ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 20, 1996 TAG: 9605200110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: & Now This
For some trial-watchers in Bedford County, the plot of a recent NBC miniseries, ``Twisted Desire,'' may have seemed like deja vu.
In the show, a manipulative and beautiful teen-age girl talks her boyfriend into killing her affluent parents. But when the scheme is revealed, the lovers turn on each other.
Sound a little like the Haysom murders to you? Jens Soering thought so, too.
In a recent phone interview, Soering, who is serving double-life sentences at Keen Mountain Correctional Center for the 1985 slayings of Derek and Nancy Haysom, wondered whether the "true-crime" miniseries was based on his case.
After all, there were some similarities between the Haysom murders and the miniseries - first and foremost, that its star, Melissa Joan Hart, is a dead ringer for Soering's one-time paramour, Elizabeth Haysom.
Among other similarities: The girl's mother in the mini-series paints portraits of her daughter. In real life, Nancy Haysom took fine-art photographs of her daughter.
And, Jennifer Stanton's undoing in "Twisted Desire" is a diary in which she recounts the murder plot. For Elizabeth Haysom, it was love letters that mentioned the murders of her parents.
However, there were also a lot of differences. Stanton is a high-school student. Her lover is a gas station attendant and ex-con, who shoots her parents to death.
Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Soering were honor students at the University of Virginia when they hatched a plot that ended in Soering stabbing her parents to death. (He denies killing her parents and is seeking an appeal.)
But the final word on the miniseries, apparently, is that the coincidences are only that.
One of the writers of "Twisted Desire" says he had never heard of the Haysom case.
"I wish I had," said Chad Hayes, who also writes for "Baywatch." "It sounds like it would make a good story."
"Twisted Desire," he said, is based on the case of a then-14-year-old girl from Texas who will be freed next year at age 21.
Elizabeth Haysom, 32, has been turned down once for parole and is serving a 90-year sentence at Goochland Correctional Center for Women for conspiring with Soering to kill her parents.
- RICHARD FOSTER
So, what ABOUT Bob?
A few years ago, the question, "What about Bob?" meant talk of Richard Dreyfuss and Bill Murray working at Smith Mountain Lake on a motion picture by that name.
For the last few weeks, if you've heard that question, you probably are listening to WFIR (960 AM) where morning-show hosts Bob Clark and Frank Murphy have been poking fun at The Roanoke Times, trying to get us to do a story on them.
The folks at WFIR were a little upset at all the publicity a rival station's controversial morning show received, so they asked listeners to call the newspaper and ask, "What about Bob?"
Clark and Murphy have been doing the morning show together since the fall of 1992, when Clark returned to work after successful colon-cancer surgery. The station says the "Murphy in the Morning" show was the top-rated program in the Roanoke metro area in the last ratings book.
During the promotion, listeners were encouraged to call the newspaper and ask "What about Bob?" Newspaper editors were alerted ahead of time and provided the number of our reader comment line for the radio audience to call.
About three dozen listeners called in and asked for a story about Clark, Murphy, newsman Roger Fowler and producer Bruce Reynolds.
One caller did ask us not to write a story on "the silliest man on the radio," but the rest of them wanted "some well-deserved press" for the show. "They are truly two fine fellows," said Andy Lucas. "Be fair and say something nice about Bob," said Jeff Borson.
OK, OK, here goes: Bob is a great guy. And so are Franct for a system where a judge decides he wants to give you 10 days just for opening your mouth?" he said.
- LAURENCE HAMMACK
LENGTH: Long : 112 linesby CNB