(FLOWERBUDNEWS) A German national convicted of a double murder in the United States three decades ago will be released from prison in the state of Virginia and deported, US media reported late on Monday.
Jens Soering, the son of a German diplomat, received two life sentences for the murder in 1985 of his then-girlfriend’s parents.
It was not immediately clear if he will return to Germany.
The Virginia Parole Board voted to release him, media quoted the office of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam as saying.
Soering will be handed over to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, deported and prohibited from re-entering the country.
Northam declined to pardon him.
The decision to release the 53-year-old was described as a “surprise” by the Washington Post newspaper.
The brutal murder had drawn national and international attention for decades.
The parents of Elizabeth Haysom were stabbed to death in the Virgina city of Lynchburg.
Haysom and Soering fled the country after becoming suspects, but were caught in 1986 in London and returned to the US.
Haysom was sentenced to two jail terms of 45 years for being an accessory to murder.
The 55-year-old, who has Canadian citizenship, will also be released and deported, according to the media reports.
Soering had initially confessed to the murders, but later recanted and said that he had only wanted to protect his girlfriend from the death penalty. (dpa/NAN)
