Small town, big news

Those of us following the “Small Town, Big Crime” podcast—a locally produced show from journalists Courteney Stuart and Rachel Ryan that investigates the 1985 Bedford County double murder of Derek and Nancy Haysom—got a bit of a surprise while browsing Netflix at the end of 2023. The co-hosts had been tapped for commentary in the streaming service’s documentary, “Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom.” “The two of them were a horrible puzzle that fit together just right,” says Stuart of Elizabeth Haysom and Jens Soering, the couple at the center of the case, in the series’ lead-in. Consider us hooked.