Loading summary
Transcript12 lines
- [00:02]
A
Hi listeners, it's Vanessa. Before we get into today's episode, I want to tell you about another show I think you'll love. Hidden history with Dr. Harini Bhat. Every Monday, Dr. Bhat goes where history gets mysterious vanished civilizations, doomsday prophecies, paranormal phenomena and events that science still can't fully explain. Dr. Bot treats these moments like open case files. Not myths, not superstition, just incomplete explanations waiting for a closer look. Hidden History drops every Monday. Follow now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen, so you never miss a mystery. This is crime house. On August 4, 1892, 25 year old Maggie Sullivan was trying to take a n nap. She was the live in maid for the Bordens, a wealthy family in Fall River, Massachusetts and had spent most of the morning washing windows in the brutal summer heat. By the time she was finished, she was so exhausted that she'd gone back to her room in the attic to lie down. But she didn't rest for long. At around 11:15am Maggie woke up to the sound of the Borden's youngest daughter, 32 year old Lizzie. So screaming from downstairs, Maggie rushed down to the sitting room and discovered a horrific scene. Lizzie's father, Andrew Borden, lay dead on the couch, his face unrecognizable. Someone had attacked him with a hatchet, caving in his skull with more than a dozen blows to the head. And he wasn't the only victim. Soon, first responders would discover Lizzie's stepmother, Abby Borden, dead in the guest room, also savagely murdered with multiple hatchet blows. Their gruesome deaths shocked this small New England community to its core. But there were more surprises just around the corner. Because the alleged killer wasn't just someone the Bordens trusted with their lives, she was one of them too. From UFO cults and men mass suicides to secret CIA experiments, presidential assassinations and murderous doctors, these aren't just theories, they're real stories that blur the line between fact and fiction. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I'll explore the real people at the center of the world's most shocking events and nefarious organizations. These cases are wild and I want to hear what you think at the end of each episode. Leave a comment wherever you listen. Be sure to rate, review and follow so we can continue building this community together. And for ad free access to all three episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Today I'm digging into a case that gripped the nation in the summer of 1892 and honestly never really let go. That August, Andrew and Abby Borden were hacked to death in their own home, and their daughter, Lizzie became the prime suspect almost overnight. At a time when women were expected to be polite, proper, and quiet, the idea that a rich young lady could butcher her own parents was too scandalous for the public to look away from. The press had a field day, and suddenly Lizzie wasn't just a suspect, she was a spectacle. But did Lizzie actually do it? Or did a sloppy investigation destroy an innocent woman's life? All that and more, right after this.
- [03:57]
B
Insurance isn't one size fits all, and shopping for it shouldn't feel like squeezing into something that just doesn't fit. That's why drivers have enjoyed Progressive's Name youe Price Tool for years. With the Name youe Price Tool, you tell them what you want to pay, and they show you options that fit your budget enough. Hunting for discounts, trying to calculate rates, and tinkering with coverages. Maybe you're picking out your very first policy. Or maybe you're just looking for something that works better for you and your family. Either way, they make it simple to see your options. No guesswork, no surprises. Ready to see how easy and fun shopping for car insurance can be? Visit progressive.com and give the name your Price tool a try. Take the stress out of shopping and find coverage that fits your life on your terms. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates Price and Coverage Match limited by state law.
- [04:43]
C
This episode is brought to you by Prime Obsession is in session, and this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice off campus Elle every year after the Love Hypothesis, Sterling Point and More Slow burns, second chances chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime.
- [05:15]
A
For Lizzie Borden, it almost felt like she was cursed from the very beginning. She was born in 1860 to parents Andrew and Sarah Morse Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts. Lizzie was the youngest of three girls, or at least she was supposed to be. Her sister Emma was 10 years older, but Lizzie's middle sister, Alice, had died at 22 months, two years before Lizzie was born and when Lizzie was still a toddler, tragedy struck the family again. In 1862, when Lizzie was just two years old, her mom, Sarah, died after a short illness. On her deathbed, she made Emma promise to always look after baby Lizzie. Emma kept her promise, and the two sisters remained extremely close in the years to come. But Lizzie's relationship with the rest of her family was more Complicated. Lizzie loved her father, Andrew, and family friends observed that Lizzie seemed to be his favorite daughter. When Lizzie gave Andrew a gold ring as a birthday gift, Andrew wore it every day for the rest of his life. At the same time, Lizzie had some issues with how her father lived his life. One source of conflict was money. Andrew Borden was a wealthy businessman who sat on the boards of several banks and owned a number of local textile mills. At the time of his death, he was worth roughly half a million dollars, the equivalent of tens of millions of dollars today. Despite being one of the richest people in Fall River, Andrew was notoriously frugal and his children often paid the price. While most rich families lived in a glamorous neighborhood called the Hill, Andrew bought a cheap three story house in an undesirable part of town. And the Borden's home didn't have any of the modern amenities that other wealthy families enjoyed at the time, like indoor plumbing. The house didn't even have hallways. The only way to get from one room to another was to walk through all the other rooms in between. That's not how Lizzie wanted to live. As a child, she dreamed of having a fancy house on the Hill like her other well to do friends. But her father was set in his penny pinching ways. Whenever Lizzie tried to persuade him to move, he would reply, quote, what's wrong with the house? It's good enough for me. End quote. But their disagreements about money didn't hold a candle to Lizzie's feelings about his new wife. Just two years after Lizzie's mother died when she was four years old, Andrew remarried his new wife. Abby Gray Borden was a moral, churchgoing woman who took good care of the house. But she was also reclusive and didn't have many friends or interests outside the church. Even worse, she rarely showed any affection to her stepdaughters, Lizzie and Emma, in return. Lizzie and Emma didn't show Abby much affection either. Growing up, neither one of them called her mother. Instead they referred to her as Stepmother or Mrs. Borden. Both girls avoided Abby as much as possible, spending most of their time locked away in their rooms. At the time, young women usually lived at home until they married. So this went on until Emma and Lizzie were well into their 20s and 30s. And and it seemed like it wasn't going to change anytime soon. Emma's whole life pretty much revolved around her younger sister and she never dated anyone. A couple of men courted Lizzie, but none of those relationships turned into anything serious. And that might have been because of her Parents. Back then, a typical date consisted of a man coming over to a woman's house for tea and snacks in the living room with the family. Because of Andrew's stinginess, their living room was cramped and uncomfortable. But plus, it didn't help that Andrew and Abby didn't even try to make her potential boyfriends feel at home. They didn't seem to approve of anyone who tried to pursue their daughter. As a result, any man who came over to the Borden's house for a first date usually wasn't interested in trying for a second. So Lizzie and Emma were stuck with Abby. And eventually the conflict between the girls and their stepmother escalated to a fever pitch. In 1887, when Lizzie was 27 and her sister was 37, Abby persuaded Andrew to buy a house for her half sister, Sarah Whitehead. Andrew wound up spending $1,500, a huge amount at the time, on a new home and put Abby's name on the deed. Lizzie and Emma were livid. It wasn't just that their father, who had never spent an extra dime on either of them, was buying luxurious real estate for their stepmother's family. They were also worried that Abby had her eyes on the family fortune and the sisters thought their stepmother was gearing up to steal their inheritance. They worried that eventually she might even try to get them written out of their father's will entirely. When Lizzie and Emma confronted their father about this, he tried to make them feel better by transferring ownership of their deceased grandfather's house to them. Even though the house was more expensive than the one he'd bought for Abby's sister, the Borden girls were still suspicious. The bad blood festered for the next several years until finally it reached a breaking point in 1892. In the spring of 1892, a tailor was making a dress for Lizzie. During the fitting, the woman referred to Abby as Lizzie's mother. Lizzie was quick to correct her, saying, quote, don't call her mother. She's my stepmother and she is a mean, hateful old thing. End quote. Clearly, the vibes were bad at the Borden home and they only got worse throughout the summer. Their housekeeper, Maggie Sullivan, later reported that the atmosphere around the house was tense and quiet and that the girls rarely ate meals with their parents. By the time August rolled around, things went from bad to worse. On the night of August 2, just two days before the murders, the entire Borden family, plus Maggie Sullivan, were hit with a severe stomach illness. The only one who avoided getting sick was, and that was only because she was visiting friends in Fairhaven Massachusetts, 15 miles away. The family was so ill that on August 3rd, Abby told her doctor she suspected someone was poisoning their food. The doctor dismissed her concerns and suggested that the meat they'd eaten probably spoiled in the summer heat. But Abby wasn't the only one who felt like something was very wrong. That night, Lizzie confided in a friend that she believed something terrible was about to happen to her family. And she said she wished she could sleep with one eye open because she was certain someone was going to try to hurt her father. Lizzy was right, but she didn't know just how bad things were about to get.
