American murder suspect and folk legend Lizzie Borden was BOTD in 1860. Born in Fall River, Massachusetts, she was the youngest daughter of wealthy industrialist Andrew Borden. Largely home-educated, she had a religious upbringing, and was heavily involved in Christian charity organisations. After the death of Lizzie’s mother, their father married Abby Durfee Gray. Lizzie and her elder sister Emma had a strained relationship with Abby, who they suspected of being a gold-digger. Andrew’s frequent gifts of real estate to Abby’s family caused growing friction between him, Abby and the sisters. A family argument in 1892 prompted the sisters to take an extended summer vacation in New Bedford. On their return to Fall River, Lizzie opted to stay at a local boarding house before returning to the family home. A week after their return, Andrew and Abby were discovered inside the house, both bludgeoned to death with a hatchet. After giving inconsistent testimony and appearing “too calm” during police interviews, Borden was arrested for their murders. Her trial in 1893 became a national sensation, attracting unprecedented media attention and reported daily in newspapers and periodicals. Borden was acquitted and eventually inherited her father’s estate. She died in 1927 aged 66, wealthy but shunned by her community. Biographers and historians continue to debate her involvement in the murders, and her story has inspired innumerable books, plays and films. In her later life, Borden was rumoured to be a lesbian, a theory expanded on in many books and biographies, while feminist scholars have speculated that Borden may have killed Andrew as revenge for being sexually abused as a child. The 2018 film Lizzie, based on Ed McBain’s 1984 novel of the same name, portrayed Borden (Chloë Sevigny) in a lesbian relationship with the family maid Maggie Sullivan (Kristen Stewart), who plotted together to murder Andrew and Abby after their affair was discovered.