01x04 - Linked Forever

[bunniefuu]

[pensive music playing]

[Jens, in German]

In the first years of my sentence,

there was one person

I hated with all my being.

And that was myself.

It was pretty much

my full-time job. [laughs]

I got up in the morning,

got a cup of coffee, sat down,

and devoted all my energy

to hating myself.

Because I destroyed my own life.

No one else did it.

No girlfriend, no court, no jurors,

no appeals court.

The only person

who's really to blame for all this mess

for wrecking my life

that's me.

And I made that mistake

so I could turn things around.

[theme music playing]

[theme music concludes]

[female reporter, in English]

Jens Soering speaks out

and still insists he's innocent.

[male reporter]

The Brunswick Correctional Center

is now home to Jens Soering,

a German citizen

serving two life sentences

for k*lling Elizabeth Haysom's parents.

[sinister music playing]

[Jens, in German]

They had my confession, of course.

They had a very smudged sock print

and there was type O blood.

And that was basically it.

That's not much at all.

[female reporter, in English]

Jens Soering insists,

as he did throughout his trial,

that it was girlfriend Elizabeth Haysom

who actually m*rder*d her parents.

I was able to get Jens on the phone,

and once you talk to Jens

you're intrigued

because he's an intriguing character.

I think that once he got over the shock

of being in prison,

he realized that there were things

he had to do.

And he pursued every avenue, you know,

he found lawyers who would help him,

he found influential people

who would help him.

[sinister music fades]

[Harding] I was an investigator

almost my entire 30-year career.

The last ten years,

I oversaw forensics investigations.

[pensive music playing]

[Harding] When I reviewed

Jens's case and went,

"Whoa! This is nothing like

what was represented in the media."

And the more I read it,

the more angry I got.

So he's been labeled a m*rder*r

because a jury

heard a set of

what they thought were facts,

but actually weren't accurate.

[John]

Chip is the main reason I got involved

because we spent 500 hours

investigating the case,

and on his own time

his own time, his own money

because he became obsessed with it.

And he said, "This guy is innocent."

[door locking]

[John] You know,

why do innocent men go to prison?

-[door opening]

-Why was Jens ever convicted?

Uh, because he confessed, okay?

And that's the fatal mistake.

[male reporter]

They questioned Jens Soering today

at the Richmond police station

in Southwest London.

[Jens, in German]

They accepted my confession

and filed charges straight away,

as soon as they could.

And that's when the investigation stopped.

And no one even checked

whether my confession was true.

[in English]

Jens Soering would tell anyone

who would listen that he was innocent

and that he gave a false confession.

People started to take another look.

Maybe Jens Soering

really was wrongfully convicted.

Maybe he is innocent.

[pen clicking]

[Andy] A well-planned interviewer

would have been in that interview

with all the crime scene exhibits.

They would have to hand,

um, other witness statements,

pieces of forensic information.

They would take breaks and they would go

and check that information.

None of that happened.

[police officer, on tape]

Jens, can you remember

what Mr. and Mrs. Haysom,

what they themselves were wearing?

[Jens] I think Mrs. Haysom

-was wearing jeans.

-[sinister music playing]

The crime scene photographs

very clearly described

that she was wearing

a neck-to-ankle housecoat.

The other one

that was in the same category

was the position of Mr. Haysom's body.

Jens provided a sketch,

which showed Mr. Haysom's body

lying through a doorway.

Whereas in actual fact,

he was across the doorway.

The injuries to Mr. Haysom,

his throat was cut, including his larynx,

and yet, Jens attributes

him saying certain things

after the point

at which he described doing that.

So, all of these,

you know, are information discrepancies

that need to be resolved and never were.

[Stuart] Soering's confession

is that he's behind Derek,

he slits Derek's throat.

Derek says something along the lines of,

"What are you doing?"

Or "What are you doing, boy?"

The detail

of how he describes what happened

doesn't seem to fit the pathology.

This is multiple slices

that have gone deep enough

to actually sever the windpipe.

