you break it down and look at what the evidence truly is, I don't feel like it would support a conviction if he was tried today. Yenza's story begins in 1984 at the University of Virginia.

He's 18 years old, the son of a German diplomat, a freshman, and a Jefferson scholar with a full scholarship to UVA. We were in the same Eccles Scholars program. The Eccles Scholars program pulls the top 6 percent of each entering class. Amy Lemley wrote an extensive investigative magazine article about the case. What was Hans like? He had the physique more of a boy than a man, kind of baby fat. He had big, thick glasses that covered about half of his face.

They said that most people really couldn't stand to be in a conversation with them because he just loved to argue. He was intellectually arrogant. I would say so. He was also, by his own admission, sexually inexperienced. Sexually, not only inexperienced, but, you know, a virgin, right? And he meets a girl, Elizabeth Hem, who is one of the hottest girls on campus.

She was apparently very bright as well, came from a very good family, and he falls head over heels in love with her. Elizabeth is two years older than Yen's. Her father, Derek Hasem, was a Canadian steel mogul, and her mother, Nancy, the goddaughter of Lady Astor, a wealthy aristocrat and the first woman to take a seat in the British Parliament.

But this power family seemed to have no power over their wild child daughter. Elizabeth ran away from boarding school in England and spent five months in Europe using drugs. Nevertheless, she presented well to her classmates at UVA. She had this great shock of blonde hair hanging down, and she was the opposite of who you think might end up with young siring.

People must have been a bit taken aback by her selection of him. Yes, very few people understood what was going on between those two. One thing apparently going on between the virginal freshman and his unlikely alluring companion was revealed in a series of X-rated letters they exchanged over several months. When you see and you read those love letters, you can sort of feel that there was a lot of sexual tension. you read those love letters, you can sort of feel that there was a lot of, you know,

sexual tension. These are just some of the ones we can actually read on television. I love you, Chetan. I love you selfishly and I love you with pain. How you feel about a couple drinks back at my place. I want to be with you, around you, through you. But only months into their relationship in March 1985, tragedy strikes. Derek W.R. Haysom and his wife Nancy

were stabbed to death in their home. Elizabeth's parents are found brutally murdered inside their rural retirement home in Boonesboro, Virginia. It sort of sits on the border right there, Lynchburg and Bedford County. Just a very nice, quiet, wealthy community. The bodies were only discovered this afternoon at their home on Holcomb Rock Road.

It was a very shocking crime. I've never seen anything like that before. Then rookie investigator Ricky Gardner is one of the first to arrive on the scene. This is your first real homicide right? Yes, yes ma'am. Early we were able to determine that this was not a burglary. Nothing appears to be missing. There is even Nancy Haysom's purse with money still in it. The Haysoms must have let whomever did this to them into the house because there was no sign of forced entry. But I'd never seen any human being that had been injured by another human being in that fashion.

Overkill? Overkill. It was up close and personal to me. It was like a slaughterhouse. Chuck Reed was a Bedford County investigator in 1985 and worked the case with Gardner for a year before leaving the Sheriff's office. He took me inside the crime scene. You opened the door when you first came here. The first thing I saw was Derek Hasem's body

was lying here with his head up against, basically up against the corner of this fireplace here. Up against this corner here? Yes. Derek Haysom had been stabbed 36 times. Nancy, six. Her body was found in the kitchen. Both were stabbed in the heart. Both nearly decapitated. If you step over and come in, this area right here is where all the blood was.

Where? At the table just around in this area where we were smeared around in this area. And the first thing in your mind was? What kind of gang came in here and did this? There was concern because of the smearing blood initially that there was some sort of cult involved. Rumors of witchcraft and voodoo fueled curiosity and the demand for answers. Who done it theories are rampant.

Word that Derek Haysom upset workers in the steel business and the demand for answers. Who done it theories are rampant. Word that Derek Hasem upset workers in the steel business fuels rumors of a mafia-style hit. But a clue in a rental car agreement is about to change the direction of the case. You saw that and you thought... That's when we get to thinking, well, wait a minute.

