Crime Library has a good synopsis of the best books claiming Lizzie was guilty and that Lizzie was innocent and a review of the most recent book entitled Lizzie Didn’t Do It. The author of that article seems to leans toward “she did it”.
The irony is that today her guilt or innocence would probably be an open and shut case with modern forensic science, but nothing survives of course. The most damning evidence against Lizzie, circumstantial though it may be, would seem to be
1- her conflicting accounts of her actions that day
2- the oddity of when she chose to burn her dress (which she claimed was stained with menstrual blood)
3- motive (she hated her stepmother, hated her father’s stinginess and stood to gain a ton if he died but might have been disinherited or at least have a much reduced share if he lived)
4- no sign of a struggle or screams would seem to imply that whoever the murderer was they were no stranger to the Bordens
Best evidence in Lizzie’s favor would seem to be
1- there’s a big difference in kleptomania and brutally hacking people with axes, and Lizzie had nothing violent in her past (at least not on par with that), though she did have fits when her father punished her by killing her pet pigeons with, ironically, an ax
2- she was awfully clean that day- if she was the murderess then this was a very premeditated thing because she was able to establish some witnesses and the like seeing her that day and not dishevelled, and yet hacking people to bits with an axe would hardly seem the way a bright lady (or bright anybody) would plot a murder in Victorian Massachusetts, and it would seem to be very very risky as far as not getting caught
It is believed that many of the facts of the case then established are probably wrong. There’s little reason to believe Abby died two hours before her husband as previously established (blood coagulation and body temp were the reasons given for this theory) and he may even have died first. They’re still reasonably sure that the axe blows were what caused the Borden’s deaths, however.
Some of the more crackpot theories in recent years include:
- Andrew discovered Lizzie and Bridget in a lesbian act and one woman killed him while the other dispatched Stepmom
- An illegitimate son happened to stop in for the day and axe his dad and then disappear without ever being heard from again or making any claim on the estate
- The heat caused Lizzie to have a psychotic episode and not even she remembered killing her parents
- Emma did it, riding like the wind from where she was staying 15 miles away and back so that she could claim she was out of town
But, while certainly not an airtight case, I think Ockham’s Razor would attribute it to “Lizzie Borden took an axe”. She had more motive than anybody else, full access to the inside of the house, as with OJ there’s no other real suspect and none was ever discovered or even much looked for, and her 20+ years of no contact with Emma as circumstantial gravy, plus most importantly at all-
If she hadn’t done it, would Elizabeth Montgomery have really been willing to do a nude scene? It’s just logic. qed