- [12:11]
D
Girl, Winter is so last season. And now spring's got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders that perfect hang on the patio sundress those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done. Hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear open that envelope. It's time for a little in person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic.
- [12:44]
E
Think about some of the cases that defined true crime in America. Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, the kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart, the Karen retrial. Some crime cases are so shocking they don't just make headlines, they forever change a country. I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week I take on one of the most notorious criminal cases, whether it's unfolding now or etched into American history, revealing not just what happened, but how it forever changed our society. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that kept detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Each case unfolds across multiple episodes released every Tuesday through Thursday, from the first sign that something was wrong to the moment the truth came out or didn't. These are the stories behind the headlines. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes available now wherever you get your podcasts.
- [13:43]
A
For most of her life, Lizzie Borden had a strained relationship with her parents. She resented her wealthy father Andrew for refusing to spend his money on a nice house. And she couldn't stand her frosty, unloving stepmother, Abby Gray, who she suspected was trying to get her and her sister written out of her father's will. By 1892, 32 year old Lizzie and her 42 year old sister Emma were avoiding their parents as much as possible, staying in their rooms, skipping family meals and exclusively referring to their stepmother as Mrs. Borden. The long standing tension in the Borden house finally broke on August 4, 1892, and two people lost their lives as a result. At around 9am that morning, Abby Borden told her housekeeper, 25 year old Irish immigrant Maggie Sullivan, to wash the windows. Then Abby went upstairs to make up the guest room where her brother in law, John Morse had slept the night before. Meanwhile, Andrew Borden left the house for a walk at around 9.15am Multiple people saw him over the next hour and a half. Andrew came back home at around 10.40am he didn't have his keys, so he asked Maggie to unlock the front door for him. Maggie was feeling woozy and exhausted from her recent illness and her time in the sun. So a few minutes later, at 10:55, Maggie finished her work and went inside to take a nap. On her way to the staircase, she spotted Andrew asleep on the couch in the first floor sitting room. Twenty minutes later, at 11:15am, Maggie was jolted awake by the sound of Lizzie's screams. And with that, one of the greatest murder mysteries in American history had begun. Moments after discovering that her boss, Andrew Borden, had been savagely murdered, Maggie ran to get help. Soon she was back with a neighbor, Adelaide Churchill, and The Borden family's Dr. Seabury Bowen. Lizzie and Maggie were taken to a neighbor's home to recover from the shock. Meanwhile, Dr. Bowen entered the sitting room. There, Andrew Borden was sprawled on the couch where he'd been napping just half an hour earlier. The brutality of the murder was unlike anything Dr. Bowen had seen in 25 years as a medical professional. Andrew had been struck in the face with a hatchet 11 times to the point that he was unrecognizable. His left eye and cheekbone had been carved in half while another blow had sliced through his nose, lips and chin. Blood had completely saturated the couch and was dripping onto the floor. Dr. Bowen also noticed blood splattered across the wall and on a picture frame behind the body. And soon Dr. Bowen made another crucial discovery. Andrew's wounds were still bleeding and his body was still warm. This meant he'd been murdered very recently, just minutes before Lizzie discovered his body. At some point during the exam, Maggie returned to the house. She said Lizzie had asked her to find Abby. Someone had to tell her what happened to their father. But according to Lizzie, her stepmother had received a note earlier that morning asking her to visit a friend who was recovering from an illness. Maggie had already gone there, but Abby wasn't at the house. So Maggie came back to the Bordens instead. Assuming Abby had already returned home at some point, Maggie and the neighbor, Adelaide Churchill, began searching the house for Lizzie's stepmother. It didn't take long for them to find her. When Adelaide