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Did She Really Kill Her Father & Stepmother?

Lizzie Borden: Did she really kill her father & stepmother?

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The Lizzie Borden case has mystified and fascinated those interested in crime for over one hundred years. Very few cases in American history have attracted as much attention as the hatchet murders of Andrew J. Borden and his wife, Abby Borden. The bloodiness of the acts in an otherwise respectable late nineteenth century domestic setting is startling. Along with the gruesome nature of the crimes is the unexpected character of the accused, not a hatchet-wielding maniac, but a church-going, Sunday-school-teaching, respectable, spinster-daughter, charged with parricide, the murder of parents, a crime worthy of Classical Greek tragedy. This is a murder case in which the accused is found not guilty for the violent and bloody murders of two people. There were the unusual circumstances considering that it was an era of swift justice, of vast newspaper coverage, evidence that was almost entirely circumstantial, passionately divided public opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, incompetent prosecution, and acquittal.

This is one of the most dastardly and diabolical crimes that was ever committed in Massachusetts...

Stepmother and Father Kill She Did

It is interesting because recently another trial was held and she again was found not guilty. I can't remember the circumstances of this trial. Obviously, it was non-binding, but I believe it was conducted by some legal group.

I think it is quite likely she did it. The people in her community definately believed she did it. Although she was found not guilty, she was ostracized after the trial and was never accepted in respectable social circles again for the remainder of her lfe.

I have read a lot that seems to suggest the main reason she was found guilty is because during the era in which this crime was committed people really just couldn't believe or accept that a women, especially one of her social class, could commit such a crime.