True crime streaming audiences are revisiting the 1892 Fall River murders through Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s upcoming Netflix anthology series Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, which casts Ella Beatty as the acquitted Massachusetts woman whose trial remains one of the most enduring mysteries in American history. While the new adaptation explores the psychological framework of female violence by pairing Borden with modern killer Aileen Wuornos, played by Sarah Paulson, legal scholars note that the core enigma persists because no other suspect was ever tried for the brutal deaths of Andrew and Abby Borden.
The Persistent Enigma of the Fall River Murders
The historical record shows that Abby Borden was attacked first on the morning of August 4, 1892, in the family home in Fall River, Massachusetts. According to trial documentation, the 64-year-old stepmother sustained multiple blows from a small hatchet. Over an hour later, Andrew Borden was found dead on the living room sofa, nearly unrecognizable from similar injuries. Lizzie Borden, then 32 years old, and Irish maid Bridget Sullivan were the only individuals inside the residence at the time, as her sister Emma was vacationing and a guest was out.
Despite local pharmacist reports that Lizzie attempted to purchase liquid prussic acid the day before the murders, and a friend’s testimony that she burned a dress days later, a Massachusetts jury acquitted her in June 1893. Historian Joseph Conforti writes in Lizzie Borden on Trial: Murder, Ethnicity and Gender that the defense successfully presented Lizzie as a helpless Victorian woman, dressing her in black with a fan and flowers before an all-male jury. Karah Robertson, author of The Trial of Lizzie Borden, notes that the case endures because it contains all the elements of a compelling narrative: an isolated suspect pool, tight timelines, and deep psychological drama.
Evolution of On-Screen Interpretations Across Decades
Filmmakers have continuously reinterpreted the Borden legend over the past fifty years, shifting from cold ambiguity to distinct psychological and feminist frameworks. In ABC’s 1975 television film The Legend of Lizzie Borden, Elizabeth Montgomery earned an Emmy nomination portraying Lizzie as a chilling, steel-eyed enigma. Decades later, Christina Ricci adopted a malicious, high-school-mean-girl persona in Lifetime’s 2014 film Lizzie Borden Took an Axe and the subsequent 2015 miniseries The Lizzie Borden Chronicles.
Chloe Sevigny offered a feminist revisionist take in the 2018 psychological thriller Lizzie, framing the murders as a response to domestic oppression and depicting a romantic relationship between Lizzie and Bridget Sullivan, played by Kristen Stewart. Ryan Murphy’s current iteration for Netflix follows this trajectory, pairing Ella Beatty’s Lizzie with Sullivan while drawing narrative parallels to Aileen Wuornos, the Florida woman convicted in 1992 of murdering seven men. Robertson observes that while modern adaptations frequently explore these romantic dynamics, historical records indicate Lizzie routinely called the maid “Maggie” instead of her actual name, leaving the exact nature of their relationship uncertain.
Did you know?
The famous rhyming jump-rope verse—”Lizzie Borden took an axe / Gave her mother forty whacks / When she saw what she had done / She gave her father forty-one”—is historically inaccurate. The weapon used was a smaller hatchet, and the actual number of blows was significantly lower than the rhyme suggests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Lizzie Borden ever convicted of the murders?
No. Following a trial in June 1893, an all-male jury acquitted Lizzie Borden of the murders of her father and stepmother due to a lack of direct physical evidence and the absence of the murder weapon.
Who else was in the house during the murders?
Aside from Andrew and Abby Borden, only Lizzie Borden and the family’s Irish maid, Bridget Sullivan, were inside the house at the time of the killings. Emma Borden was away on vacation.
How does the new Netflix series frame the story?
Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story explores themes of female violence by focusing on Lizzie, played by Ella Beatty, alongside a concurrent storyline about convicted killer Aileen Wuornos, portrayed by Sarah Paulson.
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