INFAMOUS: Lizzie Borden

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now wherever you get your podcasts. [00:30] Lizzie poured and took an axe, gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41 whacks. [00:43] Or did she? [00:45] Music [01:16] This is one of the first true crime stories I ever heard as a young kid, one that I became obsessed with. In fact, I even gave my first presentation on it freshman year of high school in speech class. And actually, I'm really glad I went to a school of over 4,000 kids because anytime I had to give an oral presentation all four years, it was always about some kind of murder case. And if any of my teachers were talking, I think I would have spent a lot more time at the counselor's office. But I didn't. And I got a lot of practice for my future as

[01:45] podcaster. Now, this case was always so fascinating to me because of all the folklore that came out of it. The exaggerated jingle, the fact that Lizzie Borden was considered to be guilty by an entire town, an entire country for generations, even though she was acquitted. Did you know there were other suspects, even other people arrested, but you never hear about those anymore? At least [02:15] suspects that maybe should have been looked into. Now Lizzie was born to Andrew and Sarah Borden back in the 1800s. She was the last of three children. Her sister Emma was the oldest, 10 years older than Lizzie, and there was a sister in between the two who actually passed away in her teens. Lizzie also lost her mother at a very young age, just around two and a half, so she never really knew her mom, but she did grow up with a stepmom. When Lizzie was just about five, her dad [02:45] named Abby. Abby was 30 at the time, never been married. So she was considered to be a spinster in town, which as someone who is about to be 30, I take total offense to, but I get it. Those were the times, blah, blah, blah. Either way, she wasn't like the prime pickings and Andrew really wasn't either. He had two girls to take care of. So a lot of people think that their marriage was more of a convenience rather than from love. [03:10] Andrew made a good living as the president of a local bank. However, just because he had the money didn't mean he lived like he had money. All the people with money in their little Massachusetts town called Fall River lived on what they called the hill. They all had running water and gas lamps. Some people even had electricity, but not the Bordens. They still lived down on the numbered streets with no running water and kerosene lamps.

[03:40] looking at their house, there isn't even a bathroom in the house, which is such a bizarre concept to us now, but totally normal for them back then. The girls didn't feel like they fit in growing up. They weren't really permitted to engage with other kids their age socially. Girls Lizzie's age were getting fancy dresses and going to parties, and really she just got to go to school, go to church, and come home. By junior year, she even dropped out of school, and aside [04:10] So she had a very small circle. [04:13] Lizzie was always known as a bit peculiar, and she even had a habit of shoplifting. She was actually pretty known for this around town, but never got in any real trouble. And I don't know if it's because her father was like a prominent figure in the area, or because it was a small town and you just kind of handled it amongst your own, but basically the store owners would just be like, "Oh, that Lizzie," and they would just write down whatever she took and billed her dad for it. [04:40] As Lizzie grew up, not a whole lot changed. She didn't really date. She didn't really socialize a ton any more than she did as a young kid. And all of her activities were really based around the local church, which she was heavily involved with. [04:53] In the summer of 1892, Lizzie was 32 years old, unwed, and still living at home with her father, stepmother, her sister Emma, and their housekeeper Bridget. Now, in 2018, it might seem strange that they were all still living together under the same roof, but in the 1800s, it was super socially unacceptable for a young woman to move out of her parents' house unless she was getting married.

[05:23] 40s. [05:25] So again, it's the summer of 1892, and there were some strange happenings around the Borden home, and tensions were running high within the family. You see, there was a rift, [05:35] building between Lizzie and her stepmom, Abby. Recently, her father had actually gifted some real estate to people within Abby's family. And both Lizzie and Emma got upset about this. They felt like they were entitled to all of Andrew's real estate and any fortune he had and that he shouldn't be giving it to Abby's family because they weren't blood, even though he'd married her and they'd been together for so long. So to amend this, Andrew, their father decides, okay, I'm going [06:05] And it's a very strange interaction because he gifts them this home and then they just sell it back to him for cash. [06:12] But after this whole interaction, it still never really got resolved. And a relationship that was never super loving to begin with between Abby and Lizzie got even colder. And instead of referring to her as stepmother or mother, she would now only call her Mrs. Borden. [06:28] Now in this summer, something else happened to the family. They had experienced a break-in in broad daylight. The only things that were taken were $50 and some droolery from Mrs. Borden. But absolutely nothing else was disturbed, almost as if the person who came in knew exactly where to look. And police were notified of this break-in, but just a few weeks after, Andrew called off the investigation.

