Lizzie Borden was charged with murdering her father, Andrew Borden, and her stepmother, Abby Borden. Both were killed with a hatchet in their house in Fall River, Massachusetts, on the morning of August 4, 1892. A jury in New Bedford found her not guilty on June 20, 1893, and no one else was ever charged. So the court's answer to "did she do it" is not guilty. The historical answer is that no one knows for sure.
Netflix released Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on September 17, 2026. The eight-episode drama shows Lizzie committing both murders, gives her a secret romance with the family maid, and ends with Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in Florida in 2002. This page sets out what the court records and historians say, with dates and sources, and then lists what the show made up.
| Question | What the record shows |
|---|---|
| Did Lizzie Borden kill her parents? | A jury found her not guilty in 1893. No one else was charged. Historians still disagree. |
| What happened after the trial? | She moved to a bigger house she named Maplecroft, called herself Lizbeth, and lived there until she died in 1927. |
| Did she have children? | No. She never married and had no children. |
| Why is Aileen Wuornos in the show? | The writers used her to link Lizzie to a modern woman who killed. The two women had no real connection. |
What happened on August 4, 1892
Andrew Borden was 69 and rich. Historian Joseph Conforti, who grew up in Fall River, wrote for the Smithsonian that Andrew had money in mills, banks, and real estate but lived in a modest house on Second Street instead of on the Hill, the part of town where Fall River's wealthy families lived. His second wife, Abby, was 64. His two daughters from his first marriage still lived at home. Emma was 41. Lizzie was 32.
That Thursday morning, Emma was away visiting friends in Fairhaven, about 15 miles off. Lizzie's uncle, John Morse, had stayed the night and left the house at about 8:45. Andrew went out on business. The maid, Bridget Sullivan, spent the next hour outside washing windows. Abby went upstairs at about 9:30 to clean the guest room, and she was killed there.
Andrew came home late in the morning. Bridget let him in, and she later testified that she heard Lizzie laugh upstairs. Andrew lay down on the sofa in the sitting room, and Bridget went up to rest in her attic room. A little after 11, Lizzie called up to her: "Maggie, come down! Come down quick; Father's dead; somebody came in and killed him."
A neighbor, Adelaide Churchill, found Abby's body upstairs about half an hour later. Abby's body was cold and Andrew's was still warm, so investigators decided she had died first, about an hour and a half before him. The medical examiner, William Dolan, recorded 18 wounds on Abby's head and one on her back, and 10 wounds on Andrew's head and face.
The playground rhyme ("Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks") gets most of that wrong. Abby was Lizzie's stepmother. The weapon was a hatchet, which is smaller and lighter than an axe. And the number of blows was about half what the rhyme says.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| July 19, 1860 | Lizzie Andrew Borden is born in Fall River, Massachusetts. |
| March 26, 1863 | Her mother, Sarah Morse Borden, dies. Lizzie is 2 and Emma is 12. |
| June 6, 1865 | Andrew Borden marries Abby Durfee Gray. |
| August 3, 1892 | A drugstore clerk later says Lizzie tried to buy prussic acid, a poison, that day. |
| August 4, 1892 | Abby and Andrew Borden are killed at home on Second Street. |
| August 9 to 11, 1892 | A closed inquest. Lizzie testifies under oath without a lawyer. |
| August 11, 1892 | Police arrest Lizzie. The next day she pleads not guilty. |
| December 2, 1892 | A grand jury indicts her for murder. |
| June 5 to 20, 1893 | Her trial in New Bedford ends with a verdict of not guilty. |
| 1897 | A warrant is issued in Providence, Rhode Island, charging her with shoplifting. |
| 1904 | She meets the actress Nance O'Neil. |
| 1905 | Emma moves out of Maplecroft. The sisters never see each other again. |
| June 1, 1927 | Lizzie Borden dies in Fall River at 66. |
| June 10, 1927 | Emma Borden dies, nine days later. |
Why police suspected Lizzie
At first, police looked for a man. Conforti writes that within a few hours they had arrested a Portuguese immigrant who had nothing to do with it. Then the questions turned to the daughter who had been home.
Her account did not hold together well. She said she had been in the barn loft looking for lead sinkers, which she called "irons," for a fishing trip. Police said the loft was stifling and its dusty floor showed no footprints. At the trial, a plumber and a gas fitter said they had been up there in the days before. She said Abby had received a note asking her to visit a sick friend and had gone out, which is why Lizzie had not looked for her. No note was ever found. When Assistant Marshal John Fleet called Abby her mother, Lizzie corrected him: "She was not my mother, sir. She was my stepmother: my mother died when I was a child."