So, Derek is not shouting anything at him.

So, I think they've been stabbed,

and then I think, afterwards,

their throats have been cut

as a final injury,

a final making sure they are dead.

Soering's confession, for me,

just doesn't stand up.

[sinister music fades]

The next piece of evidence

that I had real problems with

was when you look

at the sock and foot impressions.

It's junk science to say,

"This fits Jens like a glove."

Well, that's saying it's his.

[eerie music playing]

There's nothing that you could say

from a sock print,

except for maybe if somebody has

a size three

and somebody else has a size eight.

You can say the person with the size three

didn't make this particular print,

but that's about all you can say.

You just have some cotton making,

you know, smudges on the ground,

so you're really getting deep

into speculation.

In America, he is guilty.

He's a m*rder*r by law.

But if he was retried,

I would bet my house

he would be found innocent

and he would no longer

be a "m*rder*r by law."

I deeply believe this.

[Courteney]

Jens pursued every possible legal avenue

for his release, and he never stopped.

He never stopped pushing

and trying to claim his innocence

and trying to prove his case.

Soering plans to appeal.

[female reporter] Soering says his lawyer

has discovered new evidence

he hopes will get him a new trial.

Jens filed three separate appeals

with the state of Virginia

and he was denied all three times.

He then took his arguments

to the federal court,

where he was also denied.

The Supreme Court failed Jens many times.

The court should have reversed

his conviction.

The whole system failed Jens.

[Jens, in German]

These appeal courts are a joke, right?

Appeals and constitutional claims

can be filed, but

the chances of success

are almost zero.

Yeah.

Then there's only one thing

you can do, fight.

[eerie music concludes]

[in English] Jens and Elizabeth have taken

extremely opposite approaches

to their time in prison.

[sinister music playing]

[Rachel] She went on

to thrive as a model inmate

and has really chosen

to be almost silent about her case.

She did publish a biweekly column

in the little local newspaper

The Fluvanna Review,

called "Glimpses from Inside."

[voice actor as Elizabeth]

"Since my incarceration,

everything from

the fall of the Berlin Wall to 9/11,

from the development of the World Wide Web

to Mission to Mars,

wars and major political scandals,

have occurred."

"But the talk in the dining room

has remained relentlessly unchanged."

"Gossip, complaints,

and misinformation about the law."

Elizabeth, during her time in prison,

would be the first one to tell you

that she belonged there.

[voice actor as Elizabeth] "Humphrey,

the seven-legged spider in my window,

affords me a glimpse of the many questions

I have never thought to ask."

"I wonder if anyone has the answers."

[Carlos] She had admitted

that she helped k*ll her parents

and that she was remorseful

and she deserved to be punished.

That means a lot, I think.

It means a whole lot.

It can set you back on a true path,

an honest path in life.

Cleanse your soul,

if that's what you believe in.

Whereas with Jens,

he did not become one of the inmates.

He distanced himself

in a way from all that.

[pensive music playing]

[Andrew]

It's interesting to see how this started

because, first of all,

he's got his innocence story

that he put forward at trial,

didn't work there.

Uh, then he built it up

and turned it into a book,

Mortal Thoughts.

And there are actually

some newspaper articles about this book.

[in German] Via computer, he describes

his version of the crime.

It's a worldwide cry for help.

[male reporter]

His book is a tale of a great love

that was tragically exploited.

[in English] He was persistent.

He pushed himself, he sold himself.

[Jens, in German over phone]

I wrote this book because I'm innocent.

[Carlos, in English]

He was always on the phone

and he wrote people letters constantly.

He had one mission in that prison,

and that was to get out of it.

He sort of used his own personality,

his own charm, his upper-middle-class

and, uh and civilized appearance.

[in German] How are you?

[Andrew, in English]

He has a clean prison record,

he's pleasant to hang around

and talk with,

and you can have

an intelligent conversation with him.

[Rachel] People like to see inmates

be rehabilitated in prison.

And there are many opportunities

to get involved with religion,

and Jens chose Christianity

and became pretty involved

in the Catholic Church.