[06:58] who broke into your house and you were going to like handle it internally why wouldn't you want police to continue to look for this person and try to get back your stuff and he might have been doing that handling it internally himself because after this incident andrew started locking all of the rooms in the home every bedroom every closet the sitting room and he had this one master key that he would kind of carry around with him or leave on the dining table so it's not like he [07:28] It's almost like it was a message to someone within the family or someone within the home. Like, I know what you did. And if you do it again, you're going to have to come through me first. But as far as we know, there were no other incidents of theft in their home. And again, he totally called off the investigation and never pushed forward to find out if there was a threat to their family or if there was somebody really after their things. [07:52] The murders which now live in infamy happened on the 4th of August. Before we go to that day, I need to tell you one more strange thing because it might play into one theory about what could have happened. In the first days of August, just days before Andrew and Abby would be murdered, the family got very sick. Abby told her friend that she thought maybe the baker's bread had been poisoned and Lizzie, this very night before her family was murdered, actually was talking to a friend and... [08:22] basically said, you know, I think my dad has these enemies and I think they're poisoning our milk. And I'm even so afraid of these enemies that I think they're going to come burn our house down or do something bad. And I've hardly been sleeping because I have to sleep with one eye open.

[08:36] During this time that the family was sick and just the day before the murder, the Bordens actually had a visitor. Lizzie's uncle John was in town and staying with them in their guest room. Now this was Andrew Borden's brother-in-law. It was by marriage, so it was from his first wife Sarah who had passed away. From everything I can tell, John didn't appear to be sick in any way like the rest of the Bordens, so we have to believe that whatever they had come down with, [09:06] was happening before John arrived. Now, this takes us to the fateful day, and I need to quickly explain the layout of the Borden house to you. In the front of the house near the living room, there's a staircase that takes you to the second floor. If you walk up the staircase to that second floor, straight ahead of you, you would see the guest room, and to the right of you would be a door leading to Lizzie's room. Those are the only two doors you can enter from this side of the hallway. [09:36] way. In order to get to Emma's room, you would actually have to enter Lizzie's room. And then there was a door on the left that would normally look like a closet, but was actually Emma's room. [09:47] There was another door in Lizzie's room to the right that actually led to her parents' room. [09:52] But her parents had their own access to the first floor through the back of the house. There was a stairwell from the kitchen that led directly to their room. And a couple of interesting things I want to point out about this layout of the house. First is that Emma's room off of Lizzie's was like half the size. Like I said, it would be like a walk-in closet to Lizzie's really big room. And I know someone had to get the smaller room. But as an older sister, I would have so called dibs.

[10:22] bizarre. Like why did Lizzie get this? Did she demand it? Was there a reason? Or did Emma just not need the space? The second thing worth noting is that the door between Lizzie's room and her parents' room was nailed shut. And I haven't been able to find an explanation of this. Was this just something custom of the time because it would be super weird and inappropriate to have access to your parents' room? Or were they wanting this extra layer of protection between them and a daughter [10:52] Silence. [10:53] To be clear, there were never any reports of Lizzie being a violent person or her family being fearful of her. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Everyone said they could never imagine her harming anyone. At least that's what people would say until the day that her parents were murdered. On that morning, breakfast was made for the family to eat together. Now, Emma is away at a party, so she didn't eat with the family. And Lizzie just chose not to eat with them. And this was kind of a usual thing. [11:23] ate with the family. Some speculate it was because of her bad relationship with Abby, but the truth is we really don't know. So Andrew, Abby, and John all eat breakfast together, and then John leaves to visit some other relatives on the other side of town. He'll later say that he was going to visit actually someone that was sick, and then Andrew leaves the house to go to the bank to tend to some work. [11:46] . [11:46] Abby tells her housekeeper that she would like her to wash the windows while she makes up the guest room from John's stay. During this time, Lizzie stayed home and was moving between the barn and the house doing random little tasks. Tasks that have changed depending on when or whom she was telling the story to. The housekeeper is still at home also cleaning the windows and doing her chores like Mrs. Borden had instructed her.