and Maggie reached the second floor landing of the main staircase and they spotted Abby Borden lying on the floor of the guest room, both women rushed into the room where Abby was lying face down on the carpet in a thick pool of blood. She'd been struck in the back of her head with a hatchet 19 times. The blows had been so forceful and so concentrated that the back of her skull had caved into her brain, leaving a five inch hole. When Maggie and Adelaide called Dr. Bowen upstairs, he noticed that Abby's body was cold and the blood pooling on the floor around her was black and dried. Based on his knowledge of how long it took for blood to dry, he estimated that Abby had been killed as much as an hour and a half before Andrew. But Dr. Bowen was interrupted before he could examine the body any further. The police had finally arrived on the scene. The double murder at the Borden house had happened on the same day as the Fall River Police Department's annual picnic. That meant over half the town's police officers were at the beach, more than 40 miles away, with only a skeleton crew left in town to handle the investigation. By 11:45am 30 minutes after Lizzie found Andrew's body, there were just six officers working the crime scene. With limited manpower, officers gave nearby civilians temporary authority to help hold back the growing crowd. Then they began a haphazard search of the Borden's house, yard and barn. They didn't find a suspect hiding anywhere on the property, but they did find multiple potential murder weapons. In the cellar, investigators discovered two hatchets and two axes, one of which had a suspicious red smudge on its handle. Over the next few days, police kept searching and found a 20 inch wooden club hidden under the bed in the house's master bedroom. They also discovered a third hatchet in the cellar, this one with a broken off handle coated in a strange ash like substance. All of these potential murder weapons were eventually sent to the chemistry department at Harvard University to be tested for blood stains. But ultimately no human blood was found on any of them. Apparently, the killer had taken their weapon with them when they fled the scene. But the police weren't worried because by the end of the first day of the investigation, they already had a suspect. Just hours after Andrew and Abby Borden were found murdered, police arrested their first suspect, a disgruntled Employee of the Borden household who was a Portuguese immigrant. People in Fall river were quick to suspect the town's immigrant population whenever a crime was committed to. In this case, the Portuguese man had withdrawn his life savings from the bank earlier in the day and talked about moving to New York. For the police, that was enough to arrest him. But they quickly learned he had an alibi for that morning and was released almost immediately after that. Detectives looked at another immigrant, Maggie Sullivan, the Borden's Irish housekeeper. She was at the house during the murders, so it made sense, and. But she wasn't in the hot seat for long. Lizzie confirmed that Maggie had been outside during the time frame when Abby was killed. And she vouched for Maggie's trustworthiness, too, assuring police that the family's longtime maid was above suspicion. Maggie was questioned, but in the end, the district attorney said he had no reason to believe Maggie was the killer. Investigators also looked into John Morse, Andrew's brother in law, as a potential suspect. They thought it was suspicious he'd dropped in for a visit just before the killings, seemingly without any luggage, and had slept in the room where Abby's body was found. But at the time of the murders, Morse had been on the opposite side of town, visiting relatives, who all swore they'd been with him the entire time. When police questioned Lizzie, she suggested that her father and stepmother had been killed by one of Andrew's rivals. According to her, Andrew had made a lot of enemies in town with his rude behavior and aggressive business practices. A few weeks before the murder, he'd gotten into a shouting match with a man who'd tried to rent one of his properties the previous year. Someone had broken into the house in broad daylight and stolen a bunch of money and jewelry. And just before the killings, Lizzie had spotted a mysterious figure skulking around the property. Police tried to follow up on those leads, but none of them panned out. And by then, they'd zeroed in on a much more plausible suspect, the one other person who'd been inside the house when the murders were committed. Lizzie Borden. Initially, the police didn't even consider Lizzie as a suspect. They just didn't think a good Christian girl from a rich family could do something so awful. Plus, there was no evidence to suggest she was the killer. Both crime scenes were covered in blood, while Lizzie and her clothes were completely clean. But once detectives questioned Lizzie, they immediately grew suspicious. While Maggie and the neighbors were distraught, Lizzie was remarkably calm and collected. And although she'd discovered her own father's ravaged body it didn't even seem like she'd cried. That same coolness extended to Abby. When one of the detectives referred to Abby Borden as her mother, Lizzie corrected him, saying, quote, she is my stepmother. My own mother is dead. The fact that Lizzie was so intent on distancing herself from her stepmother, even on the day of her murder, suggested she had a lot of deep seated resentment. But it wasn't just Lizzie's demeanor that was suspicious. Her alibi didn't hold up either. Lizzie had told police that at the time of her father's murder, she was in the loft of the barn, searching for loose pieces of lead. She said she'd planned to turn them into sinkers, which are attached to a fishing line to help the bait sink down to where the fish are. This didn't make much sense to the police. For one thing, Lizzie wasn't an avid fisherwoman. She later revealed that she hadn't been on a fishing trip in five years. It seems strange that she would choose the exact moment of her father's murder to get back into the hobby. Even more suspicious, Lizzie claimed that she'd been up in the loft for 20 to 30, 30 minutes. It was extremely hot outside that day, and almost unbearably hot inside the stuffy, dark barn. It was hard to believe she would have spent such a long time in there. And when police climbed up to the stifling, hot loft themselves, they found a thick layer of undisturbed dust on the floor. Clearly, nobody'd been up there in a long time, otherwise there would have been footprints. So if Lizzie hadn't been in the barn loft, where was she at the time of the murders? Over multiple rounds of questioning, she gave contradictory answers. And later, she claimed she was in the kitchen when her father returned home from his walk. But her shifty statements weren't the only reason police were suspicious. As the investigation continued, detectives took a closer look at the mysterious illness that had hit the Borden family two days before the murders. The family doctor had dismissed Abby's concerns about being poisoned, but now the police wondered if she'd been onto something. After studying the contents of Andrew and Abby's stomachs, the medical examiner confirmed that neither one had poison in their systems. But around this same time, investigators discovered that Lizzie had gone to a local drugstore and attempted to buy a bottle of prussic acid, a deadly poison, on the day before for the murders. The clerk refused to sell it to her without a prescription. But the incident raised even more alarm bells for the police. Had Lizzie heard her stepmother Talking about a potential poisoner and been inspired. After the clerk refused to sell her the acid, did Lizzie decide to use a hatchet to kill her parents instead? At the time, those were all just theories. But there was one final piece of the puzzle that said sealed Lizzie's fate. Three days after the murders, on August 7, Lizzie's friend Alice Russell was staying at the house when she saw Lizzy standing by the kitchen stove holding a blue dress. When Alice asked what she was doing, Lizzy said she was going to burn the dress because according to her, it had paint on it. Alice immediately felt like that was strange. Why would Lizzy be burning some of her clothes in the middle of an active murder investigation? Was it possible that there was blood on the dress and she was trying to destroy the evidence? Alice didn't see any blood, but Lizzie threw the dress into the stove before she could get a close look. Alice didn't come forward with this information right away. She wanted to support her friend in the aftermath of this terrible tragedy. But soon her conscience got the better of her and Alice contacted the district attorney to tell him what she'd seen. That was the last straw. On August 11, 1892, one week after the murders, 32 year old Lizzie Borden was placed under arrest and charged with the murder of her parents. Lizzie pleaded not guilty. She'd have to make a case for herself in court with the eyes of the entire country on her. But in the court of public opinion, she'd already lost.
- [27:01]
F
In the suburbs of D.C. a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered.
- [27:06]
A
911, which emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer.
- [27:11]
F
For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.