[suspenseful music playing]

[in German] I found God

through a type of Christian meditation

called centering prayer.

[in English] Well, I suppose the fact

that he became very religious

at one point didn't hurt.

I suppose word got out

that he had started

a meditation group in prison,

which certainly doesn't fit

the image of a cold-blooded k*ller.

He learned about theology,

he built a strong friendship with a deacon

in the Catholic Church in Richmond.

And once he had befriended Jens,

he came to believe that he was innocent.

[Andrew]

You know, there's a natural tendency,

a great tendency among humans

to want to rectify injustices.

[Sandy] Someone very high up

in the Catholic Church in Richmond

met with Governor Tim Kaine

who is also a Catholic.

[indistinct chatter]

And that surely

was persuasive to some extent.

[Natasha]

One of Governor Tim Kaine's last decisions

is one of his most controversial.

Today is Governor Tim Kaine's

last day in office

and he used the opportunity to approve

Jens Soering's transfer to Germany.

[somber music playing]

[Jens, in German]

For one whole week, I really believed

I was a free man.

At last!

Freedom, if not justice.

[Rachel, in English] This was his moment

to get back home, he could see it.

That's when Elizabeth breaks her silence.

She chose to give an interview

to a journalist.

[Courteney] She said,

"If Jens is innocent,

I would shout it from the rooftops,

but he's as guilty as I am."

[Carlos] And she said,

"We both deserve to be where we are."

Not him, not he deserves it.

We both deserve it.

And, uh, that was a that was actually

a pretty stunning statement from her.

[Rachel]

So, Jens thought he was going home.

He had packed his bags,

he was in the warden's office

at the prison and then

I applied

for the job of Governor of Virginia.

Tonight, you have hired me.

-Thank you.

-[crowd cheering, applauding]

Governor Bob McDonnell

takes office in 2010,

and the very first thing he does

as Governor of Virginia

is squash that transfer.

[dog barking in distance]

[melancholic music playing]

[in German] It's unbelievable.

Looking back, it's unbelievable.

She had to stop me

from getting out because then

all of the anger of the State of Virginia

would have been focused on her,

and they would have never let her out.

There seemed to be no way out.

What could I do? There was nothing.

[melancholic music fades]

[Rachel, in English]

While Elizabeth has been relatively quiet,

she has her own strategy.

[pensive music playing]

The path for her to freedom

was the parole board.

I can't tell you how many times

I went before the parole board.

Myself and another friend of Elizabeth's

engaged a forensic psychologist

and the report came back

that she would not be a threat to anyone.

That was his conclusion.

But every time she came up for parole,

her parole was denied.

After so many years,

it became very frustrating to her.

[tense music playing]

[Rachel] What turned the whole case

for Jens Soering was

the announcement

that there was blood samples

and crime scene evidence

that had been stored

that could be tested for DNA.

[Courteney]

So, the Governor of Virginia ordered

that DNA testing be conducted

on all of these old cases

that had this stored DNA

in the form of swabs,

and Jens's case was one of them.

[Rachel] DNA was not around back

in the '90s during Jens's trial.

So, DNA testing was done

for the very first time

on some pieces of evidence

from the Haysom crime scene.

[male reporter, in German]

The evidence from Soering's case.

The old bloodstains on the clothing

are Soering's new source of hope.

We learn that, for the first time,

they have been tested for DNA.

What was found

in those DNA test results was incredible,

and it was really good news

for Jens Soering.

Jens Soering

is currently serving two life sentences.

Soering's lawyer said

new DNA analysis proves

crime scene blood does not match his,

which he says proves

he was not at the crime scene.

[in German] From all the tests

on crime scene evidence,

um, all were negative.

My DNA was not at the scene.

Yes.

Now, I had a new weapon.

I could start fighting again.

[Lindsey] Investigators

in Central Virginia are putting pressure

on Governor Terry McAuliffe

to pardon

a former University of Virginia student.

