Lizzie Borden Took an Axe

Summary

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48 Hours: "Lizzie Borden Took an Axe"

Podcast: 48 Hours
Host: CBS News
Episode Date: August 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of 48 Hours reexamines the infamous Lizzie Borden case—a legendary double homicide from 1892 in Fall River, Massachusetts. CBS News revisits the original investigation and trial, invites a modern jury to deliberate, and interviews forensic specialists, legal experts, and the author Cara Robertson to ask: Did Lizzie really kill her father and stepmother, or has history miscast her? Through reconstructed trial arguments and insightful discussion, the episode explores the evidence, possible motives, and the enduring mystery that still captivates America.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Borden Family & The Crime Scene

• Setting and Background:
  • Andrew Borden, a wealthy but notoriously frugal businessman, lived with his second wife Abby and two adult daughters, Lizzie and Emma, in a modest house lacking modern amenities (08:08).
• Murders Discovered (02:17–03:26):
  • On August 4, 1892, both Andrew and Abby Borden are found butchered in their home. Andrew received 10 wounds to the head; Abby, found upstairs, suffered 19 blows.
  • Gruesome, personal violence led police to believe the murderer was known to the victims.
  • Notably, no significant blood was found anywhere except near the bodies, mystifying investigators (03:26).

Investigation & Early Suspicions

• Immediate Suspects:

  • The only people present: Lizzie, her sister's absence, and the housekeeper (03:41).
  • Suspicion rapidly focuses on Lizzie:
    • No blood found on her, despite the level of violence.
    • She presents herself as neat and composed to neighbors (10:41).
    • Police are astonished a daughter could be a suspect.

• Motive Theories:

  • Lizzie and Emma desired a better life and resented Andrew's stinginess, especially after he gifted property to Abby’s relatives (17:45–18:22).
  • The house was described as "a scene of a cold war," hinting at deep familial resentment (18:00).

The Forensics & Evidence

• State of Forensics (1892):

  • Forensic science was extremely primitive—no meaningful blood analysis could be done (14:56).
  • The crime scene was severely compromised due to many visitors before police secured it (15:04).

• Key Evidence:

  • Absence of Blood:
    • Despite expectations, almost no blood is found on Lizzie or her clothes.
    • Police found a single pinhead-sized blood spot on an underdress and a pail of bloodied rags, which Lizzie explained as menstrual blood (19:00).
    • After her father's funeral, Lizzie burned a dress, saying it was stained with paint—a key suspicious act (19:36–19:47).
  • The Hatchet:
    • A handleless hatchet, consistent with the wounds, was found in the basement, seemingly cleaned and hidden in ashes (20:13–20:53).
  • Attempted Poison Purchase:
    • Testimony alleges someone matching Lizzie tried to buy prussic acid (a deadly poison) the day before the murders but failed when the pharmacist refused the sale (21:15–21:45).

The Trial of the Century (1893)

• Proceedings:
  • Lizzie is formally charged and put on trial in New Bedford, MA (22:29).
  • The courtroom is filled with reporters and onlookers; women attend in large numbers to witness a woman accused of a brutal crime (22:41–23:10).
  • Jury composed entirely of men (23:25).
• Prosecution Arguments:
  • Lizzie alone had motive and opportunity (24:06).
  • Evidence presented: Motive, timing (Abby killed first meant Lizzie and Emma inherited all), hatchet matching wounds, and Lizzie's ability to wield the weapon (24:52–25:22).
  • Crucially, the jury never heard about Lizzie's alleged attempt to buy poison; that evidence was ruled inadmissible (25:33–25:48).
• Defense Arguments:
  • Painted Lizzie as an ordinary, wrongly accused woman.
  • Highlighted the absence of direct evidence, lack of blood, and police's inability to answer crucial questions—arguing for reasonable doubt (26:10–26:37).
  • Emma, Lizzie's sister, testified burning the dress was her (Emma's) idea (26:41).
• Outcome:
  • After only two hours of deliberation, Lizzie was acquitted (27:31–27:44).