Two days after the murders, newspapers reported that Eli Bence, a clerk at a Fall River drugstore, said Lizzie had tried to buy prussic acid, a deadly poison, the day before. She had also told her friend Alice Russell on the night of August 3 that she was afraid "something is going to happen."
The inquest ran from August 9 to 11, 1892. It was closed to the public, and Lizzie had no lawyer with her. It was the only time she testified under oath. Her answers were confused, and the family doctor, Seabury Bowen, later agreed at the trial that the morphine he had prescribed her might explain some of that. When she was asked about a spot of blood on her clothes, she said: "I told those men that were at the house that I had had fleas." Rolling Stone explains that "fleas" was a euphemism for a menstrual period. Police arrested her on August 11.
The last big piece came months later. Alice Russell had stayed in the house with the sisters after the murders. On December 1, 1892, she told the grand jury something she had left out before. On the Sunday after the murders, August 7, she saw Lizzie burn a dress in the kitchen stove. Lizzie told her, "I am going to burn this old thing up; it is covered with paint." The grand jury indicted Lizzie the next day.
The trial: June 5 to 20, 1893
The trial opened on June 5, 1893, at the courthouse in New Bedford before three judges and a jury of 12 men. Women could not serve on juries then. People from Fall River were left out of the jury pool, and Conforti notes that half the jurors were farmers.
District Attorney Hosea Knowlton and William H. Moody prosecuted. Lizzie's defense was led by George Robinson, who had been governor of Massachusetts from 1884 to 1886, with the family lawyer, Andrew Jennings. The prosecution showed the jury a hatchet head with no handle and said it was the weapon. The defense asked where the handle was. The state had no answer.
Two rulings hurt the prosecution the most. The judges would not let the jury hear Lizzie's inquest testimony, because she had been, for practical purposes, a prisoner when she gave it and had not been warned that she could stay silent. They also kept out Bence's story about the prussic acid. Emma testified for her sister and told the jury that Lizzie and their stepmother got along.
Justice Dewey's instructions to the jury were so favorable to Lizzie that one newspaper called them "a plea for the innocent." The jury took about an hour and a half. Conforti writes that the jurors decided quickly and then waited an hour so the verdict would not look rushed. On June 20, 1893, the foreman said "Not guilty." Lizzie hid her face in Emma's arms and said, "Now take me home. I want to go to the old place and go at once tonight."
One more date matters here, because the Netflix show changed it. Bertha Manchester was killed with an axe in Fall River five days before the Borden trial opened, and a Portuguese immigrant named Jose Correa de Mello was later convicted of her murder.
Did Lizzie Borden do it?
In law, no. A jury acquitted her, and she was never convicted of either murder. No one else was ever charged, so the case is still unsolved.
The case against her rested on opportunity. Bridget was outside or in her attic room, Emma was 15 miles away, and John Morse was out visiting relatives. Lizzie was the one person known to be in the house both times. Add the poison story, the dress she burned, the note no one could find, and her changing answers, and many people then and now believe she did it. Douglas Linder, who runs the Famous Trials archive at the University of Missouri-Kansas City law school, writes that most historians today find the prosecution's evidence "compelling."
The case for her is real too. Police never found a murder weapon they could tie to her or any bloody clothes. The dress she gave police had only a tiny spot of blood on the hem. A Harvard chemist found no blood on the two axes and two hatchets police took from the cellar. The prosecution's own timeline left her about 8 to 13 minutes after Andrew died to clean herself, her clothes, and the weapon, and hide it. A doctor testified that he saw a pale young man on the sidewalk near the house at about 10:30 that morning.
People who have studied the case still split. Ian Brennan, who wrote the Netflix series, told Collider on September 17, 2026, "She was acquitted, but I find it really hard to believe that she didn't do the crime." Rolling Stone's fact check of the show says her guilt "is very much unsettled." Other suspects have been named over the years, including John Morse, Bridget Sullivan, Emma, and a rumored son of Andrew's, but none of those theories ever led to a charge. That is why this page calls her what the court did: acquitted. Her case still appears on lists of famous female serial killers, including ours.
What happened to Lizzie Borden after the trial
About two months after the verdict, Lizzie and Emma moved to a large Victorian house on the Hill, the neighborhood Lizzie had wanted to live in. She named it Maplecroft and began calling herself Lizbeth.
The acquittal did not win her neighbors back. Conforti writes that many people on the Hill and at her church shunned her, children followed her in the street, and neighborhood kids played pranks on her house. In 1897, four years after the trial, a warrant was issued for her arrest in Providence, Rhode Island, on a shoplifting charge. Conforti writes that she apparently made restitution.
