Eight damning pieces of evidence that suggest Lizzie Borden was guilty, despite her acquittal

Netflix’s Monster has revisited the story of Lizzie Borden with the view that she was guilty and killed her parents to relieve herself of the oppression she was living under. In real life, Borden was acquitted, mainly because she was a woman and they didn’t believe she could commit such a heinous crime. That means she’s innocent in the eyes of the law, but many believe she was guilty, and here are eight very convincing reasons to believe that’s true. 

1. There are no other logical theories 

The most damning evidence is that there is nobody else who could have possibly committed the murders. The maid, Bridget Sullivan, was the only one in the house and was cleaning windows at the time, John Morse was away visiting relatives, and Lizzie’s sister Emma was out of town. Nobody else was spotted entering or exiting the house, so if not Lizzie, who was it?

2. There was nothing out of the ordinary

When police investigated the Borden home following the murders, they found nothing strange. No furniture out of place, no signs somebody had forced entry, no items stolen. Nothing. 

Credit: Netflix

3. Lizzie attempted to buy poison

This detail was completely missed in Monster, but the day before the murders, Lizzie actually tried to buy poison. In the trial, a pharmacist claimed she tried to buy prussic acid from his local drug store, Smith’s, to put an edge on a seal-skin cape, but they refused to sell it to her because of her strange reasoning. Why would she do that if she wasn’t trying to murder them?

4. She thought someone was going to kill her father

The night before the murders, Lizzie visited her friend, Alice Russell, and told her that she thought her father had an enemy who was going to kill him. She said the same thing to her neighbour Adelaide Churchill, and to the doctor when they arrived on the scene after the murders. A coincidence? A plan, more like. 

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5. Lizzie claimed she was downstairs when Abby was killed

Lizzie told police she was downstairs when her stepmother was murdered with an axe upstairs, in the very same house. Yet she didn’t hear anything at all? 

Credit: Netflix

6. Her alibi for Andrew’s death was suspicious too

After Andrew was killed, Lizzie told everyone she was “in the barn looking for some iron” for a fishing trip and had been there for 15 to 20 minutes. Yet, when police searched the barn, they found it was so hot in there that nobody would stay in there for so long. There were also no footprints.

7. She wanted everyone out of the house

When Lizzie discovered her parents were dead, she sent everybody out of the house on different errands, without any fear of being alone in the house. If there was a murderer on the loose, wouldn’t she be more scared?

8. Lizzie burnt her blue corduroy dress 

As shown in Monster, Lizzie burnt her blue corduroy dress in a kitchen fire three days after the murders, on 7th August. Witnesses claimed she was wearing blue on the morning of the murders, leading to speculation that she was wearing it during the murders and burning it to hide the evidence. But Lizzie claimed it was stained with old paint.

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