[12:11] Andrew arrives back home at 10:45 in the morning. And at first, he tries to get in through the side door, the door that he always uses to get into the house. But on this day, it was locked. So he goes around to the front door. [12:26] And the front door is locked too. So he pulls out his key, puts it in, and nothing. It's not turning. It's not working. It seems that other locks had been bolted shut. And he cannot get into his own home. Now their housekeeper, Bridget, hears Andrew knocking, trying to get in. So she comes to open the door for him. And she remembers hearing Lizzie laughing from the top of the staircase landing, near where her room would have been and where the guest room would have been. [12:56] Bridget and Andrew don't exchange any words, but then Lizzie comes in and Andrew and Lizzie have a chat about the mail. And when he asks her where Abby is, she tells him that Abby received some kind of note about a sick friend and she wanted to go visit them. And he asked what sick friend, but Lizzie said she didn't know. And she didn't know who had actually sent the note. Lizzie leaves the room and Andrew takes off his coat and sits on the couch in the front room, presumably for a nap. [13:24] After Bridget hears this interaction, she goes back to finishing the windows and then lays down for a nap herself. Shortly after she lays down, just three or four minutes by her own account, she hears the town bell and knows that it's 11 o'clock. Just then, she hears a scream.

[13:42] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [14:01] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [14:09] wherever you get your podcasts. [14:12] Lizzie is yelling and saying, Maggie, come down here. Now, I have to say, they all called her Maggie. And I don't know if this was some kind of like derogatory name or they just named all of their housekeepers Maggie, but it wasn't her name. It was some weird nickname they give her, but they always refer to her as Maggie. So she yells and says, Maggie, come down. And Maggie goes to the staircase and said, what's the matter? And she says, come quick. Father is dead. Somebody came in and killed him. [14:42] to the parlor, the scene is gruesome. Andrew is laying on the living room couch, slouched over on his right side, with his face having been so badly chopped up with a hatchet that there were no facial features, just a hole where his face had once been. Bridget ran across the street to get the neighbor who was also a doctor, and I'm not sure what the point of getting a doctor was. If you would see [15:12] Bridget was so confused she asked Lizzie like where were you when this happened I know I locked all the doors I latched all the screens how would someone have gotten in without breaking in or ripping a screen and Lizzie tells her that somehow she doesn't know she was outside but the screen had been unlatched and was wide open when she found her dad

[15:33] Lizzie and Bridget go wait in the kitchen for Dr. Bowen to confirm that Andrew had in fact died. When he does, Bridget says something to the effect of like, gosh, I wish I knew where Mrs. Borden was so I could go find her and tell her what's happening. And Lizzie says, well, I'm sure I heard something upstairs. I think she's home now. Why don't you go look for her? And in so many words, she's like, oh, hell no, I am not going up the stairs alone when some crazy axe murderer is roaming around. [16:03] But this behavior from Lizzie stands out to me. It seems like in a lot of the cases that we talk about, the person involved doesn't want to be the one to actually find the crime scene. They want it to be someone else. But if that's the case, if that's the psychology going on here, why was Lizzie okay being the one finding her father? It really can cut both ways. [16:24] Now there was another neighbor who had come over at this time, Mrs. Churchill, and she offered to go upstairs with Bridget. Now they first went to the Borden's room to get sheets to cover Mr. Borden's body. And when they went there, the room right above the kitchen where supposedly Lizzie heard something, there was no Mrs. Borden. So they decide to check the rest of the upstairs. They want to go around to the front of the house, ascend those stairs, and see if anyone is in the guest room or in Lizzie's room or in Emma's room. [16:54] they see her. Abby Borden laying face down in the guest room between the dresser and the bed. [17:02] She, like Andrew, had been bludgeoned to death with a hatchet. Now, neither woman went in the room. They immediately ran downstairs and waited for the police to arrive. Police were called at 11.15 and arrived shortly after. And what they find is somewhat surprising. It didn't appear as if there was a mad intruder who went on a rampage in the home. Abby appeared to have been killed an hour and a half to two hours before Andrew was killed,