[female reporter] Sheriff Chip Harding

teamed up with a retired investigator

from the Charlottesville Police Department

and a DNA expert.

[Rachel] Now, for years,

it had been assumed that the type O blood

found at the crime scene

belonged to Jens Soering.

DNA testing's now showed

that it's absolutely

not Jens Soering's blood.

[Rachel] They also found AB Blood,

but with a Y chromosome,

which suggested that there was

a second male bleeding at the crime scene.

That's irrefutable. The DNA is not wrong.

So, there are two strangers bleeding

in that crime scene.

[Courteney] I was a reporter

at the press conference

when this was announced,

and it was shocking.

I thought this makes no sense.

Why doesn't Bedford County want

to find out

who the two unidentified men are?

[eerie music playing]

[Rachel] This was troubling to us,

the fact that there might be two murderers

on the loose in Bedford.

And Bedford County was not interested

in reopening the case

or investigating these claims.

[woman] Geez.

[Rachel] We wanted to cover a crime

where there were unanswered questions,

or where there was something

that was unresolved in the case.

[woman] This is from the Supreme Court,

the appeal.

[Rachel] There were two men named

in legal filings by Jens Soering's team

back in the '90s,

the two men, the drifters.

The drifters were actually two men

who lived in Central Virginia,

William Shifflett and Robert Albright.

And in 1985,

they were arrested for a crime

eerily similar to the Haysom murders.

Doctor Oxley.

He said the homeless man was m*rder*d

in a similar manner to the Haysoms

and that the stab wounds are similar.

[tense music playing]

[Rachel] If you can believe that Elizabeth

could convince her boyfriend Jens Soering

to commit the murders of her parents

then it wouldn't be that hard

to also believe

she could convince William Shifflett

and Robert Albright

to commit the murders.

[Harding] Elizabeth used hard drugs

and these guys used hard drugs,

both in the same small geographic area.

They could have known each other,

and she could have enticed them

to go with her to do it.

[Courteney] Both the drifters,

Robert Albright and William Shifflett,

had been sentenced to life in prison.

We were able to obtain their DNA profiles

and have them compared

to the unidentified DNA.

We were on pins and needles.

I mean,

we really thought that we might be able

to break this case open

and change everything.

[tense music fades]

[Thomas]

I could not include Shifflett and Albright

as being one of the contributors

to any of the samples

that were collected at the crime scene.

Neither one was a match.

It wasn't the drifters.

They're not the two men.

But then how do you explain away

all this other DNA?

[Andrew]

If you look at the evidence closely

and you look at the DNA results,

what you will see is that

all of these partial profiles,

there was never a complete profile,

are actually consistent

with slightly contaminated

partial profiles of Derek Haysom's blood.

[Courteney] It may be that

all of the DNA

came from the victim, Derek Haysom.

The DNA proves nothing.

It does not prove

he was at the crime scene,

it does not prove that anyone else was

at the crime scene, except the victims.

[crickets chirping]

[ominous music playing]

[voice actor as Elizabeth]

"I thought he was my soulmate."

"My life partner."

"My creative partner."

[eerie music playing]

[Rachel] Elizabeth granted

one of her rare interviews

to The New Yorker,

and it almost seemed like

she wanted

to take the narrative away from Jens

and not let him have

all the power and all the say.

[voice actor as Elizabeth]

"This whole thing with Jens

feels like a public divorce."

The intense love

between Jens and Elizabeth

turned into intense animosity

as they served their sentences in prison.

[voice actor as Elizabeth]

"I have just one thing to say

about Lady Macbeth

because apparently there's no one

who's read the play."

"It was Lady Macbeth

who died over remorse and grief

and k*lled herself."

"It was Macbeth

who discovered his true nature."

[Rachel] It was really hard to get a sense

with Jens Soering

about what was real, and what was

curated when it came to his life.

[Andrew] Whenever he had contact

with members of the press,

he would send them a very selective

and carefully curated package

of information.

[speaking indistinctly]

[Courteney] He would reach out and say,

"I have evidence."

