Lizzie Borden Society Forum

I came across a couple of stories while browsing. Belle Gunness has been exhumned for DNA testing to see if it is her. As the story goes many believed she faked her own death and left town.

I prefer our Lizzie to Belle. At least I know Lizzie might be innocent. With Belle there is very little doubt that she is guilty.

Lizzie only had to go to the barn once in her case. How many trips would Belle have had to make to the barn to have an alibi for her whereabouts, with the many more victims of many more, separate crimes?

I never heard of Belle until recently. It will be interesting to see what they uncover.

-1bigsteve (o:

Steve, eat a little something, will you? You're looking a little gaunt!

I'll be interested in hearing what happens in this investigation.

Bob Gutowski @ Mon Jun 09, 2008 12:06 pm wrote:Steve, eat a little something, will you? You're looking a little gaunt!

I'll be interested in hearing what happens in this investigation.

You mean you don't like my Karloff impersonation, Bob? That's what happens you eat too much tuna and water. I have another avatar coming as soon as I crop it. You'll notice a major improvement in "my" looks.

It will be interesting to see what they find out about the body. I love watching those shows that use DNA to pin point some long dead person's ID. I recently saw a show on the discovery of the Royal Russian Family that was murdered in 1918. They ID'd the bones as those of the family's and proved that Anna Anderson, who claimed to be "Anastasia," was in fact a fraud. Two of the family members are still missing.

-1bigsteve (o:

Hi Big Steve, On April 30, 2008 I turned onto my yahoo mail and they always have news stories. One of the stories was "DNA confirms ID's of Czar's children. It said that DNA test have solved the mystery by identifying bone shards found in a forest as those of Alexei and his sister, Grand Duchess Maria. I don't have a link for you but it came through Associated Press on April 30, 2008. Written by Mike Eckel, AP Writer

Well, there are many sites for the story about finding the Czar's children, but, heres a quick link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/ ... 7567.shtml

This site has exhumation photos of the alleged Belle Gunness:

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/11318786.html

And this site, the La Porte County Historical Society actually has pictures of two of Belle's victims:

http://www.laportecountyhistory.org/belleg1.htm

Thank you for that news Lorraine. So it looks like all the family members have now been identified? In the show I saw they were not sure if it was Maria and Alexei that were still missing or Anastasia and Alexei that were missing.

I always felt that "Anna Anderson" was a fraud because she had a "sour" look on her face that Anastasia didn't have. DNA proved she was related to a Polish family. No Russian Royalty there.

Nice ending to a rather sad story.

-1bigsteve (o:

Digging up people who died decades ago seems ghoulish to me. Especially so when the purpose seems like nothing more than to satisfy curiosity.

I can understand the Czar's family as that has historical significance but Belle Gunness?

Thanks for the links, Susan. Interesting stuff.

-1bigsteve (o:

I read the Tru Crime story on Belle Gunness and was completely fascinated. The fact that she murdered all thos people and children and probably staged her own death and then probably turned up in Los Angeles in 1931 after murdering again. I read that it was childrens remains in Belle's grave, not hers. It will be interesting to see if they identify Esther Carlson's remains as Belle's.

I don't know who Belle Gunness is. But thanks to Susan's great links, I'll use them to find out. It sounds like a fascinating case!

I thought they had identified everyone in the Czar's family years ago. Guess not. I'm glad they finally did.

That 'Anna Anderson' story was interesting! Yeah, it turned out she was a Polish I think factory worker. She must have studied Russian history under the Tsar really good!

I was always suspicious, tho, because she refused to speak Russian. And that could have helped prove her case. I think if it was really her, she would have lowered herself just a little to use the Russian language to prove her case. The Polish language is very similar to Russian. I'd think at least she could have studied Russian during all those years - she probably would have picked it up quite easily - and then one day said, "All right, doubters! Here's some Russian for you, if you want it so bad!"

There was a guy who totally believed in her. I have a book he wrote. Right after I bought his book, it came out that Anna Anderson was a fraud.

There was a DNA show about her some years back. It was fantastic! I think they found a sample of Anna Anderson's DNA from an operation she had where they happened to have kept a specimen. Amazing!

There have been people who have claimed to be Alexei, too. I have at least one of the books on it. I haven't read it, because I did not believe he escaped.

Just the other night, the old tv movie starring Amy Erving "Anastasia" was on. I had never seen it before and watched most of it. I really enjoyed the period (1920's) and the clothes. I was surprised to see Olivia de Havilland as Anastasia's grandmother. That movie is 10 or 20 years old, but O.DeH. was probably in her 70's then, and still so pretty and a good actress. There was a photo run of her in "Southern Living", I think, last year, and it said she is in her 90's. She's lived in France for many years.

I am very much into Russian History from the last Czar's time. My grandfather came from Russia, escaping during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. He worked as a carriage driver for a land baron - who was a dwarf! Believe it or not. (My imitation of Robert Ripley.)

Strange you mentioned a dwarf, Augusta. Every time I see an old WWI film clip of Russian soldiers marching through the streets I see at least one soldier who has got to be at least seven feet tall. It never fails.

It looks to me that they do have all the Czar's family members identified now. At least I think so. I hope so. I've been wanting to read a book on their lives. May they finally rest in peace.

-1bigsteve (o:

Speaking of the Romanovs, the whole line is in doubt owing to Catherine the Great's propensity to fooling around and her husband's reputed inability (and/or aversion) to do the same (with her, at any rate). I wonder if it is still possible to test them out? Then again, there were other royals of disputed paternity, among them Louis XIV, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria.