Evidence Index

(Quick Start: Case for Lizzie’s Guilt)

(Quick Start: Case for Lizzie’s Innocence)

This section on ‘EVIDENCE’ is the meat and potatoes of this encyclopedia, with the most entries, a number of them quite long due to their complexity. Each entry attempts to look beneath the layers of myth and legend and discern exactly what was found to implicate Lizzie Borden in the murders of her father and stepmother, by both police and investigative reporters, in the days and weeks after she raised the alarm and brought the world peering into her home. Maddeningly, much of what was found was then, and is now, up to individual interpretation as to whether it pointed to Lizzie’s guilt or suggested her innocence, and in most of these entries, I try to present both views in the same way you might hear them in a courtroom. (See Our Approach). Evidence of guilt in a circumstantial case largely turns out to be in the eye of the beholder (see Case Analysis), and it is helpful to keep that in mind as you explore these entries. Note: This section lists entries on evidence that was found. Entries on the way in which it was found, such as searches performed by the police, are listed in the section on The Crime & The Investigation.

For a concise look at the evidence in a bullet-point list that paints a more complete picture, see The Case for Lizzie Borden’s Guilt, and The Case for Lizzie Borden’s Innocence.