Lizzie Borden Murder Trial: How Money Shaped the Prosecution’s Case

Netflix’s anthology installment Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story examines the psychology, repression, and rage said to have culminated in the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden. The show presents Lizzie Borden as the product of a cruel and restrictive household, ultimately driven to snap, even though she was acquitted in an explosive murder trial. The real-life proceedings, however, did not examine the psychology of the Borden home. Instead, prosecutors concentrated almost entirely on financial motives. Here is what happened.

How were Abby and Andrew Borden killed?

On the morning of August 4, 1892, Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, were discovered hacked to death in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Abby was killed first in an upstairs guest room, struck about 18 times with a hatchet-like weapon. Roughly 90 minutes later, Andrew was murdered as he slept on a sofa in a downstairs sitting room, suffering around 11 blows to his head and face.

Lizzie, 32 at the time, was unmarried and still lived in her father’s home. She said she had been searching the barn loft for fishing sinkers when her father was killed and claimed she found his body after returning to the house. The only other person in the household that morning was the maid, Bridget Sullivan. Sullivan testified that she heard nothing unusual, though she had been napping in an attic room far from where the killings occurred.

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Investigators quickly became suspicious of Lizzie. Her account of where she had been changed over time, while neighbors questioned her seemingly unaffected demeanor. A pharmacist later alleged that she had tried to purchase poison one day before her father and stepmother were murdered.

She was arrested on August 11, 1892, then formally indicted in December. Her trial opened on June 5, 1893, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Although prosecutors sought to build a compelling case, their evidence was largely circumstantial. Authorities never found bloodstained clothing or a definitive murder weapon. After about 90 minutes of deliberation, the jury acquitted her on June 20, 1893.

The prosecution focused on Lizzie Borden’s dwindling inheritance

Lizzie Borden’s trial was sensational, but the prosecution could not secure a conviction. One reason may have been the limited evidence available to them. Prosecutors instead leaned heavily on the point they could establish: Andrew Borden controlled the family’s money. Much of their case argued that Lizzie had a financial motive, alleging she feared her father was diverting assets that would otherwise become part of her inheritance. According to several reports, the prosecution said Andrew had spent the months before his death moving money toward Abby’s relatives, including deeding a house to Abby’s sister and drawing funds from the family fortune.

Prosecutors focused on the money because they believed the shrinking inheritance drove Lizzie to murder her parents out of fear of financial instability. There was a fair amount of money to worry about, too. According to reports, Andrew Borden was one of the town’s wealthiest men, with a net worth of around $300,000 at the time. That fortune would be roughly equivalent to $10 to $11.5 million today. Despite the wealth, Andrew ran his home frugally while reportedly handing off money to relatives. The prosecution’s theory rested on a simple, transactional grievance: Lizzie resented her father’s frugality and resented her stepmother Abby’s growing claim on the family estate.

Lizzie and her sister, Emma, were the only ones poised to inherit Andrew’s fortune, should Abby die first. If Andrew predeceased Abby, the fortune would have gone to her, according to Vanity Fair. Lizzie and Emma’s mother, Sarah Borden, died in 1863 from an illness.