The Killer Book of Infamous Murders

This is one of the most bizarre murders of all time. It happened on Thursday, August 4, 1892, and there are still books written about it and, indeed, quite a few people still visit the museum in Fall River, Massachusetts, to gape at the displays.

The day started ordinarily enough. The family, consisting of seventy-year-old Andrew Jackson Borden, his second wife, Abby Durfee Gray, Andrew’s daughter from his first marriage, Lizzie, their maid, Bridget Sullivan, and John Morse, Andrew’s brother-in-law from his first marriage, who was visiting for a day, all got up early. Andrew Borden’s other daughter, Emma, was away visiting someone.

The two-and-a-half-story house was well appointed, but it was located in a poorer section of Fall River because Borden, who was one of the richest men in the city, wanted to be close to his business interests. The house location, in fact, was an irritation to his two daughters, who had implored him on a number of occasions to allow them all to move. But Borden, a very frugal man, would not do it. This worked for him financially and that’s all that mattered, though he was described as being “moderately generous” with his daughters.

Lizzie, it was said, loved her father very much, but the same could not be said about her feelings for her stepmother. Homicide investigators would later discover that she disliked her intensely, if for no other reason than that she robbed some of the affection that was due her from her father.

Want to Visit Lizzie’s House?

If you want to visit the murder house today, you can—it’s been turned into a bed and breakfast. (Long live American enterprise!)

The house was erected in 1845. The home was originally a twofamily one and was later made into a single-family home by Andrew J. Borden, who bought the house at 92 Second Street to be close to his bank and various downtown businesses. The bed and breakfast is named after Andrew J. Borden’s youngest daughter, Lizzie. Although she was tried and acquitted of the crimes, she was ostracized by the community of Fall River.

Since the murders on August 4, 1892, the house has been a private residence. The public is allowed not only to view the murder scene, but is given an opportunity to spend a night (if you dare) in the actual house where the murders took place.

The owners say: “We offer two bedroom suites, Lizzie & Emma’s bedrooms, and Abby & Andrew’s bedrooms (this suite has a private bath); the John Morse guest room, Bridget’s attic room, and two additional spacious attic bedrooms (the Jennings & Knowlton rooms), each of which offer a double bed in a room with Victorian appointments.”

Guests are treated to a breakfast similar to the one the Bordens ate on the morning of the murders, which includes bananas, johnnycakes, sugar cookies, and coffee in addition to a delicious meal of breakfast staples.

The interior and exterior of the home has been restored to its original Victorian splendor, with careful attention to making it as close to the Borden home of August 1892 as possible.

The owners of the home invite all to view their collection of both Fall River and Borden memorabilia at 92 Second Street. Located just fifty miles south of Boston, minutes from Providence or Newport, Rhode Island, and the gateway to Cape Cod, this landmark home is accessible from all major highways.

The day before the murders had been unsettling. Both Abby and Andrew Borden complained of having an upset stomach, but nothing much came of it—until later.

About a quarter to nine on August 4, Mr. Borden went downtown to go to the bank and to attend to other chores as he did most days. Bridget Sullivan, the live-in maid, had been told by Mrs. Borden to wash the windows, which she did, and then it was said that she also felt a little queasy in the stomach and laid down. There was one other player—or possible suspect as it would turn out—and this was John Morse, an uncle who periodically visited the Bordens. He also had gone out of the house for some reason.

Mr. Borden returned to the house about nine o’clock and Bridget let him in; the Bordens were in the habit of keeping all the doors and windows locked, as they were that day. Lizzie, who had been upstairs, came downstairs when her father returned and had a bit of news about her stepmother, or Mrs. Borden, as she and her sister Emma called her. Mrs. Borden had received a note that a friend was sick and had gone to visit her.

Borden went upstairs to do something, then came back downstairs and parked himself on the settee in the sitting room.

Bridget felt a little fatigued from the window-washing and having a stomach ailment, so she went upstairs to rest. Lizzie stayed downstairs ironing.