Stay with us. Washington, D.C. It's the 1980s. Reagan and the Redskins are in their heyday. And speaking of time works, it's the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's become a staple here in Georgetown, the center of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It's become a staple here in Georgetown, the center of the nightlife.

And it's at one of those showings, 200 miles away from the Hasems' home in Bedford County, Virginia, near Lynchburg, where Elizabeth Hasems says she was when her parents were murdered, an alibi with her boyfriend in tow. She told us that her and her German boyfriend had rented a car on that Friday and drove to Washington to sightsee.

And what did they do while they were in Washington, D.C.? According to her, they just laid around, went out to eat, went to movies. The films were stranger than paradise, and ironically, witness. No, no, no, no! They had stated to Washington Marriott and was able to verify later that they in fact had. And found the receipt, the hotel receipt, where they had checked in on the 29th

and gotten room service twice. One of those room service deliveries, food for two, was right around the time police believe Elizabeth's parents were murdered. What did she say about her relationship with her parents? Well, she said that she loved her parents very deeply and that she was very fond of them. But Elizabeth's uncle, Lou Benedict, Nancy Hason's younger brother, says the relationship between mother and daughter wasn't as rosy as Elizabeth described it. Because of my sister's bullheadedness, I would say that they locked horns.

And Elizabeth's parents didn't appear to be happy with their daughter's new boyfriend, Yen Tsering. They did not like the young man and did everything they thought they could to try and separate him. Did everything they thought they could to try and separate them as Police continue their investigation into the Haysom's double murder. They find the agreement for the rental car Elizabeth says she and Yen's used that weekend. This is the Rental car agreement. Yes. Show me where the mileage is. Here's your mileage of 669 miles You saw that and you thought that's when when we get to thinking, well, wait a minute.

Even though this is long before the days of Waze... We're all set, drive safely. Investigators know from UVA's Charlottesville campus to Washington, D.C., the round trip is only 240 miles. 240 miles and you had 669 miles. Exactly. So once we put pen to paper, we sat down and we looked. And if you went from Charlottesville to DC,

DC back to Lynchburg, Lynchburg back to Washington, and then back to Charlottesville, that's pretty close to being 669 miles. It's quite a coincidence. So police question Elizabeth again. We asked her about that mouse and she said that they had gotten lost. It's pretty lost. Yeah, pretty lost. That ring true to you?

I mean, we're talking college kids. Didn't put a lot of stock in that. Plus, Elizabeth is cooperating with police and agrees to give her fingerprints and blood. But it's a path of bloody footprints in the Haysom's front yard that has gotten investigators' attention. The prints were revealed by luminol, a chemical that tests for the presence of blood. I have a set of prints that woke up to the driveway and end here at the driveway as if someone got in a car. Just stop.

Just stop. So, clearly they got into something. But when investigator Reed examines Yen's and Elizabeth's rental car, he comes up empty. When you sprayed the luminol inside the inside of Elizabeth and Yen's rental car, I got no reaction. Remember, it's 1985 and DNA testing is not yet in use in criminal courts. So without a hit on the car, investigators are looking for a match to the type O blood found at the crime scene. It wasn't the victims, so they assume it must

be the killers. There was several droplets of O blood found on the screen door, and there was two small spots found in the master bedroom. Investigators are flummoxed again because Elizabeth has Type B blood. Her fingerprints did show up on a vodka bottle at her parents' home, but that's not surprising. She visited often. But then someone from Elizabeth's own family points a finger of suspicion at her. It was from Dr. Howard Haysom, who is Elizabeth's half-brother.

He thought his sister had something to do with his parents' death. That's a pretty unbelievable, pretty shocking thing to say. Exactly. But it just happened to come at the time when you had nothing in this case, except for this strange rental car agreement. And of course, he didn't like yens. He didn't think much of yens either. for this strange rental car agreement. And of course, he didn't like Yen's. He didn't think much of Yen's either.

Remember, Elizabeth said she and Yen's spent the weekend of the murders together in Washington, DC. So investigators interview him next. He stepped in, it was like, I'm thinking to myself, I can't see this little kid doing something like that, that kind of damage. I don't know if he's ever been in a fight in his life. Audio tapes from that first police interview with Jens reveal a confident college freshman fending off suspicion, telling investigators he's the son of a German diplomat.

