Who Is Shelby in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story? Is Aileen Wuornos’ Girlfriend Based on Tyria Moore?

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story makes one of its biggest departures from the 1892 Borden case when the story suddenly jumps almost a century into the future. Sarah Paulson appears as Aileen Wuornos, allowing the Netflix anthology to connect Lizzie’s growing legend with another woman whose name became part of American true crime history.

Aileen is not alone in those scenes. She travels with a woman named Shelby, played by Jessie Lee, who appears as her girlfriend and shares in her fascination with Lizzie Borden. Because Aileen Wuornos had a well documented relationship with Tyria Moore in real life, Shelby immediately raises an obvious question: Is she supposed to be Tyria?

The closest answer is that Shelby occupies a similar place in Aileen’s life within the series, but Monster does not present her as a literal recreation of Tyria Moore. The character has a different name, and several major events involving Shelby were created for the Netflix storyline.

Related: id Lizzie Borden and Maggie Really Become Suffragettes? Monster’s Ending vs. the True Story

Jessie Lee Plays Shelby in Monster

Netflix identifies Jessie Lee’s character as Shelby, the partner who accompanies Sarah Paulson’s Aileen Wuornos during the modern sections of The Lizzie Borden Story.

Shelby helps introduce Aileen to the Borden legend within the show’s fictional timeline. In one sequence, she reads about Lizzie while she and Aileen are staying together. Later, the couple travels to Fall River and stays in the house associated with the Borden case.

Those scenes give Shelby an important narrative function. Maggie introduces Lizzie to stories of women from earlier generations, while Shelby performs a similar role for Aileen decades later. Monster uses the parallel to create a chain connecting Elizabeth Bathory, Lizzie Borden and Aileen Wuornos, even though those connections largely belong to the show’s fictional framework.

Netflix itself describes Shelby as Aileen’s partner and credits Jessie Lee in the role. The official explanation of the season also makes clear that there is no evidence the real Wuornos had the fascination with Lizzie that the drama gives her.

Is Shelby Supposed to Be Tyria Moore?

Shelby clearly resembles Tyria Moore in the broadest biographical sense. Moore was Aileen Wuornos’ real girlfriend during a significant period of her life, and the fictional Shelby similarly appears as Aileen’s romantic partner during the late 1980s storyline. However, it would be misleading to simply say that Shelby “is” Tyria Moore.

Netflix deliberately uses a different name, and the show does not market Jessie Lee as playing Moore. That gives the writers freedom to reshape the relationship around the season’s Lizzie Borden theme without suggesting that every scene involving Shelby happened to Moore.

In other words, Shelby can reasonably be viewed as a fictional character who fills the narrative position occupied by Moore in Wuornos’ real biography. She should not be treated as a documentary portrayal of Moore herself.

That distinction is particularly important because Monster invents major experiences for Aileen and Shelby that have no known basis in the historical record.

Who Was the Real Tyria Moore?

Aileen Wuornos met Tyria Moore in 1986 at a gay bar in Daytona, Florida. Moore was in her early 20s at the time, while Wuornos was several years older, and the two soon began a relationship that lasted for several years.

They lived together in Florida and moved between apartments, motels and other temporary residences. Moore worked at different points as a housekeeper, while Wuornos supported herself largely through sex work.

Their relationship later became central to the investigation surrounding Wuornos. Moore eventually separated from her and returned to Ohio. After investigators located her, Moore cooperated with authorities and participated in recorded conversations with Wuornos.

Moore later testified during Wuornos’ 1992 trial. After the highly publicized proceedings, she largely withdrew from public life and has rarely participated in later projects about Wuornos.

That private life is another reason it is useful to distinguish Moore from Shelby. Monster creates a dramatic character who can participate directly in its fictional Lizzie Borden connection without claiming that the real Moore experienced those events.

Did Aileen and Shelby Really Stay at Lizzie Borden’s House?

No. The visit shown in Monster is fictional. The series depicts Aileen and Shelby traveling to Fall River and staying at the Borden house, even occupying Lizzie’s former bedroom. The trip strengthens Aileen’s obsession with Lizzie and allows the season’s two timelines to overlap in a physical location.

The chronology does not work in real life. The property at 230 Second Street eventually became the Lizzie Borden House bed and breakfast, but it did not begin operating in that capacity until the 1990s. Wuornos was already in custody by then.

There is also no documented evidence that Wuornos considered Lizzie Borden a personal inspiration. That relationship between the two historical figures was created for Monster.

Shelby’s presence at the house therefore belongs entirely to the series’ invented storyline rather than Tyria Moore’s biography.

Why Monster Created Shelby Instead of Using Tyria Moore

Using a fictionalized partner allows Monster to make its thematic connection much more direct. The season repeatedly shows women absorbing stories about other women who came before them. Maggie tells Lizzie stories, Lizzie becomes a cultural legend and Shelby later reads that legend back to Aileen. The repetition makes storytelling itself part of the plot.

If the series had used Tyria Moore’s real name while inventing those scenes, viewers might reasonably assume that Moore really visited the Borden house or encouraged Wuornos’ fascination with Lizzie. Calling the character Shelby creates some distance between the historical woman and the drama’s inventions.

The result is a character who is recognizable in function without being identical in biography. So, while viewers familiar with Wuornos’ history will naturally see Tyria Moore behind Shelby’s role, Monster does not establish Jessie Lee’s character as a direct portrayal of Moore. Shelby belongs to the show’s fictionalized Aileen storyline, while Tyria Moore was the real woman who shared several years of Wuornos’ life and later became an important witness in her case.