"Let me provide you with this information.

Let me send you these documents."

"Let me put you in touch

with somebody else

who can tell you

the things that I'm telling you."

[Andrew] And during all this time,

what people forget to do

is carefully analyze what he's saying

to see if he's not telling the truth.

-Take, let's say, the bloody sock print.

-[eerie music fades]

He and his supporters have said

that the bloody sock print

is junk science, it's worthless

-and completely unreliable.

-[tense music playing]

[Sarah] Footprint examination

involves empirical studies and research

that has been subject to peer review

and has been published.

I myself have a PhD

in footprint examination.

So, in my opinion,

it's not junk science.

There are statistically

no significant differences

between a bare footprint

and a socked footprint.

[in German]

This sock print fits almost everyone.

This sock print fits Elizabeth

just as well as my foot.

It's interchangeable.

Lengthwise,

it fits Elizabeth better than mine.

[Sarah, in English]

This is the reference footprint

from Elizabeth Haysom,

and we can see

that the first toe position is correct,

but the size isn't quite right.

And the heel print doesn't concur.

So, according to this,

we can rule this out.

And this is the overlay

from one

of Soering's reference footprints.

The big toe print seems to line up nicely,

as does the anterior ball of foot line,

and the other toe prints seem

to line up also.

Particularly,

we have similarities in the width

and of the

across the ball measurement here.

It seems to all line up quite well.

The footprint shapes of the toes

were the same,

and there was a gap

between the first

and the second toe prints

in both the crime scene footprint

and Soering's reference footprints.

So, here we have some

high-level characteristics

in combination

which would suggest

that the crime scene print

and the reference prints

labeled as Soering's

belong to the same person.

This report from the forensic podiatrist

really validates

what was presented at Jens's trial.

And you pull that out and it matches

and it fits like a glove.

She has concluded

that of all the people

that had a connection to this crime scene,

Jens is the one

whose footprint matches closely.

[Carlos] Jens kept protesting

that he was innocent,

you know, he just never gave up.

And you start listening

to somebody like that

after decades of saying, "I'm innocent,

I'm innocent, I'm innocent."

[Sandy] Virginia is not a state

that often releases people.

But

it started to become

a big political issue nationally.

I remember going up to some affair

at the German Embassy in Washington

-and talking to the ambassador.

-[indistinct chatter]

[Sandy] He was well aware of the case. So

And then, we were told anyway

that when Merkel came to visit

with Obama that she raised it.

[Andrew] And, eventually,

the former president of Germany

agrees to fly to Virginia

and argue on his behalf

before the Virginia parole board.

[indistinct chatter]

[in German]

Politicians have great responsibility

because they have great power.

I firmly believe

that you also have to use it

in individual cases to help.

EX-PRESIDENT WULFF

FIGHTS FOR GERMAN PRISONER

[Wulff] I got a letter

from Jens Soering's supporters,

informing me of his case.

I had a look at it

and had my staff prepare a dossier.

I had the impression we have to act.

[in English] We got down to a point

where it appeared that Jens

had served long enough,

it was time to get him out.

I'm very involved in politics.

If the Democrats are in power,

I've got some contacts.

And I was able to

uh, you know, lean on some people.

[crowd cheering, applauding]

[Sandy] I know for a fact

that John Grisham

was a generous campaign contributor

to Democrats in Virginia.

[female reporter, in German]

The public mood in Virginia

is gradually changing.

An incumbent Democratic governor

could contribute

to the release of Jens Soering.

[in English] We're gonna make a decision,

uh, pretty soon.

So, I would just say, stay tuned.

A jaw-dropping decision in the case

of Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom.

The state parole board has granted

both of them parole.

It was probably the political pressure

and all of the public attention

that helped Jens Soering win his release,

but they're not going to release him

and not Elizabeth,

so she also gets released.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Carlos]

She was convicted of a much lesser crime.

He was convicted of the actual murders,

and so I think they had to do that

because it would have been absurd.

[alarm buzzes]

[Phyllis] I was on the phone with her.