What was your impression? He was very sure of himself. You and Detective Reed sort of played good cop, bad cop with him. We did. You were the bad cop. I was. When we asked him to give us his blood and his fingerprints, he was adamant. He said, I can't do that.

Why not? His explanation was that if it got back to our State Department that a German diplomat's son was a person of interest in a homicide or suspect in a homicide case that his whole family would be deported. I said, look, Inns, I said, I'm 99% sure you're innocent of this thing. But I said, I just need that 1% to convince me that you are totally innocent. And that's when he decided, he said, OK, well, I'll call you all next week. As investigators wait to meet with Yen's, the phone rings.

But it's not who they expect. Dr. Howard Hason called us. And then we'll forget that phone call. He was upset. And he said, you've let him get away. Next. Okay, Martin, let's try one. Remember, big. You got it.

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It has been six months since the heinous double murder of Derek and Nancy Haysom rocked the rural community of Bedford County, Virginia. There have been no arrests but the Haysom's youngest daughter, Elizabeth Haysom, and her German boyfriend, Jens Zuring, are under suspicion. With limited evidence, police are left to wait for Jens to voluntarily give his fingerprints and blood. Jens says he'll go think about it, calls a few days later and says he will in fact submit.

He said, I've been busy with a paper. I'll do it next Wednesday. I can't do it this week. But before the set appointment with Yen's, a shocking setback. Dr. Howard Hason called us and never will forget that phone call. He was upset and he said you've let them get away. And so they vanished. Into thin air. Into thin air. I said, well, apparently they're both guilty of something.

Otherwise, why would they leave? Unbeknownst to Virginia investigators, the couple is 4,000 miles away in Europe, on their way on a jet setting, globe trotrotting journey vagabonding across the world, keeping a journal of their exploits, along with maps and receipts for their international ports of call. This is one they were traveling.

Here's something from Stuttgart, something from Luxembourg. Schilling. This is Bangkok. This is a map of Bangkok. Boy, they had quite the journey on the run, didn't they? They sure did. Let's picture these two young lovers going on this romantic, tense, crazy adventure to England.

Life on the Lamb in London. Yeah, under-assumed names, passing bad checks, but then it all came crashing down on them. Yen's and Elizabeth's six-month Life on the Lamb ended in this London Marks & Spencer department store. On the 30th of April, 1986, a young couple was seen by the store detective in Marks & Spencer's just across the road there, acting suspiciously. Terry Wright and Kenneth Beaver were detectives with the London Police Department.

They were separated inside the store, and they both were seen to go to the counter and get refunds off previous purchases. A store detective alerts an off-duty officer who stops the young couple. They said their names as Christopher Plattenau and Tara Lucino. The off-duty officer arrests Yenz and Elizabeth on suspicion they committed fraud. Their mug

shots reveal their efforts to disguise themselves. His hair was tinted very slightly reddish, wasn't it? Yes, yes. She had dark hair, fairly short. I wanted to know where they were staying in London and I wanted to know where their passports were. Jens then makes a decision, a fatal mistake, according to detectives, that will alter the course of his and Elizabeth's lives forever. He decided to tell us that he was staying at a place called

At Home, which is like a small basement rental apartment in Gloucester Place, which is in the centre of London. As fate would have it, the London flat was just off Baker Street, the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes. This is exactly the same as the place that Jens brought us to, down some basement steps, the doorway on the right-hand side. Jens had a key on him. He opened the door and took us into what was a very, very small room. I noticed on the bed there were some wigs, false mustaches, and I suddenly realized that

Yen Zerring, all the time he'd been talking to us, was wearing a false mustache. I can remember Terry saying to Yen Zer, okay, take it off. So Yen Zer peeled off the mustache for us. But among the weary travelers' masks and veneers, detectives are about to uncover a bona fide bombshell. There was one suitcase in particular that was very large and it was full of correspondence. Once you started going through the letters in the diaries, it opened up a can of worms. Those steamy letters they had written to each other and a shared travel diary, pages of

entries would reveal clues to a macabre secret. they had written to each other and a shared travel diary. Pages of entries would reveal clues to a macabre secret. That correspondence all now locked up in a Bedford County evidence room. These are all the letters and things that were found in their room in London, right? Right, and I believe this is gonna be Elizabeth's diary. In it, Elizabeth writes passages incriminating herself and Yen's. Yen's wipes fingerprints from room, passport photos done, parks at National Airport satellite parking, wipes car. Wipes car.