"I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me." — Lizzie Borden, trial statement (27:11)

Revisiting with a Modern Jury

• Contemporary Re-trial:
  • CBS News assembled a new jury—men and women unfamiliar with the case—to deliberate based only on evidence from the original trial (31:28–32:13).
  • Prosecutor and defense reenact opening and closing statements for the modern panel.
• Key Arguments:
  • Prosecution: Stressed resentment, opportunity, motive, and circumstantial evidence (32:13–32:21).
  • Defense: Focused on the striking lack of physical evidence, especially blood, and stressed reasonable doubt (32:59–36:47).
  • Forensic experts explained how the murders may have occurred with minimal blood transfer, but uncertainties persisted.
• Deliberation & Verdict:
  • Jurors expressed doubts: Could Lizzie have done it and stayed clean? Why leave some bloody evidence visible? Why spare the housemaid? (41:01–42:07)
  • Most believed Lizzie had motive and opportunity, but some doubted premeditation, especially regarding Andrew’s murder.
  • Verdict: Hung jury on both counts—no consensus on guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, echoing the persistent ambiguities of the case (43:09–43:27).

Juror: "I'm not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she's guilty. I don't buy it, but I don't—" (41:30)

The Aftermath & Lizzie’s Legacy

• After her acquittal, Lizzie remained in Fall River but moved to a fancy home called Maplecroft with her sister, Emma (45:02).
• She was eventually ostracized by the community and later by her sister, living out her life as a recluse (45:31–46:08).
• Lizzie never gave her side to the press and lived in silence until her death in 1927 (46:18–46:28).
• Today, the case endures in public memory and Fall River embraces its most infamous resident.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It was an unspeakable, unspeakable crime. A double homicide that captured the attention of the entire nation." — Narrator/Host (05:34)
• "Women are as capable as men. Not only for the good, but for the bad as well." — Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (04:04)
• "The defense needed only two days of witness testimony... and it's a case for reasonable doubt." — Narrator/Host (26:24)
• "Lizzie Borden never testified. And after three weeks, the trial ended..." — Author Cara Robertson (26:57)
• "At that point, Lizzie Borden falls into her chair as if shot and puts her head on the rail. Meanwhile, the courtroom erupts into cheers." — Legal Expert/Commentator (27:44)
• "So is it fair to say we've not solved the mystery of Lizzie Borden and it will be argued for another 120-something years?" — Narrator/Host (44:24)
• "Did Lizzie ever talk to the press? Did she ever give her side of the story?" "No. Lizzie Borden remained silent." — Author Cara Robertson & Legal Expert (46:18–46:24)
• Final recitation of the famous rhyme:

  "Lizzie Borden took an ax
  and gave her mother 40 whacks.
  When she saw what

Transcript

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[Narrator/Host]

It's an amazing story. It really is.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

It's a story of one very unhappy family in a house.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

It is a morning like so many other mornings in a small town in New England.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

A father, a stepmother living with his

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

two adult daughters, Lizzie, 32, and Emma, 41.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Lizzie was seen by the next door neighbor and the neighbor asked what's the matter? And she announces that her father has been killed.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

Law enforcement personnel arrived and found a gruesome murder.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

Two bodies, a lot of blood. There is a husband downstairs, 10 wounds

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

to his head and almost half of his face is obliterated and Just on

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

the second floor was his wife. She was face down with a tremendous amount of injury to the back of her head.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

It seems like the most likely murder weapon was a hatchet with a three and a half inch blade.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

When someone is struck multiple times with a hatchet to the head, that's personal.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

You know, one of the most fascinating parts of this case is that except for around the bodies, there's no blood found anywhere.

