
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 1, 1990                   TAG: 9006010186
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

LAWYERS SEE HAYSOM HOUSE

Jens Soering's defense attorneys and prosecutor Thursday took a brief tour of the house where Derek and Nancy Haysom were found slashed to death five years ago.

Soering - whose trial for the Haysom killings is scheduled to start today - chose not to attend the pretrial look at the house along Holcomb Rock Road in Boonsboro.

Circuit Judge William Sweeney Thursday morning ordered that the current owner of the cottage-style house allow the visit.

Defense attorney Rick Neaton told Sweeney he sympathized with the new owners of the house - who did not wish to allow the tour, but said that he needed to walk through the house to prepare for trial.

The homeowner, Winston Clay Thomson, had turned down an earlier, informal request from Soering's attorneys. In a hearing Thursday, Thomson again objected.

Calling the usefulness of such a tour into question, Thomson pointed out that he and his wife had completely redecorated the house since the Haysoms lived there. Only the walls, floors and ceilings were the same, he said.

In addition, Thomson said he considered it an invasion of his privacy. "We're retired," he said. "We moved there for peace and contentment."

But Sweeney said that he felt compelled to allow the visit. No photo-taking or members of the media were allowed inside the house. Soering's defense attorneys said they would remain on the first floor.

Derek Haysom's body had been found on the living room floor. Nancy Haysom's body had been found in the kitchen of the house the couple had called Loose Chippings.

Soering, 23, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. If convicted, the former University of Virginia honors student could face two life sentences in prison.

Soering's former girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom, pleaded guilty in 1987 to helping plot the killing of her parents and is serving 90 years in prison.

Fifty Nelson County residents were expected to be questioned today as potential jurors by the defense attorneys and prosecutor James Updike.

by CNB