- [27:32]
A
When Andrew and Abby Borden were found brutally murdered at their Fall River, Massachusetts home on August 4, 1892, the entire town was on edge. But after just a week, the police believed they'd found their murderer. The family's youngest daughter, 32 year old Lizzie Borden. On August 11, 1892, she was arrested and locked up in the local jail. She'd stay there for the next 10 months as the state prepared for one of the most closely watched murder trials in American history. Lizzie sobbed herself to sleep on her first night in the tiny cell. But in the days ahead, she got used to her new digs. And even though she was a suspect in a Brutal double murder. Her status as a wealthy woman got her certain per she was allowed to wear her own clothes, had books and flowers brought to her cell, and instead of jail food, she had her meals delivered from a local hotel. But most importantly, she had the support of her sister. 42 year old Emma had been on vacation in the nearby town of Fairhaven at the time of the murders, but she rushed home as soon as she learned what had happened. In the days after the murders, she was always by Lizzie's side. And after Lizzie's arrest, she visited her regularly and was the one who brought Lizzie her clothes, books and bedding from home. Even more crucial, Emma took a lead role in putting together Lizzie's legal defense. In the early days of the investigation, Emma contacted the Borden family's attorney to represent Lizzie. Once Lizzie was in jail, Emma hired Boston lawyer Melvin Adams to join the legal team for various preliminary hearings. And In February of 1893, after Lizzie had been in jail for six months, Emma hired one of the most respected lawyers in all of New England, 59 year old George Dexter Robinson. Robinson had graduated with honors from Harvard Law School before going into politics. He served in the Massachusetts state legislature, the U.S. house of Representatives, and as Governor of Massachusetts, winning each seat three times over. Once he had his fill of politics, he went back to practicing law where he earned a reputation as a fearsome cross examiner in court. Lizzie couldn't have asked for a better lawyer. But Robinson didn't come cheap. Emma and Lizzie had to pay $25,000 for his services, the equivalent of nearly $900,000 today. Both sisters drained their personal bank accounts but weren't able to cover the full cost up front. Instead, they promised to pay the rest once they received their inheritance after the trial. Clearly, Lizzie was prepared to defend herself in court. The problem was she couldn't do anything about the narrative that was building outside her jail cell. People all over the country were obsessed with the story of a rich woman who was arrested for the brutal murder of her father and stepmother. Newspapers from Boston, New York and as far away as San Francisco sent reporters to Fall river to cover the lead up to the trial. Every detail of the investigation, preliminary court hearings and Lizzie's behavior in jail became front page news across the country. Some papers took Lizzie's side. The Fall River Evening News, whose editor had been a friend of Andrew Borden, exclusively ran stories that portrayed Lizzie as innocent. The Boston Herald did too. In one story, they wrote that Lizzie had never committed, quote, a single deliberately unkind act in her life. End quote. But many more papers decided she was guilty. Long before the trial began. A local outlet called the Fall River Globe published countless stories portraying Lizzie as a sport spoiled rich girl who killed her parents for their money. The Boston Globe went even further. In October of 1892, they ran a front page story titled Lizzie Borden's Secret, based on a tip from a private investigator who had briefly been a policeman in Fall River. In the story, they claimed that Lizzie was secretly pregnant and had murdered her father and stepmother. When they threatened to write her out of their will. They claimed to have affidavits from 25 witnesses to back up these explosive allegations. Less than 12 hours after the story was published, editors at the Globe realized they'd been tricked. The private investigator, who they'd paid a thousand dollars for the scoop, had made up the names and addresses of the 25 witnesses, then fled to Canada. As soon as he had his money, the paper was forced to print a full report, retraction and apology. But the damage was already done. Eventually, most ordinary people just assumed Lizzy was guilty. This sentiment was so widespread that children in Fall river even made up a morbid nursery rhyme about her. Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother 40 wax. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41. Andrew Borden is now dead. Lizzie hit him on the head. Up in heaven he will sing on the gallows she will swing. While local children had already decided Lizzie was guilty, the legal system had a chance to weigh in. Ten months after the killings, on June 5, 1893, 32 year old Lizzie Borden went on trial for her parents murder. The proceedings took place at a courthouse in the nearby town of New Bedford, in front of a panel of three judges and a jury of 12 men. The galley was packed with reporters who scribbled down every detail in their notebooks. And the courtroom was unbearable in the summer heat, which sometimes approached 100 degrees indoors. But once the trial got underway, the legal proceedings started off with a bang. On the second day of proceedings, during the prosecution's opening statement, District Attorney William Moody showed the jury Andrew and Abby Borden's skulls. Lizzie was so upset that she fainted and the trial had to be put on hold for several minutes until she could be revived. If Lizzie had been considered insufficiently upset about her parents murder before, that certainly wasn't the case now. Over the next several days, prosecutors laid out their case against Lizzie. They argued that as the only person inside the house on the morning of the murders, she was the only one with the opportunity to commit the crime. They also called witnesses who testified about Lizzie's bad relationship with her stepmother. These witnesses recounted some of the negative comments Lizzie had made about the real estate dispute and the family fortune. The prosecution argued that this was Lizzie's motive, that she'd killed her stepmother to protect her and her sister's inheritance. Prosecutors also hammered Lizzie for the many contradictory statements she'd made to police. In particular, they focused on Lizzie's claim that her stepmother had received a note asking her to go visit a sick friend on the morning of the murders. Lizzie had said that was why she didn't bother searching the rest of the house. After finding her father's body, she assumed her stepmother wasn't home. But the prosecution pointed out that in their many searches of the Borden home, police never found this alleged note. They claimed it was more evidence that Lizzie was lying. She'd made the whole thing up as an excuse for why she didn't go looking for Abby after finding her father murdered. After several days of damning testimony against her, it was time for Liz. Lizzie's lawyers, led by former governor George Robinson, to earn their pay. And they turned out to be worth every penny. Even before they made their first argument in court. Lizzie's defense had a lot of built in advantages. One of them was Lizzie herself. While she'd been thoroughly demonized in the press, in court she wore black dresses and corsets and often carried flowers and a fan. To the jury, she didn't look like a cold blooded killer. Many observers doubted she could even swing a hatchet hard enough to puncture a skull. Another was her lawyer. During his time as governor, Robinson had actually appointed one of the three judges presiding over the trial. This was an enormous conflict of interest, but the judge didn't recuse himself. That might have influenced some favorable rulings. Right out of the the gate. Robinson started out by attacking the prosecutor's strongest line of attack. Lizzie's contradictory responses. Under questioning, Robinson called Lizzie's doctor to the stand, who testified that shortly after the murders he'd prescribed her morphine to help calm her nerves. Lizzie took doses of morphine for the next several days, including when she was questioned by police. Robinson argued that Lizzie's stories didn't change because she was lying. They changed because she was taking powerful sedatives. Robinson also pointed out that Lizzie was interrogated without a lawyer present. He said this was a violation of both the US Constitution and the Massachusetts State Constitution. Based on that, Robinson was able to persuade the judges to declare Lizzie's statements under Questioning inadmissible as evidence. This meant the jury wasn't allowed to consider it when reaching a verdict. Robinson also managed to get the judges to rule the same way on testimony related to Lizzie's attempts to buy poison the day before the murders. The judges agreed that the poison was irrelevant to the case. Now that Robinson had eliminated two of the prosecution's strongest arguments against Lizzie, he turned to defending Lizzie herself. Robinson spent days rebuilding her character for the jury. He talked about the deep love she had for her father, highlighting the ring she'd given him that he wore for the rest of his life. He also talked up the years of charitable work Lizzie did for the community through her church. Robinson argued that a crime this brutal could only be committed by, quote, a maniac or devil, end quote. Not someone as respectable as Lizzie. More importantly, he said that someone could have easily broken in that day. Robinson reminded jurors that the Bordens had multiple daytime burglaries over the past couple of years. To prove his point, he called on witnesses who testified that the spring lock on the front door was unreliable. And then he gave Lizzie an alibi in the form of another witness. Hyman Lubinsky was a Russian immigrant who sold ice cream out of a wagon. He didn't speak much English, but on the stand he confirmed that on the morning of the murders, he saw Lizzie leaving the barn and walking towards the house at 11am this backed up Lizzie's claim that she had been in the barn when the murders happened. And it blew up the prosecution's