Lizzie Borden Research Paper

The Famous Murder Trial’s Killer Discovered

Lizzie Borden’s trial was one of most mysterious and famous murder trials in 1900’s. The trial was popular in America at the time thus, people followed the trial throughout to find out who murdered Andrew and Abbey Borden. The murder of Andrew Borden and his wife took place in the Borden’s house on August 4th, 1892 in the city called Fall River, Massachusetts. The Borden’s house consisted of Andrew Borden and his second wife, Abby, his two daughters, Lizzie and Emma, and a housemaid Bridget Sullivan. About a week after the crime Lizzie was arrested for her father and stepmother’s murders; however, in spite of a great deal of evidence, she was acquitted. A look at the evidence of the murder case proves

During the investigation, the main suspect was found to be Lizzie because of her confusing statements regarding where she was at the time of the murder that did not make complete sense. For example, first she “stated that she was looking for fishing equipment in the barn, but then changed her story by suggesting she may have been in the yard or perhaps she was picking fruit” (Johnson 1:164). These statements by Lizzie leads to a conclusion that she was guilty of the murder of her parents. A question that was asked to her, how did she come across her father’s dead body. In response, she first said that she found her father’s dead body while coming from the kitchen; later she changed her response and said that she found her father’s dead body while coming from the living room, even after that she said that she found her father’s dead body while returning from the garage (quoted in Schuetz 70). These statements show how she was not able to stick with one story about the place that she came from to the spot of her father’s dead body; rather, she kept changing her story which proves that she was guilty of the murder. These are some examples regarding Lizzie’s strange behavior by giving different answers to the same question which proves her guilty of the

A family friend of the Borden’s, Alice Russell, who went to Borden’s house to live with Lizzie and Emma a couple of days after the murder (Johnson 1: 165). Alice testified that Lizzie visited her the day before the murders, and told her that she thinks something terrible was going to take place with her parents (Hartselle and Myers paragraph 10; Johnson 1:165). When Lizzie talked to Alice, which shows that she knew that her parents were going to be murdered. But, she was pretending to be worried for them to mislead people for any possible doubt on her after the murders. Alice Russell also mentioned that a few days after the murders, “Lizzie burned the blue dress in front of her and Lizzie told… [her] that she needed to dispose of the dress because it was covered in old paint” (Johnson 1:165-66). Lizzie burning a dress was strange because she could have thrown the dress away rather than burning it. This shows that she burned the dress to destroy a piece of evidence to get away with the murders. These witnesses’ statements point at Lizzie to be guilty; however, to prove that if an ordinary woman could murder someone like Lizzie’s parents, “[t]he prosecution asked Dr. Draper, one of the forensic experts, whether the fatal blows could have been struck