I'm thinking, why are they worried about fingerprints? It seemed to me like they were trying to hide something. She goes on to write, we were told the case is about to be solved. Perhaps fingerprints on coffee mug used by Yen's in Bedford interview gave him away. Now, clearly, again, they were worried about fingerprints for some reason, and I wanted to know what that interview was.

I went and got him a cup of coffee the day we interviewed him. I believe a styrofoam cup is all they had, so no fingerprints were gotten off of it. As detectives read on, they learn Elizabeth has been harboring a deep hatred for her parents. There was also letters that were talking about things like doing voodoo on the parents and I wish they would lie down and die. The Christmas letters were so biting and so full of hatred that Elizabeth wrote Yen's. About her parents?

About her parents and how much she despised them. And she talked about, should we get rid of them now or should we wait until we graduate and then do that? And the young couple's clumsy trail of breadcrumbs is about to lead right back to Bedford County, Virginia. Because in yet another of the letters written by Yen's, he mentions the name of two homicide detectives in the US.

One of them referred to, was actually addressed to Deah, Officer Reed and Gardner. I found that particularly interesting because it actually referred to the death of her parents. Elementary, as Sherlock Holmes would say. I kept telling everybody that I thought they'd already decided. I thought they'd done a murder. And I got the phone call.

He said, this is Detective Constable Terry Wright calling from Richmond, England. He said, do you know Elizabeth Hayslmer, you're in Soaring? OK, now you have to be. And I'm going, uh, yeah. Yeah, I do. And I said, can you tell me, are her parents dead? And he said, yeah, they're dead.

He said, were they murdered? And I said, yes. And I said, I think you need to come over. We have the murderers incarcerated. Next, some court testimony that becomes must-see TV. When she appeared in court, everybody was riveted by what she had to say. Stay with us. Hey, I'm Brad Milky.

You may know me as the host of ABC Audio's daily news podcast, Start Here, but I'd like to add aspiring true crime expert to my resume. And here's how I'm going to make it happen. Every week, I'm going to unpack the biggest true crime story that everyone is talking about. ABC's got some unique access here, so I'll talk to the reporters and producers who have followed these cases for months, sometimes years. We're bringing the latest developments and the larger context on the true crime stories you've been hearing about. Follow the crime scene for special access to the people who know these stories best. On April 11th, the amateur of Rives and IMAX. I want to find and kill the people who murdered

my wife. Critics rave the amateur is a tense, unpredictable ride. You're just not a killer, Charlie. Train me. That constantly finds new and inventive ways to up the stakes. The first one you kill, you let the other ones know you're coming. You don't want them all?

Academy Award winner Rami Malek and Academy Award nominee Lawrence Fishburne. The amateur, maybe PG-13, maybe inappropriate for children under 13. Only in theaters in IMAX April 11th. Get tickets now. There's Big Ben and Buckingham Palace, but in the summer of 1986,

there's something else in Britain getting attention. Yen Tse-ring and Elizabeth Hasem peering out from their mugshots. American sweethearts and UVA scholars on the run from cold-hearted murders back in Virginia. Former Scotland Yard detectives Ken Beaver and Terry Wright remember the pair, eager for their weekly court dates. That was their only opportunity to see each other.

And I used to let them have a kiss and cuddle in the passageway. Yes, they were definitely still in love. In love and in trouble. Virginia investigator Ricky Gardner finally has the captive couple right where he wants them. You flew to London? I did. He and the Scotland Yard detectives question Jens and Elizabeth

about the so-called voodoo murder of her parents a little more than a year before. The final statement has been taken from Yen Searling on June the 5th, 1986. A strangely compliant Yen's waves his right to an attorney and starts talking. And he has no lawyer present. That's right. He was questioned for three or four days without an attorney.