timeline. It would have been impossible for Lizzie to get inside, kill her father and change her clothes and dispose of the evidence before Maggie heard her screaming. Finally, Robinson called Lizzie's sister Emma to resolve one of the most controversial details of all, that Lizzie burned her dress a few days after the murders. On the witness stand under oath, Emma testified that she had noticed the dress had been stained with green house paint and she had been the one to suggest that Lizzie burn the dress. After Emma's testimony, Lizzie's fate was in the hands of the jury. But before they began their deliberations, the judge did one last favor for his old friend, George Dexter Robinson. He urged the jury to give Lizzie the benefit of the doubt due to her, quote, exceptional Christian character. With that, the jury left to debate Lizzie Borden's future. It didn't take them very long to come up with an answer. After one hour, the jury delivered their unanimous verdict. Not guilty. When Lizzie heard the news, she collapsed in tears of joy and Emma ran to the defense table to hug her. The spectators in the galley erupted into cheers, too. At least in that moment, public opinion seemed to be back on Lizzie's side. In the aftermath of the trial, observers on both sides agreed that the prosecution's case had been weak. In interviews, jurors later revealed that it had only taken them 10 minutes to agree that Lizzie was innocent. They just waited an extra 50 minutes so the prosecutors wouldn't feel bad about how quickly they'd reached a verdict. Finally, Lizzie Borden's legal troubles were over, but her personal life was worse than ever. After the trial, Lizzie and Emma received their inheritance from the family's estate. $400,000, the equivalent of over $14 million today. Two months later, Lizzie finally achieved a lifelong dream. She bought a large Victorian style mansion in the ritzy neighborhood of Fall river called the Hill. She and Emma moved into the house together and tried to get on with their lives. But that was easier said than done. Many Fall river residents still held a grudge against Lizzie. When she tried to return to her church after the trial, the other members of the congregation silently got up from their pews and moved away from her. And when she walked through town, groups of local children would follow her, chanting the 40 wax nursery rhyme. While Lizzie remained in Fall river for the rest of her life, she soon withdrew from society. She traveled to Europe and regularly attended theater shows in Boston and New York. But eventually, even her most faithful ally turned her back on her. In 1905, Emma abruptly packed her bags and moved out of Lizzie's house. They never spoke again. Although neither sister ever explained the reason for the split, there were rumors that Lizzie's close relationship with a popular theater actress may have driven a wedge between them. Despite this mysterious feud, Emma remained loyal to her sister. In a 1913 interview, Emma reiterated that Lizzie was innocent and promised that she would always defend baby Lizzie. And it seems like their bond even extended into the afterlife. In 1927, Lizzie passed away at 66 years old. Emma died just nine days later, when she was 76. They were buried side by side in the family's burial plot at Oak Grove Cemetery, alongside the father and stepmother Lizzie was accused of killing. So who actually killed Andrew and Abby Borden? To this day, nobody knows for sure. Of course, lots of people still think Lizzie was responsible and that her lawyer was just really good at his job. But there are still many other theories. Some people think Emma secretly traveled to Fall river, killed her father and stepmother, then rushed back to continue her vacation. Others believe the maid, Maggie Sullivan, killed the Bordens because she was angry about washing the windows on a hot day. Another theory is that Andrew Borden had an illegitimate son who committed the murders because he was furious about being cut out of the family fortune. To be clear, these are all educated guesses at best, with no evidence or living witnesses to back them up and more than 130 years after this brutal slaying, it looks like we'll never get a concrete answer. But it's possible that in their rush to convict Lizzie Borden in the court of public opinion, the people of Fall river let the real murderer get away with the crime of the century. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next time. We'll decode the episode together and hear another story about the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original Powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance the your Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Monday. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benidon, Natalie Povsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Alyssa Fox, Truman Capps, Leah Roche, Kaylee Pine, and Michael Langsner. Thank you for listening.
- [45:23]
E
I'm Katie Ring, host of America's Most Infamous Crimes. Each week I take on one of the most notorious crimes criminal cases in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes available now wherever you get your podcasts.