It was only a few minutes later, just before eleven o’clock, when Bridget (who everyone called “Maggie,” the name of the former maid), who had fallen asleep, heard her name being called frantically by Lizzie.

“Maggie!” Lizzie shouted. “Come down quick. Father’s dead. Somebody came in and killed him.”

Bridget ran downstairs and headed for Lizzie and then, presumably, to the sitting room.

“No Maggie,” Lizzie cried. “Don’t go in there. Go get the doctor. Run!”

When she got there she told Lizzie and asked her where she had been when this happened.

“I was out in the yard, and I heard a groan and came in. The screen door was wide open.”

Lizzie then asked Bridget to get Adelaide Churchill, who lived next door. Bridget hurried off.

When Churchill came over, she asked Lizzie where she was during the time her father seemed to be attacked. Lizzie said that she had gone to the barn to get some iron sinkers.

Churchill also asked her where her stepmother was and Lizzie couldn’t tell her exactly, just that she had received a note about a sick friend, and she thought she had heard her come back into the house.

Dr. Bowen was finally located and he went into the sitting room to examine Andrew Borden.

He had been slaughtered. Someone had hammered his head and face with a sharp object. Blood, still running, was everywhere, including splattered on the wall behind the sofa, on a picture, and on the floor. Indeed, though the doctor was a good friend of Borden, his face was so cut that the doctor couldn’t identify him by it alone.

Some time passed before they started to search the house for Abby Borden, to see if she had returned.

They asked Bridget to check upstairs but she was too terrified to do so. Churchill, Lizzie, and Bridget went upstairs together.

They made a horrendous discovery in the guest room. Abby was lying there in a pool of blood. She too had been slaughtered. Her face now an unrecognizable mass of blood and gashes, the doctor knew that she had been attacked by the same person who had attacked her husband.

The police were called but most were out at a picnic, except for one policeman named George Allen. Once he saw the scene himself, he ran the almost quarter-mile back to the station to alert others, but committed a serious error. No one was left guarding the crime scene, and many curious onlookers actually paraded though the house, contaminating the crime scene.

As it happened, at one point a county medical examiner passed by the scene and his services were used. He examined the bodies and told the police about a suspected poisoning of milk and took samples of that as well. After the bodies were photographed, autopsies were done at Harvard and the bodies tested for poison, but none was discovered.

The police started an intense investigation, and gradually suspicion, in the form of circumstantial evidence, started to fall on Lizzie Borden.

Lizzie had tried to buy prussic acid, a poison, at a local drug store but the owner would not sell it to her without a prescription. Lizzie also told a friend, Alice Russell, that she had a sense that someone was going to hurt her father. Maybe, but cops knew it could also be Lizzie laying about an atmosphere for another killer.

Investigators also saw a huge gap in the logic of the situation. According to the medical examiners, when Abby’s body was discovered, the blood around the wounds was congealed and it was estimated—though this was a near impossible task—that she had been killed around 9:30 in the morning. This would mean that if a killer had slipped into the house and killed her then, he would have to have waited around an hour and a half until Mr. Borden returned from town, went into the sitting room, lay down on the sofa, and then murdered him.

Lizzie also had told investigators that Mrs. Borden had gone out, but no note had been found summoning her to the side of a sick friend. Rather, investigators theorized that Lizzie had killed Abby upstairs, and then had murdered her father.

Tied into this was the idea that at one point in the morning Lizzie had asked Bridget if she was going into town, because there was a fabric sale going on. In other words, it might have been that Lizzie was trying to get her out of the house.

It also would have been very difficult for a killer to get into the house, given that all the doors were securely locked and remained that way.

Police started focusing on Lizzie as a suspect. Uncle John Morse had established that he was in town and could not have killed the Bordens, and Lizzie’s sister, Emma, was visiting someone far away.

On Sunday, August 7, something happened that was to cast even more suspicion on Lizzie. Her friend Alice Russell saw Lizzie burning a blue dress, and when she did she commented that Lizzie shouldn’t let anyone see her do that. Lizzie responded by saying that it was just a dress with paint on it. She didn’t attempt to defend her action in any way. But investigators found out about it and they took it as a sign that Lizzie had something to hide.