[Narrator/Host]

You would think that whoever was the perpetrator would be covered with blood, blood, spatter, nothing.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Suspicion turned to the people in the house.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

And the only people in the house are his daughter and their housekeeper.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

It was so shocking for the police to come to the conclusion that the daughter had killed her father and stepmother.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

You would have to believe that this sweet, seemingly harmless woman did this horrific thing.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

Women are as capable as men. Not only for the good, but for the bad as well.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

On August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were hacked to death in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

Every generation has that one really terrible case that we don't have any answers to.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

There is only one plausible explanation.

[Narrator/Host]

Who do you believe killed Andrew and Abby Borden?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

Lizzie.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

Lizzie's responsible for these murders.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

It was Lizzie Borden who intended to murder and did murder Abby and Andrew Borden.

[Narrator/Host]

It was not until I read about this case that I learned that I was wrong. And all of us are wrong.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Lizzie Borden was acquitted. So no one has ever been held accountable for the crimes.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano]

But if not her, then who?

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

This is. Somebody may have quite literally gotten away with murder.

[Narrator/Host (dramatic retelling)]

Lizzie Gordon took an axe and gave her mother 40 whacks. When she seen what she had done, she gave her father 41.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The crimes were so violent that many thought that Jack the Ripper had come to America.

[Narrator/Host]

It was an unspeakable, unspeakable crime. A double homicide that captured the attention of the entire nation. Tonight on a special 48 hours, we're taking a fresh look at a cold case. A really cold case. It occurred in 1892 and we're presenting it to a new jury to see if they can separate fact from fable. The defendant was a 32 year old daughter of the victims.

Her name, Lizzie Borden.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

I began studying Lizzie Borden when I was an undergraduate.

[Narrator/Host]

Los Angeles author Cara Robertson has been

[Author Cara Robertson]

living with Lizzie Borden for a long time.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

I was interested in trying to find a topic for my college thesis.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Thirty years later, her thesis became this. A remarkably detailed look at the accusations against Lizzie Borden and her high profile trial.

[Narrator/Host]

Published by Simon and Schuster.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Fundamentally, the case was about whether or not someone like Lizzie Borden could have committed these brutal crimes.

[Author Cara Robertson]

And in 1893, a jury of 12 men agreed she couldn't, returning a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

This was the kind of crime that was just could not have been committed by a woman.

[Author Cara Robertson]

But despite being acquitted, time and popular

[Narrator/Host]

culture has forever cast Lizzie as one of America's most notorious killers.

[Author Cara Robertson]

So did she do it or not? To help get to the bottom of this mystery,

[Narrator/Host]

we brought together a team

[Author Cara Robertson]

of paid consultants, two extremely experienced lawyers.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

My name is Anasiga Nicolasi. I was a prosecutor for 21 years at the Brooklyn DA's office.

[Narrator/Host]

My name is Matthew Troiano. I'm a criminal defense attorney in New

[Author Cara Robertson]

Jersey and equally seasoned investigators.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

My name is Erin Rubis, and I am a crime scene investigator and a former homicide detective.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

I'm Andrew Schweikart. I'm a criminalist at the New York City office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

I was sucked right in. I was sucked in. From the perspective that this happened over

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

100 years ago, I think it's relevant

[Narrator/Host]

now the same way it was relevant then. And it's just a fascinating story.

[Author Cara Robertson]

That story begins here. Fall River, Massachusetts, 1892. Prominent local businessman Andrew Borden was wealthy but also frugal, choosing to live here with his second wife, Abby Borden, just a block from the center of town. The house is modest even by 1890s standards, with almost no indoor plumbing or gas lighting.

[Narrator/Host]

He was cheap.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

He was known to be at the extreme end of Yankee frugality.

[Narrator/Host]

And we're coming up to the Lizzie Borden house.

[Juror]

Wow.

[Author Cara Robertson]

You can't analyze the crime without seeing

[Narrator/Host]

where it all took place.

[Author Cara Robertson]

So we brought crime scene investigator Erin Rubas here.

[Narrator/Host]

What is important? What do you really want to see for yourself?