Presumably, that person would have told him to shut up. In an extraordinary series of interviews, only some of which were recorded, Yenz proceeds to take full responsibility for the killings, claiming that Elizabeth stayed behind in Washington creating an alibi with double movie tickets and room service for two, while he drove down to the Haysom's home and killed them.

He told me that he came at him like this and he fought like a bear that he refused to die. There is one curious moment during his confession, one that will only become significant later, when detectives ask Yens about false confessions. Would you consider the guilt of something you did? I mean, see it happening. I think it's a possibility.

I think it happened in real life. The detectives do not pursue the point. In her interview, Elizabeth does Yen's one better, adding incriminating details, telling the detectives Yen's bought a knife before he left to go see her parents and saying he returned covered in blood. Those stunning confessions were enough to get Yens and Elizabeth indicted for murder back in Virginia, even while they were still in London.

Today we presented indictments for murder. Nearly a full year passes before Elizabeth Hasem makes her dramatic return to the US, landing in the twilight of a May evening in Roanoke, her hair pulled back in a braid, her hands cuffed in front. The former University of Virginia student was extradited by British authorities. Pam Windsor was a local TV reporter at the time.

Pam Windsor, News Center 13, Bedford. It's the stuff that TV movies are made of. I mean, the shock that she was involved, wanting to see what she says, it was a very big deal. Elizabeth pleads guilty as an accessory before the fact, admitting she helped plan the murders, but insisting Yen's is the one who carried them out. He had a choice. He had a four-hour drive. No matter what I said to him before that, no matter what I had written to him in months before that, he had a choice whether he killed my parents or not.

She is sentenced to 90 years in prison. Meanwhile, back in Britain, Jens is fighting extradition, hoping to be tried in Germany, where he faces a much lighter sentence. During this extradition proceeding. But it is a losing battle. In 1990, he is also returned to Virginia. The defendant, Mr. Soaring, he comes behind him

and he cuts left to right. Up until then, we'd only heard Elizabeth's version. And so now everybody wants to see what he looks like and hear his version. People hack the courtroom expecting drama, and Jens doesn't disappoint. In a stunning turnabout, he takes the stand to now swear he is innocent.

Basically, Jens was in the position of saying, believe me now, don't believe that confession I gave a few years ago. We know Elizabeth that the most powerful form of evidence in a courtroom is a confession because an average person, a juror, can't understand. Why would you implicate yourself? Yens now says Elizabeth is the one who drove down to her parents' house and murdered them while he stayed behind in Washington. He says Elizabeth, who was using heroin and other hard drugs at the time,

came back and told him what she'd done. I've killed my parents, I've killed my parents. It wasn't her that did it, it was the drugs that made her do it and that her parents deserved it anyway. You've got to help me. If you don't help me, they'll kill me. He says his false confession in London

was an attempt to take the blame for Elizabeth to save her from a death sentence. I loved Elizabeth and I believed that the only way I could save her life from the electric chair was for me to take the blame and that I personally really faced no more than a few years in German prison. His idea, his twisted fantasy was that he would serve his time in Germany, which could be as little as a few years, come out as her hero, and they would ride off into the sunset together. The documents that I-

Yen's decision to testify, however, opened him up to a rip-saw cross-examination by prosecutor Jim Updike. Mrs. Soren, you have the capability of lying to accomplish a certain goal, don't you? To protect Elizabeth, right. To protect Elizabeth? Yes. Then it would follow, if you had the capability you? To protect Elizabeth. Right. To protect Elizabeth?

Yes. Then it would follow if you had the capability of lying to protect Elizabeth, you most certainly have the capability of lying to protect yourself, correct? That would be logical. The prosecutor trying to turn the jury against Jens produces a letter he wrote to Elizabeth, in which he refers to local authorities as Yokels. Those Yokels don't know what's coming down. I wrote that, yes.