All of these little details were duly noted, but it was at the inquest when she gave conflicting testimony before Judge Blasdell of the Second District Court that the jurist decided to charge Lizzie with murder, though it is not known what exactly she said. To this day the records remain sealed.

She was arraigned following the inquest, and pled not guilty to the charges against her. She was charged with three counts of murder, one charge for each of her parents and one for both of them.

For a time, people thought that the charges would be dismissed, but then on December 1, Alice Russell told of the burning of the dress, and this was enough to move the trial forward.

The trial started about six months later, on June 5, 1893. Because the crimes were so brutal and photos of the murder victims in all their gore were available, the story was in newspapers all over America.

The jury was all men, twelve farmers and tradesmen. The prosecution presented their case, first led by the district attorney of Fall River named Hosea Knowlton, who actually reluctantly took the case after the Attorney General of Massachusetts turned it down, because there was considerable sentiment building for Lizzie Borden. Knowlton was assisted by William Moody, district attorney of Essex County.

The opening statement laid out the case the prosecution had against Lizzie, which was basically that she had a tremendous amount of hostility toward her stepmother and her father. Moody, who made the presentation, also pointed out what he says were inconsistencies in Lizzie Borden’s alibi.

There were a number of dramatic moments in the trial, but none more dramatic than when Moody dropped a dress he was using as evidence onto a table and tissue paper covering an object came off it—Andrew Borden’s head, which had been removed during a second autopsy, which occurred after Borden’s body was exhumed and never returned.

Moody also sought to strengthen the motivation that Lizzie had for killing her father and stepmother, and said that it was all a matter of money, that as Andrew Borden’s will stood she and her sister Emma were to receive the bulk of his estate of a half million dollars. This was a huge amount of money in the late 1800s, but Uncle John Morse had said that Andrew had been considering making a new will.

A major problem the prosecution encountered was a simple physical fact: why was Lizzie Borden not spattered with blood? Whoever killed her stepmother had struck her nineteen times with, police decided, a hatchet. The head is notorious for bleeding copiously.

One of the theories was that Lizzie had bludgeoned her father and stepmother while in the nude, but this is highly unlikely. Women in Victorian times would likely never appear nude in front of their fathers, even to murder them.

The prosecution said that they thought that she changed clothes in between the murders and again after the murder of her father, but no clothing was ever found. The idea that she would be discarding a blood-soaked dress after a couple of days simply didn’t make sense. Why would she wait to dispose of what could be such a crucial piece of evidence?

The defense attorneys succeeded in getting Lizzie’s inquest testimony, in which she made contradictory statements about a number of things, thrown out. The prosecution also failed in its attempt to have Eli Bence, the drugstore clerk who refused to sell Lizzie prussic acid, testify. The defense objected to the judge that it was irrelevant to the case.

The prosecution took seven days to present their case, while the defense only took two. Lizzie’s attorneys, Andrew Jennings and George Robinson, had been the attorneys for Andrew Borden. They were aided by a young attorney named Melvin Adams, who helped get the inquest at which Lizzie made contradictory statements disallowed.

The defense just tried to introduce reasonable doubt, and point out the lack of any physical evidence, including a murder weapon, and the lack of blood on Lizzie.

They also brought in people who said they saw some strange people lurking in the area over the morning when the murders occurred, and they also had a person testify that they spotted Lizzie coming out of the barn at about the time Lizzie said she had been in it searching for iron.

At one point, the judge asked Lizzie if she had anything to say. She did: “I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me.”

The jury got the case on Monday, June 19, and they brought a verdict in an hour later. Lizzie Borden was innocent of all charges. It was a verdict well accepted by the public, who felt that the authorities had been persecuting Lizzie.

More Infamous Kids Who Murdered Their Parents

Fed Father to Coyotes!

