Overview

[Steveads2004]

Hello! I had a thought that if we look at the basics, something might ring true or not.
1. Uncle John was not there by chance that night and day. He was there for a reason and somehow the reason has a connection to the murders.
2. Whoever killed Abby committed extreme violence very close up and was in a fury. The killer was not concerned with blood splatter or leaving evidence on their person. They were somehow personally involved.
3. Lizzie acts like a person engaged in a cover-up, not like a person who just committed a double rage killing. From the time Lizzie chatted up Mrs. Churchill the night before Lizzie seems to be trying to set a scene. The story of the note, the attempts to get Bridget out of the way, the placing of herself outside the house during the deed all indicate a conspiratorial role. This is backed up by the ridiculous Dewey charge to the jury mentioned in that other excellent thread.
4. Emma and Lizzie had time to discuss the situation during the time they were both away from the house the week or so before the killings.
5. Lizzie seems to have been a completely normal person in the years after the killings even requesting burial at her fathers feet when she died.
6. Like O.J., the Borden sister never made any further attempts to "find the real killer". This indicates they knew the whole story.
I don't think Lizzie wielded the weapon (if it was really an axe, who knows) but she helped set up the escape and facilitated the deed at least where Abby is concerned. I think Andrew may have been collateral damage. Of course my opinion is ever changing.
BTW I LOVE this board and thank you all for providing such an ejoyable place to spend time !

[DJ]

The further immersed in the case I become, the more I believe Lizzie acted alone-- especially apropos of her attempting to obtain prussic acid, her "stage setting" with Alice Russell the night before ("See, Alice, I told you Father had an enemy!"-- so why would said enemy kill Mrs. Borden, too, but not Lizzie, who might espy this enemy and duly report such? Alice herself didn't buy the story, hence the "I can't sleep thinking about Lizzie burning the dress.")

Now, I believe Emma and Uncle John knew far more than they ever let on-- Uncle John was a direct conduit to Emma (and thus to Lizzie) of Andrew's financial dealings. That is borne out in Inquest testimony, when we learn that HE was the one who told them about the first will.

Dear Uncle John-- he also lets slip that he knows Mr. Borden is planning a new will, with charitable bequests.

Wanna bet Emma and Lizzie were aware of that?

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I don't think Lizzie meant to lose it with Abby's murder. Perhaps Abby struggled, or did not go easy into that good night. Anyway, Lizzie had to make Andrew's murder look similar, by the same hand. If LIzzie had dealt Abby three blows, I doubt she would have dealt Andrew any more. She came up short with him, anyway.

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I believe the prison matron, Hannah Regan, the "You have given me away" to Emma.
(Anyway, if we believe that, it pretty well shows Emma knew by that point, if not before.)

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I believe Emma and Uncle John had a pretty good idea Lizzie was planning to murder-- I even believe Lizzie told them as much. That they "sat back" and did not attemtpt to dissuade her makes them seem like conspirators.

Which they probably were, in that they probably knew Lizzie was going to kill (at least kill Abby), and they did nothing to stop her.

Anyway, the dress-burning business makes Lizzie look like more a participant than a bystander. Also, she was apparently still cleaning up when Andrew arrived home the a.m. of the Fourth, or else she most probably would have been downstairs, keeping an eye on Bridget, and placing herself away from Abby's murder scene, not right across the landing from it.

[stargazer]

It's so hard to believe that anyone could slip into the house unseen what with people in the street, and neighbors apt to pop outside at any moment. I will probably always believe that Lizzie killed both. I wonder if Lizzie overheard Abby and Andrew talking at night from her room. Her headboard was right up against the door. I can imagine that very little slipped past her personal vortex. No TV, radio, internet. Maybe she read a lot late at night ?