She spent her money on travel to Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C., on good dinners, and on the theater. In 1904 she met Nance O'Neil, a stage actress, and hosted her and her company at Maplecroft. Emma did not approve. She moved out in 1905 and told the Boston Sunday Herald in 1913, "I did not go until conditions became absolutely unbearable." The sisters never saw each other again.
Lizzie Borden died on June 1, 1927, at 66, still living at Maplecroft. Emma died nine days later. Both were buried in the family plot at Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River, with their father and stepmother. Lizzie's will left $30,000 to the Animal Rescue League of Fall River, with the line "I have been fond of animals and their need is great and there are so few who care for them."
Did Lizzie Borden have children?
No. Lizzie Borden never married and never had children. The Famous Trials biography of her says she "remained unmarried," and TheWrap reports that she "never had children of her own." She shared Maplecroft with Emma until 1905 and then lived there without her until she died.
The show gives Lizzie a lifelong partner in the maid, Bridget. There is no record of that. The real Bridget Sullivan moved to Montana, married a man named John Sullivan, and lived there until she died in 1948.
Why Monster put Lizzie Borden with Aileen Wuornos
The two women never met and had nothing to do with each other. Lizzie Borden died in 1927. Aileen Wuornos was born in 1956, was convicted of murdering six men in Florida in 1989 and 1990, and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Today.com put it simply: the two have no known connection in real life.
The writers put them together on purpose. Brennan told Collider that "we wanted to touch on the idea of female rage not being just one isolated event, but something that reaches into both the deep past and also into the present." He told The Hollywood Reporter that the show became "this triptych of Elizabeth Bathory, Aileen Wuornos and Lizzie Borden," three women from three centuries. Ella Beatty, who plays Lizzie, told Netflix, "The show is exploring a legacy of female rage and reaction to the set of circumstances that they are presented with."
Sarah Paulson plays Wuornos, mostly in the eighth and last episode, "Carnival." That episode shows her in a jailhouse interview, in court, and on the day of her execution. In the show, Wuornos is fixated on the Borden case and even stays at the Borden house with a partner named Shelby. Netflix's own article on the true story says there is no evidence the real Wuornos was fixated on the Borden killings. Rolling Stone adds that the house did not open as a bed and breakfast until 1996, and Wuornos had been in prison since 1991. Her real partner in those years was Tyria Moore.
One Wuornos detail in that episode is true. Rolling Stone and TODAY both report that she was a fan of Natalie Merchant, whose song "Carnival" plays at her execution in the show. The line her character says before she dies, "Just another woman put to death for something a man would've gotten away with," comes from the show's script. You can compare it with real Aileen Wuornos quotes, including her last words, and read about Aileen Wuornos's son, the child she gave up for adoption as a teenager.
If the show sent you looking for Wuornos herself, Investigation Discovery premieres Unmasking a Monster: Aileen Wuornos on September 30, 2026. Our guide to true crime documentaries lists it with the other Wuornos films.
What Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story made up
Ella Beatty told Netflix that she played "the very fictionalized version of the woman that we created for the show." Here is where the show and the record part ways.
| In the show | In the record |
|---|---|
| Lizzie and Bridget are lovers. | No evidence. The idea traces to Evan Hunter's 1984 novel Lizzie and the 2018 film Lizzie. |
| Bridget helps kill Andrew and Abby. | No evidence. She testified she was outside washing windows, then resting in her attic room. |
| Abby kills Lizzie's doves with a hatchet. | Andrew killed pigeons in the family barn in May or June 1892. |
| Lizzie and Bridget poison the Bordens with bad oysters. | Andrew and Abby were sick on August 2, 1892. The poison attempt the show borrows from is the prussic acid story. |
| Andrew gets the maid pregnant and Abby has an affair. | Invented for the show. |
| Lizzie kills Bertha Manchester as a trial run. | Bertha Manchester was killed about 10 months after the Bordens. Jose Correa de Mello was convicted of her murder. |
| Nance O'Neil coaches Lizzie for her trial. | They met in 1904, 11 years after the verdict. |
| Lizzie and Bridget join the suffrage movement and live together. | Lizzie was never known as a suffragist. Bridget moved to Montana, married, and stayed there. |
| Wuornos stays at the Borden house. | It opened as a bed and breakfast in 1996. Wuornos was in prison from 1991. |
The show also gets some things right. Lizzie did give the barn and fishing sinker story. She did use the word "fleas" at the inquest. She did burn a dress, and she did later live at Maplecroft and befriend Nance O'Neil. Rolling Stone also points out that Lizzie loved animals, which fits her will.