In February 2008, a twenty-two-year-old Colorado man killed his father and fed him to coyotes. Jeremiah Berry had endured lifelong sexual abuse at the hands of his forty-two-year-old father Jack. Jeremiah told police that he had killed his father after he had raped him. The father had also said he had been told by God that Jeremiah needed to get a sex change operation so he could become his wife. Jeremiah felt differently. He shot his father in the head and dismembered the corpse. He encased some body parts in a bucket of concrete, and left the rest for the coyotes. Jeremiah pled guilty to manslaughter and will spend only three years in prison. His mother, Rita, said of the incident, “His father was a monster, and Jeremiah was a victim.”

Hunting—Inside the House

After having an argument with his mother over money, a Bethlehem, Georgia, man killed his mother with a crossbow as she slept. Thirty-nine-year-old Rodney Thompson was angry that his mother wanted him to pay $300 in rent if he was going to live with her. Authorities stated that Thompson did not hunt and had recently bought a compound crossbow, indicating a clear case of premeditated murder. Sixty-four-year-old Marjorie Lynch managed to get herself to the phone to call police, even though she had an arrow sticking out of her back. She was flown to the trauma unit of a nearby hospital but later expired.

A little over a month after she was found not guilty, Lizzie and her sister Emma got their wish and bought a house in the better section of Fall River at 306 French Street. Indeed, it was located on “The Hill,” the most fashionable area of the town.

Lizzie and her sister lived together until 1904, when Lizzie met a lovely young actress named Nance O’Neill, and for two years they were always together.

Her relationship with her sister ended around that time and they didn’t talk again until the day Lizzie died, which was curious in and of itself. Lizzie passed away on June 1, 1927, from complications of gall bladder surgery. She was sixty-seven. Her sister Emma died just nine days later, after a fall down a flight of stairs in her home in Newmarket, New Hampshire, where she had moved around 1915. They left their estates to charitable causes, and were buried near their mother and father. Lizzie allocated $500 of her estate to be used in maintaining her father’s grave.

The Autopsies of Mr. and Mrs. Borden

Following are the autopsy reports on the Bordens. The devil is indeed in the details and most certainly that is the case here. The hatred the perp had for the Bordens is self-evident.

Andrew Borden

Autopsy performed by W. A. Dolan, Medical Examiner, assisted by Dr. F. W. Draper. Witnesses F. W. Draper of Boston and John W. Leary of Fall River. Clerk D. E. Cone of Fall River. Time of Autopsy 11:15 A.M. August 11th, 1892, one week after death.

Body that of a man well nourished. Age seventy years. 5 feet 11 inches in height. No stiffness of death on account of decomposition, which was far advanced. Inguinal hernia on right side. Abdomen had already been opened. Artificial teeth in upper jaw. There were no marks of violence on body, but on left side of head and face there were numerous incised wounds and one contused wound penetrating into the brain.

The wounds beginning at the nose and to the left were as follows:

1. Incised wound 4 inches long beginning at lower border of left nasal bone and reaching to lower edge of lower jaw, cutting through nose, upper lip, lower lip, and slightly into bone of upper and lower jaw.

2. Began at internal angle of eye and extended to one and 3/8 inches of lower edge of jaw, beginning 4 and 1/2 inches in length, cutting through the tissues and into the bone.

3. Began at lower border of lower eye lid cutting through the tissues and into the cheek bone, 2 inches long and one and 3/8 inches deep.

4. Began two inches above upper eye lid 1/2 inch external to wound No. 3, thence downward and outward through middle of left eyebrow through the eye ball cutting it completely in halves, and excising a piece of the skull one and 1/2 inches in length by 1/2 inch in width. Length of wound 4 and 1/2 inches.

5. Began on level of same wound superficial scalp wound downward and outward 2 inches long.

6. Parallel with this 1/4 inch long, downward and outward.

7. Began 1/2 inch below No. 5, 3 inches in length downward and outward, penetrating cavity of skull. On top of skull was a transverse fracture 4 and 1/2 inches in length.

8. Began directly above No. 7 and one inch in length downward and outward.

9. Directly posterior to No. 8 beginning at ear and extending 4 inches long, 2 inches in width, crushing bone and carrying bone into brain. Also crushing from without in.

