Lizzie Borden House

Located in Fall River, Massachusetts, the bodies of Andrew and Abby Bordon were found on the 4th of August 1892.

They were both believed to have been killed by a hatchet or an axe, as the bodies were found hacked to death, with Abby's being axed 18 times and Andrews 11 times.

The bodies were found in separate parts of the house, and almost no evidence except for a handless hatchet in the basement that was clean of blood.

The residents of the house at the time were Lizzie Bordon aged 32, her sister Emma Borden aged 42, her father Andrew Bordon, her stepmother Abby Bordon, her uncle John Morse who was visiting, and the maid, Bridget 'Maggie' Sullivan. Emma Borden however was out of town at the time of the murders.

According to eye witness testimonies, at about 10:40 AM, Andrew Borden takes a nap on the living room couch, whilst Mrs Borden was believed to be at the doctor’s office. At 10:50-10:55 AM, Lizzie claims she's in the garden barn, and Maggie claimed to be taking a nap in her room upstairs.

Then at 11:15 AM, Lizzie in the Garden reported to hear a 'heavy fall and subdued groaning' and on her approach to the house, noticed the screen door was now open and went inside.

The maid Maggie was not yet asleep when she heard Lizzie crying out 'come down quick! Father's dead! Somebody's come in and killed him!'

When Maggie came downstairs she saw the brutal murder scene of Andrew Borden laying on the couch and noted that Lizzie was wearing a blue unstained dress.

There were no signs of a struggle, as it was believed that Mr Borden was asleep when he was murdered.

Lizzie then asked Maggie to go fetch the doctor from across the street, and at the time, the whereabouts of Mrs Borden were unknown. When Maggie returned with a neighbour, she claimed that Lizzie said 'Oh, Maggie! I am almost sure I heard her come in. Go upstairs and see if she is there' regarding Abby Borden.

Maggie and the neighbour walked upstairs to find Abby Borden's body lying face down on the floor of the guest’s bedroom, and it was though that she may have been present for the murder of Mr Borden and fled to the guest bedroom, where she was also murdered.

Both Abby and Andrew Borden were struck in the head multiple times, which suggests a crime of passion.

To this day, many people believe that Lizzie Borden is guilty of the murders, with many pieces of evidence stacked against her.

One possible motive could be because, at the time of the murder Andrew Borden was incredibly wealthy, with his net worth being around $10 million in today’s standards, however despite this wealthy, Mr Borden was reportedly rather frugal, which was confirmed when Maggie testified that the Borden lived meagrely and survived off of a mainly mutton-based diet. Whilst this was being described, Lizzie reportedly smiled.

Five years before the murder, Lizzie had a falling out with her stepmother, which resulted in her changing how she addressed Abby from 'Mother' to 'Mrs Borden.'

The dispute was over the fact that Mr Borden bought a house for Lizzie half-sister and not one for herself and her sister Emma, and suspiciously, after the murder both Lizzie and Emma inherited the estate and later bought a house on the hill in a wealthy neighbourhood.

When asked if her father had previously mentioned a will to her, Lizzie responded that 'he did not.'

During her inquest testimony, Lizzies answers were sometimes widely inconsistent, and she reported burned a dress of hers after the murder, claiming there was paint on it.

However, this was not the dress that she was seen wearing at the time of the murders, as it was handed over to the police.

Another piece of evidence is that during the trial, a doctor came forward to say that Lizzie had tried to buy a poison called 'prussic acid' the day before her father and stepmother were killed. This testimony however was later dismissed.

As there was no physical evidence to tie Lizzie to the killings, at the end of the trial she was found not guilty.

A lot of people at the time believed her to be guilty, going as far as to create a creepy school yard nursery rhyme 'Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks, and when she saw what she had done she gave her father 41.'

Another suspect to the killing was John Vinnicum Morse in a theory recently made popular by math teacher Richard Little who wrote a book on the case, listing John Morse as the killer.

John Morse was the brother of Mr Borden’s first wife and Lizzies uncle, and according to Lizzies timeline was not seen from 9:00 AM till 12:00 PM on the day of the murders.

According to Mr Little, Johns testimony states that he was 'visiting a sick relative down the road with the town doctor.' However, the same town doctor was looking over the bodies of Mr and Mrs Borden at the time.

Mrs Borden was also found dead in the guest bedroom that Mr Morse had reportedly slept in that night and during Lizzie's inquest testimony, she claimed that John might have had knowledge about Mr Borden’s will.

Mr Little also claims that a failing livestock business between Mr Morse and Mr Borden could have been motive for the murders and that the Borden’s might have actually been killed with a meat cleaver, which would line up with Mr Morse who was a butcher for his profession.

The third suspect of the murders is the maid Maggie, who claimed in her testimony that she may not have been fully asleep at the time of the murders; however, she was sleeping in the room right above the guest room where Mrs Borden was murdered and claimed to not hear anything.

Another theory is that the maid Maggie and Lizzie Borden conspired to kill Andrew and Abby Borden together, with some believing them to be romantically involved.

Some believe that Mrs Borden discovered them together, so they killed her and then Mr Borden to cover it up. This would account for both of their alibis relying heavily on each other, however there is no evidence to support this theory.

Apart from speculations still coming out to this day, no concreate evidence has been found to answer the question of who killed Andrew and Abby Borden.

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