Chapter 37: DNA Round 3 - Martyr or Murderer: Jens Soering, the Media, and the Truth

Mid-2022 would bring further bad news for Söring. The podcasters behind Small Town, Big Crime had not released any episodes in over a year, but that didn’t mean they had given up. As they recounted in their 2023 “Behind the Scenes” videos, their investigation had turned up no evidence of third-party involvement. Further, the podcasters, Rachel Ryan and Courteney Stuart, now realized that neither Jens Söring nor his supporters were particularly credible. Reading Terry Wright’s report and speaking to me had shown them that many of Team Söring’s theories were either built on misleading interpretations of the evidence or speculation.

So was that the end of the line for Small Town? Ryan and Stuart decided to continue. However, this time they would look for evidence more reliable than what Team Söring could provide. Instead, they would explore whether further DNA testing could be done. During previous interviews, Chuck Harding had assured Small Town that Team Söring had “nothing to hide” and wanted to pursue “tests with new DNA technology”. Chuck Reid had told them in 2019: “If nothing else, let’s get this stuff back to the lab to get it checked out, to make sure we don’t have a murderer or two running around loose out here.”

Small Town decided to take them at their word. Chip Harding said: “There are well over 200 items that we feel should be re-tested.” However, he complained, Bedford County would not agree to testing. Dr. J. Thomas McClintock told the podcasters in 2020 that new DNA testing should be conducted, “but that would mean trying to find the truth, and I don’t think Bedford County is going to release those samples”. Steven Rosenfield, Söring’s lawyer, stated that he had repeatedly requested testing.

In three gripping podcast episodes all published on 28 June 2022—“The Pursuit”, “The Investigation”, and “The Decision”—the Small Town podcasters described their efforts to secure the testing Team Söring so desperately wanted. They had contacted the current prosecutor in Bedford County, Wes Nance, as far back as 2020. Nance told them that he had confidence in the original verdict, and that new testing would be unlikely to generate reliable results owing to improper storage and contamination. However, Nance told the podcasters, he was aware that DNA testing advanced by leaps and bounds since 2009. If new methods could generate “legitimate” results, he said, “I think you’ve got to take those steps forward”.

The podcasters contacted Othram, Inc., a Texas-based firm which had generated spectacular results from even badly degraded and contaminated samples. David Mittelman, CEO of Othram, told the podcasters that his firm had cracked cases which would have been impossible even one year ago. Most of those cases involved prior, unsuccessful DNA testing: “We have cases that failed in 2019 that we solved in 2020.” However, Othman declined to get involved, because the kind of DNA profiling involved in the Söring case was not suited to their methods.

Othram referred them to DNA Solutions, an Oklahoma-based firm. This was, in fact, the firm Small Town had used to generate the DNA profiles of the drifters and of Jim Farmer. Söring’s own expert, Dr. J. Thomas McClintock, had recommended DNA Solutions for this purpose. DNA Solutions’ lab director, Dr. James Anstead, consulted with Small Town to put together a list of two dozen evidence items which might yield “clear information for DNA testing”. These included weather-stripping from the front door which had a partial fingerprint, several hairs, a Dr. Pepper can, three cans of beer from the master bedroom, the packaging surrounding the original bloodstain swabs, and cigarette butts.

One promising innovation Anstead mentioned was the “micro-vacuum”, an extremely sensitive means of collecting DNA which could secure DNA from samples which had been considered “destroyed” by prior testing. Even if a sample or swab had disappeared, micro-vacuuming could retrieve DNA from the envelope or bag in which it had been stored. In an online conference call, Wes Nance registered enthusiasm, since it seemed there was now a method for recovering more complete profiles and countering contamination. One problem was the “chain of custody”—detailed written logs tracing what had been done with the evidence, to limit the chance of further contamination.

Wes Nance wondered whether, if the results indicated someone other than Söring, could the chain of custody be preserved so it could be used in a hypothetical new trial? The Small Town podcasters hired an independent forensic evidence specialist who would locate the samples, process them according to the latest standards, and ensure their safe transfer to the DNA Solutions lab. DNA Solutions is an FBI-certified laboratory, so it had the proper protocols in place for ensuring the integrity of the evidence.

These assurances satisfied Nance, who agreed to sign off on a petition for testing. Small Town collaborated with a lawyer to produce a motion which included lists of evidence, a description of the testing protocol, and affidavits from Ryan and Stuart detailing their investigative efforts so far and explaining why they believed testing could yield useful results. The petition had to be submitted to the Bedford County Circuit Court judge, which was now Jim Updike, the prosecutor at Söring’s trial. He promptly recused himself, which was expected.