[17:32] home and laid in wait for Andrew without going after Bridget without going after Lizzie and nothing in the home was taken. This appeared to be a very personal attack. [17:44] Because Abby had been struck 18 times and Andrew had been struck 10 to 11. Despite the jingle that would surface later about them being hit 40 to 41 times, it was actually 18 for Abby and 10 to 11 for Andrew. [17:59] Now, the first person to be arrested in this case wasn't Lizzie. She wasn't even a suspect on day one, in fact. The first person they arrested was an immigrant man who lived in town. And there was really nothing pointing to this man, but I have to believe that their thinking at the time was surely something so gruesome had to have come from outside our community. It was small-minded thinking that I'm sad to say still persist centuries later. [18:29] this immigrant man to be released and for the police to be forced to look at other suspects, suspects close to the Bordens, because after all, it seemed that it was very personal. It would only be a few more days before Lizzie came into investigators' sights. [18:45] A pharmacist came forward and said that just the day before the murders, Lizzie tried to buy some poison from them, but they wouldn't sell it to her. This, combined with the fact that the entire family had been sick for days, led investigators to wonder if maybe Lizzie had been poisoning the family all along. And when she couldn't get access to more, or when the poison just wasn't working fast enough, she considered a swifter method of execution.

[19:15] nothing more but this wasn't the only suspicious behavior of hers in the days leading up to and after the murder lizzie was seen burning a dress in the days following her parents murder and she admitted to this saying that it was a dress that had been stained with paint and her sister has always backed up this story but it's a very strange incident that i don't think anyone could really look past if this had taken place today i don't even think that this would be an issue because [19:45] she was burning, she probably would have never gotten a chance to burn because they would have found it during the initial search of the house. And they would have known right away, was it blood or was it paint? Maybe case closed. We wouldn't be talking about it hundreds of years later. But... [20:00] Back in 1892, it was deemed improper to go through a woman's things. So when they did the initial search of the house, after the murders, they didn't go through Lizzie's room to find a dress covered in blood or paint. And they didn't search her person to see if she maybe put a clean dress over one that was already bloodied to cover the stains. Now, the case against Lizzie was only compounded when she did a pretty bad job accounting for her whereabouts that morning. [20:30] have heard two people being axed to death. But I actually disagree with this. Bridget, the housekeeper, was around the home too, and she doesn't claim to hear anything. Now granted, sometimes she was outside, but Lizzie says that sometimes she was in the barn. Neither one of them heard anything, but even more, even if they had been in the home, I don't think there would have been screaming for anyone to hear.

[20:51] Abby was hit first on the side of her face, almost like she was turning around to see who was in the room, and then she was surprised by that first blow. And that first blow knocked her down, and the rest were to the back of her head. She didn't even have a chance to scream or to make a noise. Likewise, Andrew was presumed napping when the first blow came to him, killing him instantly. There wouldn't have been much to hear. [21:21] for not hearing the thump of Abby's body or any kind of commotion was because she said she was outside in the barn up in the storage loft looking for fishing sinkers. However, even this story falls apart because when the police go and check that loft, police say there were no footprints in the sawdust up there and it appeared as if the entire area had been undisturbed for some time. [21:48] Thank you. [21:48] All of this is what led to the mayor pulling Lizzie aside at her parents' funeral and telling her that she was the prime suspect and they would be calling an inquest to see if they could bring charges against her for the murder of her parents. Now Lizzie is officially arrested on the 11th, just one week after the murders, and she's transferred to another town to await trial since Fall River didn't have any kind of prison or housing for women. And this is kind of a good social indicator to like set up her trial. [22:18] women did not commit heinous crimes like this and surely not well-to-do church-going women. They don't even have a place to house these people. So it's like incomprehensible for them for someone like her to commit a crime like this. Now she had to wait almost a year in prison before her trial began on June 5th, 1893. When she did finally get there though, she had the dream team before the dream team was even a thing. One of her three lawyers was a former governor who had

[22:48] actually appointed the judge on her trial. And her lawyers went to work and actually got a lot of stuff in her case deemed inadmissible. But there were two key points that the prosecution was not allowed to bring in because of her lawyer's work. Now, the first, remember how I told you that Lizzie said that she was in the barn looking for some kind of fishing stuff when the murders happened? Well, she also had told another person that she was doing something else in another part of the barn or the house. [23:18] wanted to use this to point to this as proof of her lying, saying she's telling everyone different stories about her alibis. But she had been given morphine as a sedative after everything had happened, but before talking to police. So her lawyers say, you can't listen to anything she said, and because she was on drugs at the time, none of it can be taken as proof or as testimony whatsoever. [23:41] So all of that gets thrown out. The second important thing is they also got the entire testimony from that pharmacist about Lizzie trying to buy poison the day before the murder thrown out because get this, it was ruled that the means of killing were two different poison versus axing somebody. And because they didn't occur on the same day, they said it was totally irrelevant. Both of those points seem bananas to me because if you're going to kill somebody [24:11] method on the next day doesn't mean you didn't do it, but her lawyers were earning their money. And so that entire thing got thrown out. So really what the DA had was all circumstantial stuff to go on. They basically said she had motive. She wanted his money. She was tired of living like a poor person when they had money to spend. She wanted to spend the money. And they said that she hated her stepmom. They also said she had opportunity. She was the only one in the