She told me. She said.

"I wanted you to be the first to know."

It was joy.

We had prayed for that for so often.

You know,

I think Jens was kind of shocked himself.

[in German] It seemed unreal.

Now, all of a sudden,

I was paroled.

They could have done that

11 months earlier,

or ten years earlier. [chuckles]

[female reporter, in English]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

will pick the two of them up very quickly.

Nothing can overturn

the parole board's decision now.

This is final.

He was released not because

they said he was not guilty,

because he had served so much time.

[tense music playing]

[Jens, in German] We were both taken

to the same ICE terminal

on the same day.

We were only a few steps apart.

We couldn't see each other.

But that was

pretty weird. [chuckles]

Haysom and Soering will be deported

to their respective countries

of Canada and Germany.

After an investigation,

the parole board ruled

there is no merit

to Soering's claims of innocence.

Neither of them will be allowed

in the US again.

[in German] The German Jens Soering

was imprisoned in the USA for 33 years,

convicted of murdering

his then-girlfriend's parents.

Any minute, he will be coming

from the terminal building.

I'm from the Federal Police.

Welcome to Germany!

[all laugh]

[Jens] I was welcomed

by a police commissioner.

He gave me my passport.

"Mr. Soering, you are a free man."

[laughs]

[inhales sharply] That was great. Yes.

[camera shutters clicking]

[crowd cheering]

I am so happy.

-[camera shutters clicking]

-After 33 years, six months and 25 days,

I am finally back in Germany.

I would never have made it

without these people,

who supported me for years.

It's unbelievable.

[indistinct chatter]

[in English] Elizabeth's release

was met more quietly.

I think because she has been

a quieter person.

[pensive music playing]

[Phyllis] I flew up to Canada,

and we had a reunion.

Elizabeth has a good relationship

with her half-siblings

on her father's side.

They requested that she not give

any more interviews,

and she respects that request.

They had granted

the forgiveness that she had sought.

Howard has been the one that,

um, has been really not sure

about her part in the crime, and

he's been very, um, disengaged from her.

But there was quite a group in Lynchburg

who were convinced

that Elizabeth was there,

was at the scene of the crime,

-and they stuck to their g*ns.

-[pensive music fades]

[pensive music playing]

[Jens, in German] I have decided

to deal with my past in a proactive way.

I'm not running away.

[indistinct chatter]

[Courteney, in English]

Jens starts out on a publicity tour.

He is giving interviews to newspapers

and television stations.

He's now almost a media star in Germany.

-[in German] Good evening, Jens Soering.

-Thanks for having me.

Good evening and welcome to our show.

[interviewer] A big hand for Jens Soering

[crowd applauding]

[Courteney in English]

In his interviews, he is saying

Elizabeth is the real k*ller.

Well, a German attorney hears the things

that Jens is saying

and he reaches out

to Elizabeth and says,

you know, "Do you want me

to do something about this?"

Elizabeth said, "Yes, I would like you

to do something about this."

[in German]

The night of the m*rder, where were you?

I didn't know anything about it.

I was in Washington D.C.,

and I was at the movies.

And I only found out later.

-[Markus] From her?

-[inhales]

WAS FOUND GUILTY OF DOUBLE m*rder

IN VIRGINIA IN 1990

AND RECEIVED A LIFELONG PRISON SENTENCE

[Markus] You cannot comment on this

for legal reasons?

In fact, the legal situation has changed.

[in English] It's amazing

because Elizabeth still holds

a little bit of control

over what Jens says to this day

as a free man in Germany.

[Markus, in German]

You never talked to her again?

Never. I would not want to.

-[Markus] Did she try to make contact?

-No.

I have nothing to say to her,

and she has nothing to say to me.

[Courteney, in English] The case

has basically split into two camps,

those who believe Jens

and those who believe Elizabeth.

And, of course, each one of them is saying

the other person did it by themself,

and there's very little middle ground.

Uh, and it really comes down to

who do you believe,

who do you like better,

whose version of the story

makes more sense to you,

and not so much on actual evidence.