[Juror]

I want to be able to take

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

myself back into the crime scene. Based on what I've read, I want to be able to kind of put those pieces together that are missing.

[Narrator/Host]

And she's able to do that because

[Author Cara Robertson]

the house, oddly enough.

[Narrator/Host]

So this is.

It is now a bed and breakfast and restored in the style of the

[Author Cara Robertson]

time, complete with actual crime scene photos. Here it is, then displays to your

[Narrator/Host]

left is a replica of Andrew Borden's skull, and to your right is Abby.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

I would definitely say that whoever did this, this was personal. This was a lot of anger and a lot of rage.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Lizzie Bordes is a fairly unremarkable woman. She was unmarried. She was active in her local church. Emma Borden is Lizzie Borden's older sister always played a bit of a maternal role with respect to Lizzie.

[Narrator/Host]

Emma, at the time of the murders, had been out of town for two weeks visiting friends.

And Abby Borden, how would you describe Abby Borden?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Abby Borden. She's often cast in this story as the, you know, the evil stepmother. But in fact, she may well have been the nicest person in the house.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Which brings us to the Late morning

[Narrator/Host]

of August 4, 1892. Lizzie, standing at the side door of the house, tells her next door neighbor, Adelaide Churchill, that her father has been killed.

And does the neighbor see any blood on Lizzie?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The neighbor comes over directly and sees absolutely no blood.

[Narrator/Host]

Nothing on her face, her hands, her clothing, nothing.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

She seems perfectly presented.

[Author Cara Robertson]

And this is how police found Lizzie's face.

[Narrator/Host]

Father stretched out on the couch in

[Author Cara Robertson]

the sitting room, bludgeoned to death.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

It's pretty brutal. I mean, his entire face is brutally bashed in.

[Narrator/Host]

But what of Andrew's wife Abby? Lizzie, sitting in the kitchen with that neighbor, Adelaide Churchill offers an answer.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

She remarks that she thinks perhaps she hurt her stepmother. Come in. At which point Bridget Sullivan and Adelaide Churchill, the next door neighbor, go upstairs and find the body of Abby Borden.

[Narrator/Host]

This right over here is where Abby Borden was found dead, face down.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

That scene is, if anything, more horrible. Abby suffered 19 blows. She's face down. Much of her. The back of her head has been hacked. You can imagine the pressure that was on the police to come upon a scene like that. The assumption at first was that it must have been a deranged outsider because the crimes were so shocking. But when it became clear that, you know, no one had been spotted in the vicinity, then suspicion turned to the people in the house.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

The house was triple locked in the front door and the back door was locked. And the only door that could have been unlocked was the side door.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

They had to find a suspect and they fastened upon Lizzie Borden as an obvious choice.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

She is the only one that could have committed these crimes.

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[Author Cara Robertson]

On Saturday, August 6, while Andrew and Abby Borden were being laid to rest, news of their murder was spreading far and fast.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The brutality of the murders alone was enough to make this front page news across the country.

[Narrator/Host]

At the same time, the Fall River Police Department was beginning its investigation. How would you describe the state of forensics in 1892?

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

It was very primitive. I think in many ways it was the perfect time for somebody to potentially get away with a crime like this.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Besides police, the Borden house was crowded with doctors, reporters, neighbors and even several passersby.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

So anything really that was discovered at that crime scene was seriously compromised because we don't know when or by whom it was deposited.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

They take up pieces of carpet, they count blood stains, they search for evidence of blood on any clothing.

[Narrator/Host]

What they find, though, are more questions than answers.

[Author Cara Robertson]

One fact is clear. Abby was killed before Andrew.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

His death was so recent that his injuries were noted to have been oozing wet liquid blood. He was also warm to the touch. On the other hand, Abby, who was upstairs, had matted coagulated blood, dark blood on her injuries. She was also cold to the touch.

[Narrator/Host]

Five days later, during a police inquest, Lizzie gives her version of what happened that morning.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Five people wake up in the Borden house. Andrew and Abby Borden, Lizzie Borden, the housemaid, Bridget Sullivan and Lizzie's uncle, John Morse.

