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Crime Scenes: A Killer Attraction for Visitors

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"It's probably the most controversial home in the world," the buyer, real estate agent Gerry Roberts, told The Associated Press, at the time.

Roberts had said that he planned to live there with his wife and three children.

He changed his mind earlier this summer, putting the house on the market for $479,900.

He lowered his asking price by $30,000, and, in August, listed the place on eBay, describing it as "a great family home."

EBay yanked Roberts' first listing, because he identified the place as the Petersons' former home.

When he listed the property again, the auction ended with no bidders.

It's sometimes strange to see what motivates the buyers of stigmatized property.

Last year, a bidding war broke out over the Kansas home of BTK killer Dennis Rader, who admitted to killing 10 people between 1974 and 1991.

One bidder, Byron Jones, offering $60,000 for the home — $3,000 more than its assessed value — says he was planning to sell the abode "inch by inch" over the Internet.

Exotic dance club owner Michelle Borin finally plunked down $90,000, saying she had no plans to live in the place.

She just wanted the proceeds to help Rader's family. A court, however, has held up the sale, as victims of the killer have filed a wrongful death suit.

Lizzy Borden's B&B: 'Axe Me Where I Live'

Certainly, there's been public outrage, led by victims' rights groups, when anyone has tried to profit from a violent crime.

Once some time passes, however, even the most heinous act of violence can be turned into a tourist attraction.

At the Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast in Fall River, Mass., there's no shortage of thrill seekers ready to check in.

The seemingly quaint New England Inn is the very spot where Andrew and Abby Borden were hacked to death — and in the last few years, it's been restored to its 1892 splendor, when the abode earned its infamy.

As the twisted nursery rhyme goes:

"Lizzie Borden took an axe,
And gave her mother forty whacks,
When she had seen what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one."

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