I recently read John Douglas's book "The Cases that Haunt Us", and was fascinated to read his thoughts on the Borden case. It is a real locked room crime, with only two logical suspects - Bridget and Lizzie. Only Lizzie had anything to gain by murdering her parents, as well as the opportunity. Douglas points out a couple of things I hadn't really registered before - Lizzie saying to her friend that she thought something terrible was going to happen the night before the murders; a bucket of blood-soaked rags in the cellar (which Bridget could not remember seeing before) which was not examined due to the "modesty" of the police, who believed that Lizzie was menstruating (this was not verified); and the fact that fastidious Mr Borden was using his overcoat as a pillow when he was killed. It never occurred to me that this was odd, but Douglas suggests that Lizzie put this on to kill him, and then tucked it under his head so that she was protected from the blood and it would not be noticed that the coat was covered in blood. Nowadays I guess blood spatter experts would pick this up, but this science did not exist in 1892.
This really convinced me of her guilt - incidently this book also covers the Jack the Ripper and Zodiac cases, as well as the Ramsay case and several others. Most recommended!
This really convinced me of her guilt - incidently this book also covers the Jack the Ripper and Zodiac cases, as well as the Ramsay case and several others. Most recommended!