[24:41] Now, they're saying that Bridget was technically outside the house, but they're saying that she was home. She admits to being home when this happened. It's unlikely that a random person would have come in and not taken anything. And according to them, there were no other obvious suspects. But don't worry, we'll get back to that later. [24:58] During the opening statements, Lizzie ended up fainting in the court. Now, either she really did, or she could have been putting on a little bit of a show because one of the things the prosecutor pointed to in his remarks was that Lizzie didn't even faint or become weary when she found her parents dead. So surely, he said, this is a sign of her guilt because any woman would. So I'm [25:21] Was she really overwhelmed by the gravity of it all? Or was she giving them exactly what they wanted to see? [25:27] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [25:46] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [25:54] wherever you get your podcasts. [25:57] As the trial proceeded, we learn more of what the DA has. They also found a hatchet in the house missing its wooden handle, and ashes had been thrown on it, police believe, in an attempt to make it look dirty, old, and unused. In an unusual move for the time, they actually exhumed the bodies of Andrew and Abby, both of the others.

[26:19] boiled off their skin and tried to make comparisons between the hatchet that they found and their wounds. I mean, the theatrics in this courtroom were seriously epic for the time. And I think it's part of the reason why this case has lived on for so long. And even though they kind of fit the wounds, the wounds were really so large, so gaping, that you couldn't make any real conclusions. [26:49] skulls of her parents with their flesh boiled off, Lizzie faints again. And again, she's [26:57] She could be faking it, but also your parents' skulls [27:01] with their flesh boiled off, seems like kind of a legit reason to lose it. Now, much of the trial transcripts are actually available online, but there are a couple of things that I want to point out that I found really interesting. When Bridget is on the stand, there's a big deal made about what Lizzie was wearing the day of the murders. And it's a little hard to follow because Lizzie's lawyers keep objecting like crazy. But I think the point the prosecution tries to make is that Lizzie wasn't wearing her normal day dress. [27:31] This is the 1800s. You had like three dresses, your everyday dress, maybe your backup dress, and a fancy dress. So I think what they were trying to point out is that for some reason, on this day, Lizzie isn't wearing the clothes she normally did day to day. The insinuation being that Lizzie couldn't wear her dress that she normally wore because it was likely covered in blood. And then they think that that's the dress that she later burned.

[28:01] point that probably sticks with me the most, even though Lizzie's looking real shady at this point, a lot of this I can get past. But this next thing, this thing is a sticking point for me. [28:13] When Emma is on the stand, Lizzie's sister, who's still 100% standing by her and saying there's no way she did this, she is asked about the note Abby Borden supposedly got that morning. We now know that Abby was likely killed around 9 or 9.30. If you remember from the beginning of the story, when Andrew gets home, Bridget overhears Andrew and Lizzie talking. And when Andrew asks Lizzie where Abby was, she tells him that she had gotten a note about a sick friend had gone to visit. [28:43] stuck by this story and asserts that this note came, but Abby must have been killed before she got the chance to go. So when Emma is on the stand, they grill her hard about this note, asking her, okay, if Lizzie wasn't just flat out lying because she knew her stepmom was already dead in the bedroom upstairs, why? [29:01] Where is this note? [29:02] "Who wrote this note? Who delivered the note? Give us anything." And Emma has to admit that she doesn't know. She said they put an ad out in the paper asking for the writer or the deliverer of the note to come forward, but no one ever did. Even though Emma got grilled by the prosecution on this point, she really was a defense witness. They brought her up to testify to Lizzie's character. She said she didn't want her dad's money. [29:27] She wouldn't have killed him. It's true that she didn't like her stepmom, but not enough to kill her. And if the reason for killing them was hating her stepmom, why on earth would she kill her dad too? And Emma wasn't the only one to say these things. The defense had a long line of character witnesses for Lizzie, all portraying her as a sweet Christian Sunday school teacher. And you guys, it worked. It took just 90 minutes for the jury to deliberate.