[indistinct chatter over radio]

I think if you take a step back

and just look at the big picture,

then you can also look

at what Elizabeth and Jens

have kind of been telling us

from the beginning.

[voice actor as Elizabeth]

"We can either wait until we graduate

and then leave them behind,

or we can get rid of them soon."

[voice actor as Jens] "My God,

I've got the dinner scene planned out."

They talked about doing this together

beforehand and after hand in letters.

[voice actor as Elizabeth]

"I thought we did it

so that I could be free."

[voice actor as Jens]

"I certainly don't want a letter from you,

taking it all on yourself."

"I do regret having done this very much."

[in German] These letters prove

that Elizabeth and I had something

to do with the murders.

We can agree on that.

But they reveal nothing

about who did what.

[interviewer, in English on tape]

Was this in the plans?

That you and Elizabeth were going

to rent a car in Charlottesville,

go to Washington D.C.,

and then you were going to return back

to Loose Chippings?

During one of the interrogations

with investigators in London,

Jens refers to "our trip" to Bedford.

[Jens, on tape] Our trip to

Oh, my trip. Sorry, that was

[mutters] Speaking of our because, um

And then he immediately tries to backtrack

and has some kind of crazy explanation

for why he called it "our trip."

[Rachel] Another crucial piece

of information is the fact

that Nancy Haysom told her son,

Howard, before her m*rder,

that she was expecting Jens and Elizabeth

to visit them that weekend.

I, personally, am not satisfied

with the explanation,

uh, that her guilty plea provided.

I think Elizabeth was in the house

at the time of the crime.

I think the theory that makes

the most sense when you understand

the dynamic and the relationship

between Jens and Elizabeth

is that they committed

this m*rder together.

[foreboding music playing]

You have a lot of evidence

that Jens's team likes to talk about

that suggests Elizabeth Haysom was there.

That's all true.

And then you have evidence that points

the finger at Jens Soering

that Elizabeth's team likes to talk about.

That's all true too.

So, if you look at the big picture,

maybe they're both telling the truth

that the other one was there

and they're just leaving themselves

out of it.

I think people have gotten

so caught up in believing

either Jens or Elizabeth

that they haven't considered the fact

that neither one of them is trustworthy.

-You lied, didn't you?

-[Jens] That's correct, yeah.

That's correct.

That was a lie, right?

That's correct.

And they also get caught up in the fact

that somebody had to stay in D.C.

to create the alibi.

So, one of them had to be there

and one of them went to Bedford.

But we can't forget

that both Jens and Elizabeth

are really quite brilliant.

So, if they are setting out

to create the perfect alibi,

they're probably going to do

at least a reasonably good job.

[Rachel]

You could see it going down like this.

They buy movie tickets ahead of time

for the three movies,

and they order room service

right at four o'clock.

And then they have plenty of time

to drive down to Bedford

to visit the Haysoms,

and the Haysoms are expecting them.

[Carlos]

They were both so angry about the world,

just like a lot of teenagers are.

You know, "It's unfair."

"The world sucks."

And "My parents are the worst."

And "Let's do something."

There must have been some kind

of synergetic effect

between Jens and Elizabeth

that brought out

the worst in both of them.

[Rachel] They're bound forever

by this crime, and no one knows exactly

how they're bound because nobody knows,

except for the two of them,

what happened that night.

[Courteney] For either one of them

to change course

and to say something different,

would be to undo years

of the claims that they've made.

They're locked in this battle,

uh, probably for the rest of their lives.

[foreboding music fades]

[birds chirping]

[voice actor as Elizabeth] "Love."

"Oh, where have you led me?"

[somber music playing]

[voice actor as Jens]

"You are my definition

of perfection and joy."

"I love you."

[voice actor as Elizabeth] "I love you.

And no matter what your judgment,

I will always love you."

"Elizabeth."

[voice actor as Jens]

"Forever yours, Jens."

[tense music playing]

[tense music concludes]