Monster’s Charlie Hunnam weighs in on why Lizzie Borden may have brutally killed her parents

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Lizzie Borden case is whether she actually killed her father and stepmother, and if she did, why. Now, Charlie Hunnam, who plays Andrew Borden in Netflix’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, has his own theory about what may have happened inside the family home.

Lizzie was accused of murdering Andrew and Abby Borden with an axe in their Fall River home in August 1892. But she was acquitted at trial in 1893, and nobody was ever convicted of the killings.

Now, Charlie Hunnam, who plays Andrew in Ryan Murphy‘s new Monster series, has offered his take on what may have driven Lizzie to allegedly commit the murders.

So, why does Charlie Hunnam think Lizzie Borden killed her parents?

Charlie Hunnam spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the differences between his two Monster roles. He previously played Ed Gein before taking on the role of Andrew Borden. And he sees a huge difference between the two stories.

“I think they’re very different characters,” Hunnam said. “Ed Gein was a deeply disturbed character that engaged in a prolonged period of really devious depravity. These really heinous things that he was doing.”

When it comes to Lizzie, though, Hunnam said the situation was very different. “Whereas Lizzie, although if she did indeed commit this crime, and it was never proved. She was exonerated in court, although all of the evidence does suggest that she probably was responsible,” he said.

He added, “But if she was responsible, it was a much more understandable crime of passion.”

He thinks Lizzie was living in an ‘incredibly oppressive household’

Hunnam went on to explain exactly what he thinks may have pushed Lizzie towards the alleged killings. “She was living in this incredibly oppressive household with a father who was completely inaccessible and ruled in this cold, iron-fisted, miserly way, and a stepmother who was miserable and resented her,” he said.

There were also documented tensions around money and family relationships. According to the BBC, Lizzie and her sister Emma lived with Andrew and their stepmother Abby before the murders, and there were rumours of tension in the home over financial issues. Andrew was known for being frugal with his daughters, while he had given money to members of his second wife’s family.

Hunnam believes there was a lot of emotional tension inside the family before the murders. He said there was “jealousy” and “resentment” in the Borden house which eventually “culminated in this crime of passion”.

He continued by describing Lizzie as a “seemingly very innocent, very gentle girl” who “flipped and brutally murdered both of her parents.”

Lizzie maintained her innocence, was acquitted by a jury in 1893 and was never convicted of killing either Andrew or Abby. In fact, the case remains officially unsolved.

Lizzie was acquitted, so did she actually kill them?

Lizzie was arrested and charged with the murders after authorities became suspicious of her account of what happened that morning. She was eventually put on trial in June 1893.

Her defence argued that there was not enough evidence to prove she had committed the murders. And after the trial, a jury of 12 men acquitted her.

Nobody else was ever convicted either. The murder weapon was never found. And the person responsible for the killings remains a mystery.

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