Her parents were Andrew Borden and Sarah Anthony Borden, her mother passing away in March 1863. Andrew had remarried to Abby Durfee Gray.
Lizzie and her sister Emma were close growing up, Lizzie being highly involved in church and social life. Neither one of them had a great relationship with Abby, according to the maid, Maggie, they hardly ate meals with their Andrew or Abby. Also, while the family was wealthy, Andrew was really frugal. But after remarrying, he started to spend money on more realestate for his wife's family. This made Emma and Lizzie suspect that Abby was only in the marraige for the money.
While Andrew was buying all kinds of things for Abby, when Emma and Lizzie asked to have their childhood home where they grew up with their mother, Andrew allowed them to buy the property for one dollar and they sold it back to hime for $5,000, which is about 170,000 dollars in 2023.
In May 1892, Andrew had killed pigeons on their property that Lizzie had built a coup for prior. And in July 1892, the Borden family had an argument that resulted in Emma and Lizzie taking an extended vacation in New Bedford. After returning, Lizzie opted to stay in a roaming house before returning home for about 4 days. Her return being about a week before the murders took place.
When Lizzie and Abby were both home from their vacation, their maternal uncle John Vinnicum Morse had visited for a few days to talk business about the properties. Leading up to the murders, everyone in the house was violently ill for a few days, causing suspicion for poison.
Morse arrived in the evening and stayed in the guest room.
Andrew, Abby, Morse and Maggie were present.
Morse and Andrew went to the sitting room to discuss business for about an hour.
Morse left to buy 2 oxen and visit his niece in Fall River, planning to return around noon for lunch.
Andrew went on his morning walk.
Abby had went up to the guest room to make the bed despite it being Lizzie and Emma's chore to do so.
By this time, it is predicted that Abby wound up facing her killer being striking her with an axe in the side of the head, causing her to fall face down.
After she fell, the killer proceeded to strike Abby 17 more times.
The scene was over by 10:30 a.m.
Andrew returned from his walk. The door was jammed shut, causing him to knock on the door for Maggie to open the door.
After inside, it is unclear whether Lizzie was there or not, and Maggie assisted Andrew out of his boots and into slippers.
Afterwhich, Maggie went up to the third floor and was resting from cleaning the windows...
Till she heard a scream from Lizzie.
Andrew was found with his boots on, sprawlled on the couch in the sitting room.
He suffered ten to eleven blows from an axe. showing signs of having been asleep when attacked.
Time of death being placed and 11:00 a.m.
While being asked questions after the killings, Lizzie wasn't really liked by the officers. She appeared too calm.
When asked about what happened, she had initially said that she heard sounds of distress before entering the home. A few hours following, she had changed her answer to not suspecting anything before entering.
Lizzie had also stated she recalled Abby returning from visiting an ill friend and going upstairs. This prompted people to go look for her, finding her before getting to the top of the second floor where the guest room was.
This detail being weird to begin with, especially with the behavior she was showing at the time.
But despite her suspect behavior, the police did a lackluster job of searching her room due to her not feeling well. They also neglected to check her clothing for bloodstains.
2 hatchets, 2 axes, and a hatchet with a broken handle.
The broken was thought to be the murder weapon as the break was fresh. It had also appeared that it ash and dirt was rubbed on it to make it look like it had been there longer.
But the police never removed anything from the basement as they had other suspicions.
The residence of the Borden house had all been sick leading up to the murders, some suspecting foul play.
Lizzie Had bought a diluted form of Hydrocyanic Acid for cleaning her furs, which was the suspected choice of poison.
The medical examiner said that the chemical could not have caused the specific symptoms that were experienced.
There was also no trace of poison found in the food that was at the house.
Alice being a friend of the Borden sisters, stayed with tthem the night following the murders and the police stayed stationed outside.
Witnessed Lizzie and Alice go down to the cellar with a slop bucket and a lamp.
Both then left.
Lizzie returned alone and appeared to be bent over a sink.