I still don't understand. You still think we don't know what's coming down, don't you? Absolutely not. I don't think you do. That's correct, yes. The trial features a bitter reunion. Elizabeth arrives from prison, her long blonde hair now shorn and commits the ultimate act of

betrayal according to Yen's, blaming him for her crime. It suddenly became real. We were going to conspire and commit murder. So much of the case depends on whether jurors believe Yen's suring story or Elizabeth Haysom. This was a time before DNA when blood typing is the best science can do. So the prosecutor makes much of type O blood found at the scene. Yen Tseu-ring has type O, along with nearly 40% of the population. The prosecutor also shows the jury a bloody sock print that he said matches Yen's foot.

And you pull that out and it matches and it fits like a glove. At the end of his three week trial, the jury doesn't even need to sleep on it. We the jury found the defendant guilty of first degree murder. Yen's is convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Everybody out of the way. Get back on the sidewalk.

He has spent nearly every day since fighting to free himself. And now he may be closer than ever. What's up, Sheriff? Still ahead in pursuit of truth and justice, what 21st century DNA might reveal? Stay with us. Hello, it's Robin Roberts here. Hey, guys, it's George Stephanopoulos here. Hey, everybody, it's Michael Strahan here. with us. groups of interviews, what everyone will be talking about that day. Put some good in your morning and start your day with GMA. Good morning America!

Put the good in your morning. GMA 7A on ABC. Rapper Sean Diddy Combs was a kingmaker. He had wealth, fame, and power. What's up, welcome to New York! Until it all came crashing down. Federal investigators raiding two homes owned by hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.

I'm Brian Buckmeyer, an ABC News legal contributor. As Diddy heads to trial, we trace his remarkable rise and fall and what could be next. Listen to Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. July 2017, not long after the 27th anniversary of Vien Zuring's conviction. Well, well, well.

What's up, Sheriff? Good, good. Richard Hutchins. Hey, how are you? Very nice to meet you. Pleasure. An unlikely team of volunteer Zuring supporters meets in Richmond to review what they believe is important new information.

When you look at his confession, it's not consistent at all with the crime scene. Chip Harding is a sheriff in Albemarle County, Virginia, moonlighting on the case along with private investigator Richard Hudson. And then there's Jason Flom, the multi-millionaire music executive, who, when he's not discovering multi-platinum artists, is giving a voice to the wrongfully convicted through the Innocence Project. It's very interesting and it's very sad that he's still in jail 30 years later.

Oh, it's beyond sad. It's tragic when you have a guy who has only been with one woman in his life and he turned out to be the devil. But the battle lines are drawn because in Bedford County, the original investigator, Ricky Gardner, continues to believe Searing is guilty. And he says, ah, kill them. What is the physical evidence connecting Yen to this murder scene? The physical evidence? Well, we've got the sock impression that we found at the scene. Oh my God, let's talk about the sock print. How the hell can you convict somebody based on a sock print?

The prosecution tried to link Yen Tseuring to the Haysa murders by comparing bloody sock prints found at the house. Well, what you do is you bring in an expert, a sock print expert, right? Which sounds ridiculous because it is. Police originally said that sock print roughly corresponded to a woman's size 7 foot, too small for Yen Tse-ring's size 8 1⁄2. They also point to mistakes Yen's made when he confessed. He told police Nancy Haysom was wearing blue jeans.

She was not. She was dressed in a housecoat. What kind of sense does it make for him to give the wrong details? That doesn't add up. In a petition for a pardon, Yen says long after the trial, he learned a significant piece of evidence had not been shared with his defense attorneys. An analysis of the crime by an FBI profiler. The FBI profiler was convinced of two things, that whoever killed Mr. and Mrs. Haysom was

intimate with the family and was a woman. That's right. That's what he said. He definitely told them that it was a woman that was close to the family involved in that crime scene. The profiler says he was also struck by Nancy Hasem's outfit, that house coat. She would never receive strangers

wearing a nightgown in her bathrobe. Exactly. Another thing, remember, Elizabeth and Yen's rental car had no trace of blood, even though there was a trail of bloody footprints leading towards the driveway. Which begs the question, there must have been another car. There has to have been another car. And we have a mechanic in that area stepping forward and saying, I know I didn't mention it 20 years ago,

but actually. Tony Buchanan swears to me he serviced a car for Elizabeth Hasem in this lot just weeks after her parents were killed. More than 20 years after the trial in 2011, Tony Buchanan suddenly comes forward with an incredible claim. He says just weeks after the murders, Elizabeth Hasem and a man brought a car in for repair. Buchanan says he saw blood on the floor mats and took a closer look.