FAQ
Who was Bridget "Maggie" Sullivan?
She was the Bordens' Irish maid. She was 26 in 1892 and had worked for the family since 1889. The sisters called her Maggie, and Rolling Stone reports that Abby was the only one in the family who called her Bridget. She testified for the prosecution at the trial, and afterward she moved to Montana.
Where was Emma Borden during the murders?
She was visiting friends in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, about 15 miles away. She came home after the murders and stood by Lizzie through the trial.
Who was Nance O'Neil?
She was a stage actress who later appeared in silent films. Lizzie met her in 1904, when Lizzie was 44 and O'Neil was 29. Their friendship is one reason Emma moved out.
Is the Lizzie Borden house real?
Yes. The house on Second Street in Fall River still stands and is now a bed and breakfast. It opened to overnight guests in 1996.
Was Elizabeth Báthory real?
Yes. She was a Hungarian countess accused of torturing and killing girls and young women between 1590 and 1610. Vicky Krieps plays both her and Bridget in the show. Rolling Stone, citing Encyclopedia Britannica, notes some reason to suspect the case against her was political, because she held unusual power for a woman and the king who tried her owed her money.
Is there Lizzie Borden merch in the shop?
Not yet. For the other woman in the show, see our Aileen Wuornos collection, or browse all true crime shirts and gifts.
Sources
- Linder, Douglas O. "The Trial of Lizzie Borden: An Account." Famous Trials, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. Accessed September 29, 2026. famous-trials.com.
- "The Trial of Lizzie Borden: Chronology." Famous Trials. Accessed September 29, 2026. famous-trials.com.
- Dolan, William A. Autopsy records of Andrew J. Borden and Abby D. Borden, August 11, 1892, reproduced by Famous Trials. famous-trials.com.
- Inquest testimony of Lizzie Borden, August 9 to 11, 1892, reproduced by Famous Trials. famous-trials.com.
- Indictment of Lizzie Borden for murder, December 2, 1892, reproduced by Famous Trials. famous-trials.com.
- "The Borden Trial: Biographies of Key Figures." Famous Trials. Accessed September 29, 2026. famous-trials.com.
- Linder, Douglas O. "Fourteen Reasons to Believe Lizzie Murdered Her Parents." Famous Trials. Accessed September 29, 2026. famous-trials.com.
- Conforti, Joseph, updated by Sonja Anderson. "How Lizzie Borden Got Away With Murder." Smithsonian Magazine, May 3, 2024. smithsonianmag.com.
- Hoffman, Matt. "What the Lizzie Borden Rhyme Gets Wrong About the Real Case." Mental Floss, September 18, 2026. mentalfloss.com.
- Cromack, Steven. "How Lizzie Borden Saved the Animals." We're History, August 4, 2016. werehistory.org.
- Gates, Taylor. "'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story' Creator Officially Explains Aileen Wuornos' Role in Series." Collider, September 17, 2026. collider.com.
- Stump, Scott. "Why Is Serial Killer Aileen Wuornos in 'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story'?" TODAY, September 17, 2026. today.com.
- "Monster: Lizzie Borden, the True Story That Inspired the Series." Netflix Tudum, September 17, 2026. netflix.com.
- "Why Is Sarah Paulson Playing Aileen Wuornos in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?" Netflix Tudum, September 23, 2026. netflix.com.
- "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story: What's Fact and What's Fiction?" TheWrap, September 17, 2026. thewrap.com.
- Hurst, Ashley. "The True History Behind 'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story': What's Real And What's Fiction." What's on Netflix, September 18, 2026. whats-on-netflix.com.
- Garber-Paul, Elisabeth. "'Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story' Fact Check: Who Are the Real Women?" Rolling Stone, September 23, 2026. rollingstone.com.
- "Fact vs. Fiction: What Really Happened In Monster's Lizzie Borden Story?" HuffPost UK, September 26, 2026. huffingtonpost.co.uk.
- Fremantle. "Investigation Discovery to re-examine Aileen Wuornos in new docuseries UNMASKING A MONSTER: AILEEN WUORNOS." July 28, 2026. fremantle.co.uk.
- Zarrella, John. "Wuornos' last words: 'I'll be back.'" CNN, October 9, 2002. cnn.com.
- Clark County Prosecuting Attorney. "Aileen Carol Wuornos," death penalty case summary number 805, which reproduces AP, UPI, and Orlando Sentinel reports from 2002. Accessed September 29, 2026. clarkprosecutor.org.