[Narrator/Host]

Andrew's brother in law, John Morse, visiting

[Author Cara Robertson]

from out of town, was staying in the guest room.

[Narrator/Host]

This is where John Morse had stayed

[Author Cara Robertson]

the Night before, we know that John

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Morse left in the morning to go visit other relatives in a different part of town. And Andrew Borden walked into the center of town to visit some of the buildings that he owned. Abby Borden went upstairs to clean up the guest room.

[Narrator/Host]

Lizzie says that she was in the dining room.

She was actually ironing.

[Author Cara Robertson]

And Bridget Sullivan was outside washing windows when about 9:30 in the morning, police believe Abby Borden fell to the floor. Murdered.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Abby Borden was a short woman, but she weighed about 200 pounds.

[Author Cara Robertson]

And did Lizzie hear anything at all?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

She claims not to have heard anything.

[Author Cara Robertson]

According to Lizzie's testimony, Andrew returned home at 10:45, greeting both the housekeeper and Lizzie, and then retired to that second sitting room to take a nap on the couch. According to the medical examiner, 45 minutes later, Andrew Borden was also dead.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

That was the opportunity right there. He's on that couch and he's sleeping. And there was your opportunity.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Police were sure they had the when, but there was still the question of why. What was the motive? Lizzie may have given police that answer.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

During the inquest, Lizzie and her sister Emma both really desired to live a way better life. And they really resented their father for not providing that for them.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Andrew decided essentially to bail out his wife's half sibling by buying a house and putting it in Abby's name. And thereafter, you find that the house is a scene of a cold war.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

Clearly, Lizzie was not happy that that house was going to go to her

[Author Cara Robertson]

stepmother's sister, but enough to provide a

[Narrator/Host]

motive for that kind of vicious killing.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

They were brutal.

[Narrator/Host]

Certainly brutal enough to mark the perpetrator with evidence.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

I would think that there would definitely be blood on her.

[Author Cara Robertson]

And yet

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

one of the most fascinating parts of this case is that except for around the bodies, there's no blood found anywhere.

[Narrator/Host]

If, in fact Lizzie Borden is the killer, how did she not have any blood spatter on her? Her neighbor said she was spotless.

[Author Cara Robertson]

So where was the blood?

[Narrator/Host]

Police searched the house and only found two instances of blood evidence a minute spot on one of Lizzie's undergarments and a bucket of bloody cloths in the cellar washroom. Lizzie gave them a very personal explanation for both. She was menstruating.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

I think that was such a personal issue that, let's face it, who's going to challenge that?

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

If we were to have that today, could we show. Okay, is this Lizzie's blood or is it Andrew and Abby's blood?

[Narrator/Host]

Also puzzling and very suspicious. Lizzie's choice to burn a dress in the kitchen.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Stove.

[Narrator/Host]

The day after her father's funeral, Lizzie

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

and Emma claimed that the dress had been stained with paint and it needed to be burned. And they thought that was as good a time as any.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

For me, the most valuable piece of evidence is the dress that Lizzie burned. If she's responsible for this, it would have blood from the victims on it, and that would be very difficult for Lizzie to explain.

[Author Cara Robertson]

And with no dress, there was nothing to explain.

[Narrator/Host]

It seemed the more they looked, the less investigators found, until down in the cellar.

It's in here that the hatchet was found.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

A particular hatchet head was found in a box of abandoned tools.

[Author Cara Robertson]

It became known as the handleless hatchet and would be a subject of debate for years to come.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

It only had a piece of a handle, and according to the police, it was a fresh break.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

This particular hatchet had almost looked like it had been deliberately covered with a layer of ash.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

It's about three and a half inches of a cutting blade, and that seemed consistent with the wounds on Andrew and Abby's body.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

She could have quickly rinsed off that hatchet head, thrown it in a pile of ash to obliterate any lingering blood, and then just tossed it in the cellar to make it look like an old piece of junk.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

I mean, there are endless places in this house to hide stuff.