The petition was denied in the fall of 2021. Virginia law did not allow journalists to request DNA testing; only parties to the case could do so. Söring would have to request the testing himself. The Small Town podcasters hadn’t spoken to Söring since early 2020, when he told them that it’s “incredible” that new evidence is coming forward. Söring “asked for updates on our investigation all summer”. The podcast narrator says Jens told them:

He hoped that an international docu-series in the works for a major streaming service would clear his name: ‘On an emotional and existential level, I need this Netflix series to give me what Northam didn’t,’ he wrote to us in April. He wanted us, and our investigation, to be featured in the series, and to help make the case for his innocence. And he said a starring role could help our careers. ‘The world will come knocking at your door’, he wrote.

But in the fall, when we asked to interview him about the theories laid out in the Wright report, and discrepancies between what he told us about the crime in his first interview, and what we’d read in the transcripts of his confessions, he suddenly shut us out. It wasn’t just that he stopped speaking to us. He also instructed members of his team that they should no longer trust us or give us interviews. Since Jens wasn’t answering our questions, we hoped new DNA testing on crime scene evidence could help us get to the truth in the case. Testing is something Chip Harding and others on Jens’ team had been demanding for years…

They returned to Söring with the good news. Although they hadn’t communicated with him in over a year, they assumed he still wanted to clear his name, since he was saying so on German TV. They sent him an email but received no response. The directors of the Netflix documentary, who appeared to enjoy Söring’s trust, said he “wasn’t open to speaking with us”. Small Town sent Söring a second request. Söring replied:

“I have no interest in corresponding or speaking with you or in any new information you claim to have developed. I will not conduct any kind of interview with you… However I am willing to participate in an audio-only telephone conference call … under certain conditions”. These conditions included the presence of at least one of the filmmakers. Another condition was that the call would not be recorded. And there was one other thing: “I will not speak. I will listen to what you have to say, and if I have a question, I will write it out”.

Small Town rejected the terms, as did the filmmakers.

They eventually worked out a compromise. When the Zoom call began, Söring was “seated in a darkened room”. He spoke a “terse greeting”, then Stuart and Ryan explained the plan for DNA tests, using a lab recommended “by Jens’ own forensic expert”. New tech could help develop DNA profiles that couldn’t have been developed even 5 years ago. Jens’ response, in their paraphrase, was “OK, good”. Jens asked about the bathroom hair, but “didn’t ask about identifying who left the type O blood at the scene. ‘I have my opinions about that,’ he said, without elaborating”. They sent him the petition they had created and the accompanying documents so Söring could have his lawyers review them.

Small Town then spoke to Chip Harding and Richard Hudson, both of whom had long called for DNA testing. Small Town gave them copies of the petitions, which asked for testing a section of countertop, cigarette butts, the hair found in the bathroom, and even beer cans in bedroom trash can, which promised to yield non-contaminated saliva samples. “All the legwork is done,” the podcasters reassured Harding and Hudson.

Small Town informed the detectives that Bedford County actually had had “blood vials” and rectal and mouth swabs from the Haysoms. “Son of a bitch!” Harding interjects, stunned that this had not been revealed before. The two were particularly excited by the prospect of establishing a full DNA profile for Derek Haysom. That would settle once and for all the question of whether all of the male DNA came from him, or whether there really were two male offenders. “It seemed like we were all on the same page,” Small Town concluded. Asked for their overall view of the prospects for DNA testing, they called them “pretty exciting” and said they were “ecstatic”.

Yet the problem was that Söring had now ceased all cooperation. Hudson confirmed Söring’s tendency to freeze out anyone who asks the wrong questions: “He is your biggest fan when he thinks you’re on his side. But the minute he thinks you’re not, you’re the devil incarnate.” Nevertheless, in mid-December 2021, Jens told Small Town he had emailed the testing petition and supporting materials to his US attorneys, who would look at them after the holidays. Late January 2022, Small Town emailed Jens. He responded that he’d had long calls with his attorney Steve Rosenfield and another attorney, and assured them that “all three of us take this proposal very seriously”. More time went by without a response.

Since Söring seemed reluctant to agree to testing, Small Town contacted Elizabeth Haysom, who jokingly referred to Söring as “Voldemort”. At first, Elizabeth said “test away”. After they told her that Elizabeth would have to file the petition, she had second thoughts, fearing she might be required to disclose her new identity. Wes Nance wrote her to say that she could apply for testing through an attorney, but added that that he believed the results would not be conclusive because of contamination. That dissuaded Elizabeth.

In mid-April 2022, Small Town made a final effort to push for testing, contacting Söring’s lawyers Steven Rosenfield and Steven Northup. Neither attorney would speak to the podcasters on the record. Rosenfield, they said, seemed unfamiliar with the petition. The podcasters decided to give up for the time being, concluding: “Jens and his team insist he’s innocent, but won’t pursue testing to prove it.” They interviewed Wes Nance, who insisted that Söring’s guilt had indeed been proven. Söring, Nance continued, had “all the time in the world to twist these circumstances and to put honorable peoples’ ethics into question. Some people listen to him. I don’t.” The three episodes released on 28 June 2022 marked another long pause in Small Town’s podcast. Söring released a YouTube video entitled “Am I refusing new DNA tests?” in which he claimed that the Small Town podcasters’ petition did not cite the correct legal authorities, that they believed he was guilty and were thus biased against him, and that he did not qualify for testing under Virginia law. He has since removed the video.

The June 2022 episodes of Small Town revealed something which Team Söring insiders had known for years: Söring was not enthusiastic about the prospect of new DNA tests. In July 2017, Chip Harding and Richard Hudson visited Commonwealth’s Attorney for Bedford County Wes Nance, who had then been in office only about a year. They talked about the case and Söring’s pardon petition. During that conversation, Harding and Hudson spontaneously raised the issue of possible DNA tests. Small Town’s June 2022 episodes confirmed that Harding and Hudson had long been interested in this possibility, and that Nance and Ricky Gardner had looked into the issue in 2017.

When Söring found out about Harding and Hudson’s conversation with Nance, he was dismayed. In a July 2017 email to his supporters, Söring acknowledged that Bedford County still had a lot of evidence, including the victims’ clothing. Söring said that neither he nor Steven Rosenfield saw any point in testing this evidence. “The only thing further testing can tell us,” Söring wrote, is “what we already know! We ALREADY know that there were two other men at the crime scene, thanks to the DNA tests that have already been done. How many more times do we have to prove the same thing, over and over?” Söring then ironically claimed that he should regard Ricky Gardner as a sort of “ally”, since Gardner would likely oppose further DNA testing.

Söring also claimed he was not legally entitled to new DNA testing: The DNA testing statute (Virginia Code § 19.2-327.1) required that he certify under oath that evidence existed which could yield relevant results and that it had not been contaminated or tampered with. Since he could not certify this, he did not qualify under the law for further testing. This respect for Virginia law seems somewhat curious, given that Söring still accuses figures in his case of bias and misconduct even though Virginia and federal courts long ago unanimously rejected those charges.

In emails to supporters, Söring argued it was useful to claim that he wanted testing, so that he could make a “fuss” about it in the press when it was denied. As part of his strategy to appear open to DNA testing, Söring sent superficial, pro forma emails to Wes Nance requesting new tests. These were, of course, nowhere near sufficient to actually launch a new round of testing. The 2017-2018 negotiations between Team Söring and Bedford County over DNA testing went nowhere, since neither Söring nor his lawyers ever filed a formal petition for testing under applicable law, and Bedford County officials, at that time, had no interest in further testing.

Söring could thus publicly claim he wanted new testing, while privately telling members of his team that he was happy with the status quo. This background helps explains Söring’s evasive response to Small Town’s DNA testing campaign. Perhaps without knowing it, Small Town had called Söring’s bluff. If he really wanted DNA testing, he could now have it, for free, conducted in a laboratory recommended by his own forensic expert. All he needed to do was sign a document. He refused. I had long declared on my blog that Söring would never agree to new DNA testing of the evidence in his case.

The podcasters behind Small Town are nothing if not persistent, and they continued to drive for testing throughout the rest of 2022 and into 2023. They also released a series of “behind the scenes” videos which documented their interactions with Söring, me, Terry Wright, and others. Interest in Söring’s case began to tick upward yet again in mid-2023, when Netflix announced that its documentary would be released that coming autumn. In late June 2023, Nikki Battiste, a reporter for the American television show CBS Mornings, broadcast a feature Small Town’s continued efforts to convince Jens Söring to authorize DNA testing.

In an interview, Wes Nance again showed himself willing to cooperate with testing if Söring requested it, although he remained adamant that he would not initiate the process. Söring claimed he wanted testing and had requested it but that he could not swear that the prerequisites for testing (secure chain of custody, no contamination, etc.) were fulfilled in his case. Nance responded that they could simply leave the matter up to the judge.

Regardless of what the statute said, Nance himself would not challenge Söring’s request for testing. It would be up to the judge to decide whether to approve Söring’s request. Söring continued to refuse to sign the petition. After Battiste ended her segment, one of the co-hosts, Gayle King, said: “I’m so confused by the DNA testing. He wanted it, now he doesn’t want it.” Battiste responded: “People who feel Jens is guilty [sic] don’t understand why he wouldn’t just file this petition, which we now know, according to Wes Nance, wouldn’t have any legal ramifications—it’s up to the judge. Worst that could happen is the judge says no, the DNA is too contaminated.” On my blog, I noted that Söring had once again refused DNA testing, and restated my conviction that he would never consent to testing under any circumstances.

Söring’s lucky that neither Wes Nance nor Elizabeth Haysom are willing to take the initiative. Their motives are understandable: No matter what the results, Söring would respond with some sort of spin to cast doubt on their reliability. New testing techniques might generate profiles from a random workman or dinner guest at Loose Chippings, breathing new life into the “unknown males” theory. Even if Söring’s DNA were found, he could point to the fact that he had visited Loose Chippings twice in 1985. Yet there is another possibility: New techniques could identify strong profiles consistent with Söring from several crime scene samples. For almost all observers, that would discredit Söring’s innocence claims once and for all.