Today I am going to be talking about a case that happened over a century ago, back in the 1800s. This is the case of the Borden murders, and how no one knows who did it.
Lizzie Borden was born on July 19th, 1860. She was suspected to murder her stepmother, Abby Borden, and her father, Andrew Borden. She was acquitted because there was not enough evidence to convict her of her parent’s murder.
The murder occurred on August 4th, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. Her father’s body was discovered on the couch in their living room while her stepmother’s body was discovered in the upstairs bedroom. Lizzie claimed to have found the body of her father 30 minutes after he came home from his morning errands. Their maid, Bridget Sullivan found the body of Lizzie’s stepmother shortly after. Both of the victims were killed by blunt force trauma to the head by a hatchet.
It was speculated that Lizzie did not get along with her stepmother, Abby and that they had a falling out a few years before the murder. Emma Borden, Lizzie’s sister, and Lizzie were said to have conflicts with their father as well. Before the murders occurred, the entire family fell ill. Andrew Borden was not a well-respected man in town, so Abby Borden believed that foul play was involved. She believes that the family was poisoned. After their deaths, the contents of their stomach were investigated for toxins. Nothing was concluded from the results.
Lizzie Borden was arrested on August 11th, 1892. She was indicted by a grand jury; however, the trial did not begin until June of 1893. The hatchet was discovered and retrieved by the Fall River police. However, it appeared to have been cleaned and all evidence was gone. It was said that the Fall River police did not handle evidence correctly. Therefore, there were no potential prints lifted from the murder weapon. Based on little to no evidence, Lizzie Borden was acquitted fro the murders of her father and stepmother.
Suspects
- Lizzie Borden: Obviously, as stated above, Lizzie Borden was the number one suspect of the murders of her father and stepmother. One theory is that Lizzie was in a fugue state when she murdered her parents, causing her not to remember what happened. Another theory is that she was sexually abused by her father which drove her to murder him, but this was not proven.
- John Morse: John Morse was Lizzie’s maternal uncle, who rarely met with the family after his sister (Lizzie’s mother) had died. However, he had slept in the house the night before the murders. According to the police department, John Morse had an extremely detailed alibi for the death of Abby Borden.
- Bridget Sullivan: Bridget Sullivan, the maid of the Bordens, was also considered a suspect in the case. It was suspected that Lizzie and Bridget had an intimate relationship at the time or the murders. During this time, these types of relationships were not accepted. It was speculated that Abby Borden caught Bridget and Lizzie together and she had reacted with horror and disgust. After finding out, Lizzie killed Abby with a candlestick. When Lizzie father returned, she had confessed to him, but he reacted the same way that Abby had. After reacting it was said that Lizzie then killed her father after he reacted the same way. It was said that Bridget was an accomplice to the murders, helping Lizzie dispose of the evidence. On Bridget’s deathbed, she had confessed to her sister that she had changed her testimony on the stand in order to protect Borden.
Photo Citations
“Lizzie Borden House.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Borden_House.
“Lizzie Borden.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_Borden.