Before anyone was accused of anything, the Borden household in Fall River, Massachusetts was already dealing with a strange illness and simmering family tension. Here’s how events actually unfolded, in order, from that illness through the 1893 acquittal.
📅 Before the murders: illness and tension building through 1892
In the days before the killings, the household — including live-in maid Bridget Sullivan, Andrew Borden, and his wife Abby — had been violently ill. A family friend later attributed it to mutton that had been left out on the stove. Abby herself reportedly suspected poisoning, given how unpopular Andrew was around town.
That illness didn’t come out of nowhere emotionally. Through 1892, tension had been building in the family over Andrew’s property gifts to Abby’s relatives, plus a dispute over a rental house that Lizzie and her sister Emma had bought back from their father.
The murders: August 4, 1892
Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby Durfee Gray Borden, were killed in their Fall River home on August 4, 1892. At the time, the sisters’ maternal uncle, John Vinnicum Morse, was staying at the house to discuss business with Andrew — he was there when the killings happened. No one else was ever charged in connection with the deaths.
The 1893 trial and acquittal
Lizzie Borden was tried in 1893 for the murders of her father and stepmother. She was acquitted. The trial drew heavy publicity across the U.S. at the time — coverage that, combined with the unsolved nature of the case, is a big part of why it’s remained a fixture of American true-crime culture ever since, through films, plays, books, and folk rhymes.
After the acquittal
Following the trial, Lizzie and Emma bought a house together in Fall River’s wealthier Highlands district. Emma later moved to New Hampshire. Lizzie died of pneumonia at age 66; Emma died nine days after her.
⚠️ A note on precision: the available record doesn’t give exact calendar dates for the illness (beyond “the days before” the murders) or for specific moments within the 1893 trial itself — those details aren’t pinned down here, so this timeline sticks to what’s actually confirmed.
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