When I looked over between the console and the seat, I seen a knife and it was full of blood. This kind of knife. He says at the time he assumed the blood and knife were connected to deer hunting. He says years later he saw a photo of Yen Zering and says he realized that was not the man he had seen with Elizabeth and the bloody car. And I said well damn that ain't the guy was in the shop. I said somebody else is involved in this case because somebody else, that ain't the guy was in the shop. I said, somebody else is involved in this case because somebody else than this guy, this guy was not in my shop.

Tony Buchanan has no credibility. Ricky Gardner questions why Buchanan waited so long to come forward. Elizabeth, in 1985, this case was a front page news every day, every day. Come on. He's not credible. In his pardon petition, Yen says the strongest proof of his innocence is revealed by modern DNA testing of the old evidence from the Haysom House. An expert working for Yen says the results are astonishing. There is no trace of Yen's at the crime scene.

There was no way that Yen's urine could contribute to those samples. Experts on Zuring's team say some of the crime scene samples contained DNA not from Yen's, but from two strangers. It looks like there's at least one to two unidentified males at that crime scene. That has Jason Flom and some others more convinced than ever that Elizabeth Haysom is the real killer and that she had accomplices. What actually must have happened is that she went to the house with two males

and that things took a very, very bad turn from there. And now the DNA backs that up. But a DNA expert 2020 consulted questions whether the results about two strangers are really that conclusive. Professor Dan Crane says it's possible the DNA is actually from one of the victims, Derek Hasem. There's no indication that Jen's soaring was present at the crime scene.

But I think we can also say that there's no affirmative indication of anybody other than the victims being present at the crime scene as well. Yen's supporters stand by their expert's interpretation. We know two guys did it. And unless they've died since then, they're out there. Still ahead, we'll talk to Yen Sering from behind bars and discuss the woman he says

ruined his life. And how do you feel about Elizabeth Hasem today? Stay with us. Yen Sering was 18 years old when the crimes that sent him to prison were committed. He is now 51. His former sweetheart Elizabeth Haysom, 20 at the time her parents were murdered, is now 53. In recent years, the Virginia prison authorities have put an end to all on-camera interviews, so we spoke to Yen's by phone in August, a week after his birthday. And just for the record, did you kill Derek and Nancy Haysom?

And how do you feel about Elizabeth Hasem today? Honestly, I really try not to think about her. I'm trying to look towards the future. I'm trying to stay positive. And getting mad at people doesn't give me anything. Some will never be convinced that Yen Tseu-ring isn't right where he belongs. Do you have any doubt in your minds that Yen Tseu-ring committed those he belongs. Do you have any doubt in your minds that Yen Tzuring committed those murders?

No doubt in my mind at all. He learned the game of manipulation from a very good instructor, Elizabeth Hasem. And now he's manipulated individuals into thinking that he is innocent, when in fact I know that he is a guilty man. With his appeals long since exhausted. Yen's his last hope is for a pardon or parole. The Surin case in

September supporters held a news conference in Charlottesville urging then Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and parole officials to set suring free. I will tell you right now that I do not believe, based on all the work that I did on this case, that Ian Zuring participated in the homicide of Derek and Nancy Hays. I do not believe he did that. It didn't happen.

McAuliffe took no action. Now there is a new governor, and Zuring's team says it will try yet again. He's been stuck in a tiny cage for 31 years. For a crime he didn't commit, it's enough. If Yen Zuring's current appeal for parole was denied, he will next be eligible for parole for the 14th time this summer.

So our question for you right here tonight, do you believe his story that he's innocent? Let us know on Twitter and on Facebook. And in the meantime, that is 2020 for tonight. I'm David Muir. And I'm Elizabeth Vargas. For all of us at 2020 and ABC News, have a great weekend and a great night. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. You can find all new broadcast episodes of 2020 Friday nights at 9 on ABC. Hello, it's Robin Roberts here. Hey guys, it's George Stephanopoulos here. Hey everybody, it's Michael Strahan here.

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