[Author Cara Robertson]

If it was the murder weapon, police later discovered it might not have been Lizzie's first weapon of choice.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Someone who was identified as Lizzie Borden tried to buy prussic acid the day

[Author Cara Robertson]

before the murders in 1892. Prussic acid, a lethal poison, was only available with a doctor's prescription.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The woman said that she needed it to put an edge on a sealskin cape. And we know that Lizzie Borden did in fact have sealskin capes.

[Narrator/Host]

But the pharmacist said he never heard of it used that way and refused to sell it to her.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

And then, because she was unable to get the poison, she turned instead to a readily available household implement.

[Narrator/Host]

The hatchet.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

That's right.

[Author Cara Robertson]

It would seem the police came to the same conclusion. At the close of the inquest, the chief of police placed Lizzie Borden under arrest for murder. On June 5, 1893, ten months after

[Narrator/Host]

her arrest, Lizzie Borden sat in the Superior Court in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in

[Author Cara Robertson]

this very chair, on trial for murder.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The first day of Lizzie Borden's trial attracted a massive crowd. Reporters were detailed from around the country. People waited for hours online.

[Narrator/Host]

It was called the trial of the century, the 19th century.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

What I think is striking is that many of the people most interested in the case were women.

[Author Cara Robertson]

But why?

[Narrator/Host]

Why are these women willing to put aside their lives to attend the trial?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

This was the trial of a woman who seemed to have transcended the limits of her sex in such a violent way. The women, I think, were curious to see the monster.

[Author Cara Robertson]

While they were welcome to watch, at

[Narrator/Host]

the time, women were not allowed to sit on the jury.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

There won't be, in fact, women jurors until 1951 in Massachusetts.

[Narrator/Host]

Despite the rigid standards of the times, the proceedings of the trial were surprisingly familiar to our consulting attorneys.

From what I've read, you could take this trial transcript and put it into 2020 and it would basically be the same.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

Both the prosecutors and the defense attorneys came in with a lot of the same arguments that I would imagine today

[Narrator/Host]

in front of a panel of three judges and a jury of 12 men. The prosecutor began his opening statement with

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

a simple premise that Lizzie Borden is the only person with the opportunity and the motive to have committed the crimes.

[Narrator/Host]

But it was how he wrapped up

[Author Cara Robertson]

his open that stunned the courtroom.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

He alludes to the fact that he has the skulls of the victims, the

[Author Cara Robertson]

actual heads of the victims in the courtroom.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Yes. And Lizzie Borden responds by fainting.

[Narrator/Host]

Over the next week, the jury hears from a parade of prosecution witnesses.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The prosecution works very methodically and lays out the evidence.

[Narrator/Host]

Evidence of who was killed first.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

If Andrew had been killed first, then automatically Abby's family will get part of the money where she's killed first. Everything is just for the girls.

[Narrator/Host]

Evidence matching the skulls to the suspected

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

murder weapon to show that the dimensions of the injuries on the skull aligned with the dimensions of the most probable murder weapon, which was the hatchet and

[Author Cara Robertson]

testimony of Lizzie's ability to wield that hatchet.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The medical experts all said that a woman of ordinary build and ordinary strength could have committed the murders.

[Narrator/Host]

But there is one thing the judges don't allow the jury to hear.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Some of the prosecution's best evidence is kept from the jury, most notably her alleged attempts to buy prussic acid before the murders.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

If she's out there getting poisoned, that is absolutely something the jury should consider. When two people in her home were found dead the next day, was it

[Narrator/Host]

right to keep that out?

As a defense attorney, sure.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

Right.

[Narrator/Host]

Hugely prejudicial. Not really relevant.

After nine days, the prosecution rests and

[Author Cara Robertson]

Lizzie's defense team goes to work.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The defense is much more interested in telling a story that she's just an ordinary person caught in this unbelievably horrible situation.