[29:57] note I just cannot stop thinking about, they found her not guilty. Upon hearing the verdict, Lizzie laid her head on the railing in front of her and just wept. Now, just because the court found her not guilty didn't mean her town did. What? [30:14] With the exception of a few close family members and friends, she was basically ostracized, but she refused to leave Fall River. After inheriting her father's money, she finally bought that nice house on the hill where her and her sister lived for a long time together. Until they eventually had a falling out. And no one knows what it was about exactly. But by the end of their lives, Emma and Lizzie refused to speak. [30:44] Emma was more the one mad at Lizzie, saying she would never set foot into their house again until Lizzie left. But even when she hated her, even saying all this, she still stood by her and said her sister was innocent of the murders. Like in all of the cases we see today, if police and prosecution lose, they don't go back and reinvestigate just because the jury said that they got the [31:14] They never investigated any other suspect, but over the next century, many people would put forward suspects of their own. The first being Uncle John. Now, he had told police that he was visiting a sick relative down the road from the Bordens at the time of the double murder. Now, he also had mentioned once that he was with the town doctor, but that's the same town doctor that was at the Borden home looking over the bodies.

[31:44] didn't totally add up. Uncle John also had a failing business, which apparently he and Andrew had argued about the night before. I don't know if he was asking for money or if Andrew had some stake in his business, but they had a big fight about the business in general. [32:01] There are two main authors who put this theory forward about Uncle John being the killer, Beverly Falstad and Rich Little. They say it was likely an act of rage. And they theorize that while Abby was cleaning up his guest room, maybe she said something kind of snarky to him. Apparently that was kind of in her personality. And then he attacked her. Then he left the house to create an alibi and came back with the intention of killing Andrew. [32:31] dead, he would know that John did it. He wouldn't put place blame on any of his kids. Like Lizzie, John had a couple of changing stories about his alibi when he returned home. [32:42] Along with his changing alibi, this author has some kind of wild theories that go along with this. He basically thinks that John and Bridget, the housekeeper, might have been having an affair. And he thinks Bridget knew that he committed the crimes because she was wandering around the house. She was cleaning the windows. And this to them and people who believe this theory is why maybe Bridget stood by Lizzie for so long. Because there was a lot of circumstantial evidence against Lizzie. She was burning the dress. [33:12] not have been there. As far as Bridget knows, Bridget locked all of the doors and Lizzie was the only one home, but she was adamant Lizzie didn't do it. Was she adamant that Lizzie didn't do it because she knew who really did, but he was her lover and she didn't want to give him up?

[33:27] These authors have written an entire book dedicated to this theory called Cold Case Closed. But they aren't the only ones with theories. Some people believe that Bridget herself committed the crimes because she was sick of her working conditions. After all, if Lizzie was a suspect just for being home, wasn't Bridget in the same house with the two? With all the same access to people and hatchets that Lizzie might have had? [33:52] Along with that, there's a theory that Dr. Bowen himself, the doctor from across the street, committed the crimes. Apparently, he was seen driving really fast and erratically in his carriage away from the scene earlier in the day before he was called there on official duty. [34:08] Yet another person posed that Andrew had an illegitimate son named Billy. Now, Billy, according to these theories, has some kind of mental issues. And what they say is that he had come and killed Andrew because Andrew was talking about putting him out of his will and he wanted to get to him before, or maybe just his mental issues played into this. And in this theory, Lizzie supposedly knows that he killed them and was actually covering for him. Some people say Emma did it and she wasn't really at a house party. [34:38] that Emma and Lizzie planned it together. And there are people who say, no, we do believe it was a stranger who came into the house, maybe even the same one who stole money for them months earlier. There's no evidence that any of these people did it or that any of these theories are true. But then again, there's no real evidence that Lizzie did it either. And after all, she was acquitted.

[35:02] I'm not sure who the real killer is, but I am sure that there wasn't enough investigating into these other suspects, or we might have more answers today. And I always want you crime junkies to be asking questions about cases you think you know. [35:17] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. [35:36] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [35:43] wherever you get your podcasts. [35:47] Lizzie ended up dying at age 67 and her sister Emma passed away just a couple of days following her. When Lizzie died, she left most of her father's fortune to an animal rescue because she was all about saving the puppets. [36:01] I can get behind that no matter who she was in life. [36:15] I'm going to post an entire laundry list of suspects and theories that I couldn't even get into in today's episode. So make sure you go to our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. Check out all of those theories and then please get with us on social media to tell us what you think happened and who you think the killer really is.

