Storyville - Killing For Love

Killing for Love - Series Version (iPlayer only)

Episode 1 - First Love
The 20 year-old Elizabeth Haysom is widely admired at the University of Virginia for her wild past. Jens Soering, the son of a German diplomat, is a first year Jefferson Scholar and had just turned 18 when he meets her. He is instantly entranced and they embarked on an intense, obsessive relationship. Three months into their affair, on 30 March 1985, Elizabeth’s parents are brutally murdered in their Virginia home and the couple flee.

Episode 2 - The Betrayal
The lovers  flee Virginia. Crisscrossing Asia and Europe they are eventually arrested in London, where Jens confesses to the murder in what he later claims was an act of love. Elizabeth agrees a deal with the prosecutor and returns to the US to plead guilty on condition that she will not face the death penalty. At her hearing, she lays the blame for the double murder on Jens and his obsessive love for her.

Episode 3 - The Confession
Feeling betrayed by his former lover, the teenage Jens Soering is returned to the US to stand trial for the murder of her parents. Soering likens his earlier confession to a tragic act of love, inspired by A Tale of Two Cities - giving his life to protect Elizabeth and ensure her happiness. His confessed account of the frenzied knife attack that killed the Haysoms is picked over and re-enacted in court.

Episode 4 - The Footprint
Teenager Jens Soering struggles to win sympathy in his trial. Tirelessly highlighting the inconsistencies between Jens’ account, the crime scene and Elizabeth’s claims, the defence team continue to struggle to overcome the damage done by Jens’ original confession, despite there only being one slight piece of evidence - a smeared footprint.

Episode 5 - College Friends
The trial takes a dramatic turn when Haysom takes the witness stand. Giving detailed testimony, Haysom paints Soering as an obsessive lover fulfilling her desire for her parents’ death and returning to her soaked in their blood. Soering’s legal team’s efforts to pick apart her testimony are rewarded with a twist when a new witness steps forward.

Episode 6 - Chasing Freedom
Now 30 years into his prison sentence, Jens Soering is still petitioning for his release and claiming his innocence for the brutal murders of 1985. The persistence of his defence team is rewarded as the latest forensic techniques provide compelling new evidence in his favour, but their efforts to repatriate Soering to Germany are thwarted at the last moment by Elizabeth Haysom, who breaks a 20-year silence to keep Jens Soering in prison.

Publicity contact: EK