[Narrator/Host]

Clearly, there's a lack of evidence. And then there's a second part of, hey, we just don't think that she.

The defense needed only two days of

witness testimony to make its case, and

it's a case for reasonable doubt.

You cannot answer the questions that have to be answered here, and that's reasonable doubt.

[Author Cara Robertson]

What was perhaps the most powerful defense,

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

the most powerful witness in her defense was her sister Emma. Emma testified that it was her idea rather than Lizzie's, to burn the dress, which makes it seem like it was a much more innocent thing to do.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Lizzie Borden never testified. And after three weeks, the trial ended with closing arguments.

[Narrator/Host]

But before the jury was charged, Lizzie

[Author Cara Robertson]

did have the last word, and she

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

says, I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me.

[Author Cara Robertson]

And with that, the case went to the jury.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The courtroom is packed. People are also standing out in the corridors and around the front of the building waiting for some kind of word.

[Author Cara Robertson]

They didn't have to wait long.

[Narrator/Host]

The jury took less than two hours to reach a verdict.

The foreman, it's reported, almost can't contain

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

his excitement and just says, not guilty.

[Narrator/Host]

Just blurts it out.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Blurts it out, yeah. And at that point, Lizzie Borden falls into her chair as if shot and puts her head on the rail. Meanwhile, the courtroom erupts into cheers. And there are cheers outside that could be heard a mile away.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

Maybe this is the prosecutor in me,

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

but I was shocked she was acquitted.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

It is so clear to me, as much as it can be, that she is guilty.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

Now, whether or not they thought it

[Narrator/Host]

was not guilty or innocent, who knows? But they certainly didn't think she was guilty.

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

And I think at the end of the day, they just didn't want to believe that such a terrible, horrific crime could have been done by somebody like Lizzie Borden.

[Author Cara Robertson]

But now, in 2020, would a jury

[Narrator/Host]

of men and women come to the same conclusion?

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

There is only one person who reasonably could have committed this crime, who did commit this crime, and that is the defendant, Lizzie Borton.

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[Author Cara Robertson]

In 1893, Lizzie Borden was found not guilty by a jury of 12 men who couldn't believe a woman was capable

[Narrator/Host]

of such acts of extreme violence.

[Author Cara Robertson]

But how would a jury of men and women vote today in 2020 to try and answer that question? We hired a jury recruiting firm

[Narrator/Host]

to find us a panel of men and

[Author Cara Robertson]

women who had never heard of Lizzie Borden and then paid them to decide the case.

[Narrator/Host]

This is not a retrial, but a presentation argued by our consulting attorneys in

[Author Cara Robertson]

their own words, without any guidance from us.

[Narrator/Host]

This is the case of Lizzie Borden.

The rules are simple.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Only evidence presented in the original trial could be presented here, and all facts should be presumed to be true.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

Good morning everyone.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi and defense attorney Matthew Troiano.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Deliver Their opening statements.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

This case is about bitterness, resentment and fear. Greed was what drove Lizzie Borden to do what she did.

[Juror]

Johnson.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

Just one night before these two innocents are bludgeoned in their own home, the defendant goes to see a friend. She, out of nowhere, volunteered she'd been feeling depressed and so worried about many nameless, faceless enemies that her father had. And she left with this. I'm afraid something's going to happen. Lizzie Borden is guilty of her parents, her father and her stepmother's murder. And the evidence, by the end, will prove that to you beyond any reasonable doubt. Thank you.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

This is a woman of 32 years old who is accused of the most vicious and heinous murder that one could imagine. What would you expect to see around the person and on the person that did this? Blood. A lot of blood. Right. There's no blood on her at all. There's no blood on her hands. There's no blood on her face. There's no blood anywhere on her. The reality here, ladies and gentlemen, is the evidence is lacking. The story's good, but the evidence is lacking. And if you are going to come back and convict somebody of this crime, you better get a little bit more than a story. Thank you.