[36:35] sure you're following us on social signed up for our newsletter or on our patreon because we're going to be announcing the reopening of our merch store very soon the first people to find out will be our patrons followed by our newsletter and social people and speaking of patreon if you haven't joined yet now's the time to check it out because this halloween we are dropping a super [37:05] addition to all of the other episodes we've posted this month and the months before. So we hope to see you there for an extra true crime fix. And we'll be back next week with another episode. But if you need a pick me up and you want to stick around for an amazing adoption story, we've got a brand new puppet of the month up next. [37:36] This week's episode of Crime Junkie was written and hosted by me. All of our editing and sound production was done by David Flowers. And all of our music, including our theme, comes from Justin Daniel. Crime Junkie is an AudioChuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [37:55] I'm back. I know I couldn't be left alone with puppet of the month. I had to pull you out of retirement specifically for this segment. Yes. And I'm so glad you did because I found the

[38:22] the most adorable, fluffy, Ewok-looking preppet I think we've ever featured. I spoke to his mom, Michelle, earlier this week and got his whole story. Are you ready? I am more than ready. Okay. So... [38:38] His mom, Michelle, had gone through a lot in her life recently, and that included seven major facial reconstruction surgeries. Right. And she was really feeling down on herself, struggling to accept it. Wait, backstory? What happened to Michelle's face? She didn't tell me, and I felt rude asking because I was asking about her dog first. Oh, my God. Michelle, tweet us, email us, DM us. Like, I need some backstory here. What happened to you? I hope you're okay. Go on. [39:05] So she was really down on herself and was struggling to accept the way she looked after all these surgeries. And she decided that she needed to put some good juju out there to try to turn herself around. Which, like, girl, so proud of you. Like, that is a huge decision. And, yeah, I know it doesn't come easily. Yeah, like, way to not make it, like, I mean, like, to be feeling bad about yourself and, like, wanting to just do something good is, like, I mean, I can't, like, I just praise that mentality so much. Totally. [39:35] rescue was looking for fosters and she thought it was a perfect opportunity to shift her focus off of her own tragedy and pour her time energy and love into a special needs animal i feel a foster fail coming [39:47] So she got all set up and went over to pick up her first foster. And that's when she met Bentley. And he was this tiny shell of a white dog who was huddled up in the corner, shaking with his tail between his legs. And Michelle said, even though she went into this...

[40:07] just to foster dogs. At that moment, she knew that they were meant for each other. Oh, stop. As soon as she saw him. So Bentley had been surrendered to the shelter and had suffered severe neglect before he had gotten there. He had infections in both his eyes and his ears, and his fur was so matted that he had to be shaved. And the rescue had said that he didn't [40:37] and mostly he just stood in the corner frozen. He was not adjusting well to the environment. [40:45] And Ashley, I chose this puppet specifically for you because you and Michelle have something in common. I was going to ask if it was our birthday, but then you would say we all three have something in common. Right. So it's not our birthday. Okay, what is it? But you both love changing the lyrics to songs to sing about your dog. Oh, my God. She does it, too? Yes. And, like, immediately. So Michelle said that on her drive home with Bentley, she sang a song about Bentley. [41:15] point yeah to the tune of all about that bass which i'm not super familiar with so i'm gonna try to sing it oh my god i'm gonna love this so much and it's not like the chorus either so like i'm really rusty so i apologize if i completely butcher this megan trainer this is not like my thing this is ashley's [41:33] I would also like to point out that it works perfectly with sexy back from Justin Timberlake, which I know much better. No, no, no, no, no. I love this. I'm bringing Benny back. Oh, yes. Yes, ma'am.