Morse tried to leave the house, but was mobbed by press and escorted back to the house.
The police came back to try and do a more thourough search of the house. It was then when they had inspected Emma and Lizzie's clothing and retrieved the broken hatchet.
That Morning; Alice had seen Lizzie in the kitchen. She was shredding a dress that Lizzie claimed to by ruined by paint. She had burned it in the oven as well.
It is not known for sure if this is the dress that she wore the day of the murders.
Lizzie was pretty stressed during this time. She was perscribed regular doses of Morphine to help with her nerves. This may be an explaination for some of her mixed answers and odd behavior during the trial and questioning.
Lizzie had shown some erratic behavior and she refused to answer some questions during the pre-trial, even when it could have helped her case.
For Example: Lizzie stated she was in the Kitchen reading a magazine when her father returned. But later on she said she was in the dining room ironing, and then she said she was coming down the stairs. 3 different reccollections of the same moment.
It did not help that the D.A. was being agressive with her and she did not have a lawyer at this time.
She had a stoid demenor, bit her lips often, and appeared flushed. All traits that made her seem guilty.
A very similar murder took place in Fall River.
Jose Correra de Mellow was convicted of this crime and was determined not to be in the area when the Borden murders had occurred
The broken axe was not that convincing as a murder weapon as it's way of procuring was not documented well at all.
No bloody clothes were found, but Lizzie burning a dress appeared suspect.
When Maggie left to go back upstairs at about 10:58 a.m., Lizzie and Andrew were both downstairs.
Lizzie stated she had left for the barn and stayed there for about 20 to 30 minutes. This was confirmed by a neighbor, Hyman Lubinsky, and Charles Gardner that she was leaving the barn at 11:03 a.m.
It was then at 11:10 that Lizzie called for Maggie to go get a doctor.
Presented as evidence on June 5th; Abby and Andrew's were removed and cleaned.
This resulted in Lizzie fainting, and the evidence was excluded.
After 90 long minutes of delhiberation, the jury acquitted Lizzie Borden of the murders of Abby and Andrew Borden.
Reporters quoted Lizzie saying she's "the happiest woman in the world."
Much of the public and some of the family still suspected Lizzie of killing her father and step-mother.She and her sister, Emma, had moved out of town to The Hill in Fall River. This was after Lizzie had started acting out by shoplifting and causing loud arguments at parties.
One theory suggests that Andrew was sexually and physically abusing Lizzie, driving her to murder him. Possibly while Lizzie was in a fugue state, resulting in the odd behavior and confusion she seemed to display during the trial.
In this theory, Lizzie and Maggie were in a romantic relationship and was caught by Abby when she went upstairs to tend to the guestroom.
When caught, Abby reacted badly and as a result, Lizzie panicked and killed her with a candlestick from the room.
Lizzie confessed what had happened to her father, in which he had a negative reaction as well, causing Lizzie to kill him as well with the hatchet.
Maggie would then hid the hatchet for Lizzie and cover for her in her story.
John was not known to visit the Borden household often. It seemed a little too much of a coincidence that he was to show up the night before the murder.
He had also provided an oddly perfect alibi. John was overly specific in his whereabouts, and while it was a great alibi, it seemed a little too good after finding out his brother-in-law was brutally killed.
The supposed illegitimate son of Andrew Borden was surmised to be trying to get money from Andrew. Whether that is true or not, later on with more tech available; it was proven that the two were not related.
Her alibi was about 15 miles away in Fairhaven, as she was visiting a sick friend.
It is possible that Emma had time to return to the borden residence, commit the murders, and returned to Fairhaven in time for the news by way of telegram to reach her about their deaths.
Emma and Lizzie inherrited their Father's estate and Abby's family was reciving settlement.
Lizzie then started to act out with the shoplifiting and arguments. The sisters moved away and lived together in Fall River. Neither having ever got married, and are burried next to eachother.
By the time Lizzie had passed away, she was worth $250,000. That is eaqual to $6,073,000 as of 2024.