10. Directly behind this and above it, and running downwards backward 2 inches long superficially.

The general direction of all these wounds is parallel to each other.

HEAD. Right half of top of skull removed and in fluid condition.

CHEST. Chest and abdomen opened by one incision extending from neck to pubis. Right lung glued to ribs in front. Left lung normal. HEART normal.

ABDOMEN. Spleen normal, kidney normal, liver and bladder normal. Stomach and portion of liver had been removed. Lower part of large bowel filled with solid formed feces. Feces also in lower part of small bowel.

William A. Dolan, Medical Examiner

D. E. Cone, Clerk

Abby Borden

Record of Autopsy on body of Abby D. Borden, aged 64 years. Thursday August 11, 1892, at 12:35 P.M. One week after death.

The Autopsy was performed by W. A. Dolan, Medical Examiner, assisted by Dr. F. W. Draper, and witnessed by F. W. Draper of Boston, and J. H. Leary of Fall River. Clerk of Autopsy D. E. Cone of Fall River.

Body that of a female, very well nourished and very fleshy 64 years of age. 5 feet, 3 inches in height. No stiffness of death, owing to decomposition, which was far advanced. Abdomen had already been opened. Artificial teeth in upper jaw. No marks of violence on front of body. On back of body was

FIRST An incised wound 2 and 1/2 inches in length, and 2 and 1/2 inches in depth. The lower angle of the wound was over the spine and four inches below the junction of neck with body, and extending thence upward and outward to the left. On the forehead and bridge of nose were three contused wounds. Those on the forehead being oval, lengthwise with body.

SECOND The contusion on bridge of nose was one inch in length by one half inch in width.

THIRD On the forehead one was one inch above left eyebrow, one and 1/4 inches long by 3/8 inch in width, and the other one and 1/4 inches above eyebrow, and one and 1/2 inches long by 1/4 inch wide. On the head there were 18 distinct wounds, incising and crushing, and all but four were on the right side. Counting from left to right with the face downwards, the wounds were as follows:

1. Was a glancing scalp wound two inches in length by one and 1/2 inches in width, situated 3 inches above left ear hole, cut from above downwards and did not penetrate the skull.

2. Was exactly on top of the skull one inch long penetrating into but not through the skull.

3. Was parallel to No. 2, one and 1/2 inches long, and penetrating through the skull.

4. Was 2 and 1/4 inches long above occipital protuberance and one and 1/2 inches long.

5. Was parallel to No. 4 and one and 1/2 inches long.

6. Was just above and parallel to No. 5, and one and 1/4 inches long. On top of skull was a transverse fracture two inches in length, a continuation of a penetrating wound.

7. Was two inches long and two inches behind ear hole crushing and carrying bone into brain.

All the wounds of the head following No. 7, though incised, crushed through into the brain.

8. Was 2 and 1/2 inches long

9. Was 2 and 3/4 inches long

10. Was one and 3/4 inches long

11. Was 1/2 inch long

12. Was 2 and 1/4 inches long

13. Was one and 3/4 inches long

14. Was two and 1/2 inches long

15. Reached from middle line of head toward the ear 5 inches long

16. Was one inch long

17. Was 1/2 inch long

18. Was 3 and 1/2 inches long

These wounds on the right side were parallel, the direction being mostly from in front backwards.

HEAD. There was a hole in right side of skull 4 and 1/2 to 5 and 1/4 inches, through which the brain evacuated in fluid condition being entirely decomposed.

CHEST. The chest and abdomen was opened by one incision from chin to pubis.

LUNGS bound down behind but normal. HEART normal.

ABDOMEN, Stomach and part of bowel had been removed. Spleen, pancreas, kidneys, liver, bladder and intestines were normal. Womb was the seat of a small fibroid tumor on anterior surface. Fallopian tubes and ovaries normal. Lower bowel empty. Upper portion of small bowel containing undigested food.

W. A. Dolan, Medical Examiner

D. E. Cone, Clerk

Q & A