[41:56] So Michelle worked with Bentley for about a month when a family came forward who was interested in adopting him. And Michelle was heartbroken, but reminded herself that this is what she signed up for. And then the adoption fell through. Well, good. I thought when you said she saw him and knew they were meant to be together that she just like filled out the adoption paperwork. I didn't know we were still like hanging on a thread here. Yeah. So we were still planning on like this is short term. [42:26] her dog it was over okay so as soon as she heard that the adoption fell through she signed the papers yes thank you thank you you should have signed it right after i'm bringing benny back but here's the problem [42:43] And the name Bentley and Benny just wasn't working. He wasn't responding to it at all. Yeah, I don't blame him. I'm not into it either. What's his name now? So Michelle tried a couple of other names and nothing stuck until one day on the phone with a friend and shouted Leroy Jenkins, which I feel super old because I had to Google this. Do you know the reference, Ashley? [43:05] Yeah, it's like a video game, right? Where this guy's like running around and he like just yells Leroy Jenkins, like kills everybody. [43:13] end of this game? Kind of. So again, I did a Google and there's like a Wikipedia on it. [43:18] And basically, yeah, a bunch of guys are planning a campaign in World of Warcraft. And supposedly this other, their friend, who might be Leroy Jenkins, I'm not really sure, was away getting food while they were planning this attack. And when he gets back, he just bursts in instead of following their attack plan and yells, Leroy Jenkins! Leroy Jenkins! And they're like...

[43:46] taping it so you can watch it on YouTube or something. Again, I'm super old. And so it's like a meme. And so she shouted this on the phone with her friend, like just kind of randomly, which she said she wants to do. And the puppet came running. Oh my God, stop it. Oh my God, he just ran in. And so I asked him. He's like, my name. How do you know my name? So I asked Michelle [44:16] which is just a little cushy lamby. And she actually stockpiled them because she knew like dogs go through a lot of toys. If this is his favorite, I want to have backups. [44:27] Until he found the stash. Oh my God, stop it. [44:30] Yeah, so I actually, in the pictures that I sent you, there's a picture of him holding Lammy and it's like still on the cardboard that you buy like dog toys on. Wait, let me go through these pictures because there's a lot of them and I, oh my god, he's got this like tiny, round, white, fluffy head. [44:45] Oh yeah, there's the sheep. Found it. Found it. Yeah, so he found the lamby stash and now he has five of them. [44:54] And every night. Oh my God, there's a picture of him like sleeping in a pile of lambies. So every night he takes them one by one to Michelle's bed and buries them in the blankets. And then every morning, the great lamby migration happens and he takes them all back to the couch. Oh my God, I love this little guy.

[45:24] Yeah. [45:24] the picture of Leroy on the beach for me. Oh my God. So Leroy Jenkins is, it's like this beautiful black and white picture of a beach and he's literally laying like in Savasana, if anyone does yoga. Like he is flat on his stomach. He's got turkey legs for dog people. With his legs spread out behind him and his face just like planted like in the sand and he looks like he's passed out and the happiest dog he's ever been. Like he's living his... [45:54] best life in that picture. Oh, and there's another picture of him in sand. [45:58] Oh my God. He lucked out so much finding the best home ever. Yeah. So Michelle included some pictures of his before. Oh my God. There's one. Wait, there's one of him tucked in his sheets. Are those Brooklinen sheets? I think they're Brooklinen sheets because I have the windowpane set and it looks exactly like that. Are you a Brooklinen person? You get it, girl. [46:21] That's so awesome. [46:28] - I was statingly like sad. A picture, a couple pictures of him when he was shaved off. - Oh my God, that's him? [46:34] Yeah. Yeah. I know. You guys, I'm posting. I normally just pick like a couple of pictures. I'm posting every single picture that Michelle put on the blog. And this before and after picture is the craziest thing I've ever seen. And it like... [46:50] It's blowing my mind what a little love in a comb can do. Truly, truly. I think Patrick Hines is known to say, put a comb through your hair. Run a comb through your hair. And like that has happened for Leroy a million times over. Oh, I am so...

[47:04] - I'm so happy for you, Michelle. You guys, you literally found your soulmate. I mean, I think everyone, when they get a dog, you find your soulmate in your dog. - Oh, definitely. And Michelle said that she knows that she rescued Leroy and taught him how to beat a dog again. [47:17] But like all of our puppet owners say, we rescued her right back. And after all that she'd been through... [47:24] He really showed her how much good there still was in the world. [47:27] Oh, you guys, I need to go hug Charlie. Oh, I love this one. Thank you so much for submitting, Michelle. [47:35] Thank you, Michelle. We love you guys. We love the preppets. [47:41] Okay, crime junkies, you know, I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [47:59] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. [48:03] I think you'll love it too. [48:04] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.