It is evident from reading Ken Englade's recounting of the murder of Derek and Nancy Haysom on March 30, 1985, that he has no sympathy for Elizabeth Haysom, the daughter. In fact, the animus comes across so strongly near the end of his book, you are left to wonder whether you are getting the entire story. That Elizabeth Haysom was a congenial liar, manipulator and proverbial narcissistic "spoiled" brat is fairly evident from what she did. She does not need a dunce cap spelling it out. But Englade continually reminds us of the character flaws as he relates the story. It gets tiresome.
When Englade raises the question-a legitimate question-of whether Elizabeth Haysom actually accompanied her boy friend, Jens Soering, to her parent's home in Boonsboro, Virginia to commit the murders, the question is almost an afterthought. Soering maintained that Elizabeth Haysom was present. She in turn confessed to "inadvertently" sending Soering off on the mission. "In advertently" because she says she did not know he was actually going to commit the murders when he did. Typical I-am-guilty-but-innocent line. But based upon the information imparted to readers, it is fairly certain that Elizabeth Haysom was not present to watch her parents be killed. But Englade raises the possibility that there was someone in the house after the murders.
BEYOND REASON is essentially a character study of Elizabeth Haysom-and not a good one at that. We learn about her early ability to fabricate stories to gain attention. We learn that her typical adolescent rebellion took the form of an extended trip to Europe with her lesbian lover. We learn that by the time she entered the University of Virginia in Charlottesville-a ninety-minute drive from her parent's home-she was ready to meet, greet and cohabit with the likes of Jens Soering.
Soering was the son of a father who worked in the German diplomatic corps as an administrator. The family came to the United States in 1977. Englade's description of Soering's early years is a bit more detailed than that provided of Elizabeth. Or perhaps, the author is more consistent in his focus on Soering, which results in the impression that there is more detail than is actually there. Like Elizabeth Haysom, Jens Soreing was an intellectually gifted student. But Soreing apparently always felt that he was the "odd man out". Self-absorbed, arrogant, opinionated without a foundation of self to stand on, Soreing naturally inclined toward an elitist view of life, or at least his place in it. Becoming a friend and then a lover of Elizabeth Haysom, his fellow Echols Scholars program member, apparently liberated Soering's ego to stand on the relationship. When Soreing's trial began in June 1990, after he was extradited from England where he and Elizabeth were arrested, he turned on Elizabeth and said that she alone had killed her parents. Extremely odd given the evidence. But within the context of who Jens Soreing saw himself as being, it was a denial consistent with a delusional ego.