The Murder Of Andrew And Abby Borden

In the summer of 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts, Andrew and Abby Borden were found hacked to death in their home. Andrew was discovered in a pool of blood on the living room couch, and Abby upstairs, her head smashed to pieces. After providing inconsistent answers to investigators and odd behavior leading up to their death, their daughter, Lizzie Borden was arrested and charged with the double homicide. Nearly a year later Lizzie is found not guilty and acquitted.

What lead officials to the arrest of Lizzie had a lot to do about her behavior leading up to the murders for example, on August 3, one day before the murders, a clerk at Smith's drug store in Fall River, told police that Lizzie visited the store and attempted to purchase prussic

Suspicion then turned toward Lizzie, since her older sister Emma was out of the home at the time of the murders.

During her four hours of examination, Lizzie did not remember where she was during the day of the murder. At first she claimed that she was never upstairs but later she said she had been upstairs a few times. She upheld a frustrating police interviewee, giving confused and contradictory answers to investigators. She was home when both murders occurred, but somehow didn’t hear or see a thing. At the time of her mother’s murder (around 9:30 A.M.), her sister Emma was out of town, Andrew Borden was running errands around town, and maid Bridget Sullivan was outside washing

They also found no footprints in the loft that could confirm Lizzie’s story. Though no forensic evidence was ever found to tie Lizzie to the crimes the clean, handle-free hatchet was found in the basement, which was the only reason it was suggested as a murder weapon. All they really had against her was her inconsistent stories, but there was no solid lead to tie her to the murders. She never testified, and like the prussic acid story, her earlier conflicting statements were judged inadmissible, partially because it was revealed she’d been on morphine, prescribed to calm her nerves, while giving them.

A family friend who stayed with the Borden sisters in the days following the murders, witnessed Lizzie burning a blue dress in a kitchen fire. As Lizzie explained her action, it was because the dress had been covered with old paint." Coupled with the earlier testimony from Bridget Sullivan that Lizzie was wearing a blue dress on the morning of the murders, the evidence was enough to convince grand jurors to indict Lizzie for the murders of her