[Narrator/Host]

Next, Prosecutor Nicolasi calls on our experts.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

People call crime scene detective Aaron Rubas

[Narrator/Host]

to explain the evidence. The locked doors, the hatchet, the pail of bloody rags, and that burned dress. But it's the blood evidence,

[Author Cara Robertson]

or rather

[Narrator/Host]

the lack of it, that is her biggest challenge.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

It is my belief that this was done from someone facing him and directly, almost over top of him.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

And it's fair to say that even with that number of wounds, there was not a whole lot of blood.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

That's correct.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

With Abby Borden, how many wounds were observed on her body?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas (testifying)]

There were 19 wounds observed on Mrs. Borden. 18 to the back of her head on the right side, and one at the base of her neck.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

Possible to commit those murders and not get a lot of blood on you? Based on the type of wounds that we had, absolutely. Did he have any defensive wounds?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

None that were observed.

[Narrator/Host]

And why wouldn't the victims fight back?

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

If someone sees someone who is familiar, could that contribute to lack of. Of initial defensive wounds?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas (testifying)]

Possibly.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

Did they recover anything in terms of any possible weapon?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

A hatchet head.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

Is there anything about the size of the actual hatchet that was recovered that would preclude a woman from using it?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

No.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

No matter the size?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

No matter the size.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

I have nothing further.

[Narrator/Host]

For the defense's cross examination, Troiano again focuses on that lack of blood.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

So you would agree that at the point that obviously the object hits that source of blood, there's going to be blood that comes out from it, is that correct?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

Yes, I think it does depend on the specifics, but yes.

[Carvana Salesperson]

Okay.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

But certainly as far as you know, there was no dress that was found that would have had blood spatter on it, is that correct?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

Correct.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

The only blood that is on an article of Clothing was a 116 inch size pinhead spot of blood on an underdress underneath an outer dress.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas (testifying)]

That's correct. That was the only piece of blood that was detected.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

Any blood on that hatchet?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

Not that was observed.

[Narrator/Host]

And in 1892, with no scientific testing

available, observation was the best and only tool at hand.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

No other apparent blood anywhere else or quite frankly, anywhere in the house, Is that correct?

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas (testifying)]

Other than blood in the immediate two areas of the two homicides and potential blood on the pail in the cellar, there was no mention of blood elsewhere in the case record.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

I think that's all I have. Thank you.

[Narrator/Host]

And then both lawyers make their final

[Author Cara Robertson]

argument to the jury.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

I think what you've heard over the course of the last couple hours are questions. But not proof. And not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

This case is very much like a jigsaw puzzle. But I suggest that when you look at all those pieces, it's not one that is overly tight, tough to solve.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

You are not here to find a solution to the puzzle, but you are

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

here to decide if a crime was committed and if this person, the defendant, Lizzie Borden, committed it. And all the pieces of evidence say

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

yes, there is no direct evidence here. Right. And the circumstantial evidence is so very weak that it can't be enough. So think those things through. I know you will. So thank you very much.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

The evidence is all there. When you use all of it and use your common sense, it is proof of one thing. Lizzie Borden, the defendant, bludgeoned her stepmother and her father to death. And for that, you should find her guilty. Thank you.

[Narrator/Host]

And with that, once again, Lizzie's fate is in the hands of a jury.

[Juror]

I feel like it has to be somebody familiar with the house.

[Author Cara Robertson]

But what's different this time is that these lawyers get to hear the jury deliberate.

[Juror]

Think of the murder weapon, the hatchet, you chopping at someone. There's no blood whatsoever.

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[Narrator/Host]

More than a century after Lizzie Borden went on trial for murder, this jury of eight people have been asked to wrestle with many of the same questions. It's an unheard of opportunity to be in the room for an actual deliberation. But it quickly becomes clear that there are no easy answers for our jurors. Frank, James, Michelle, Amy, Michael, Jerrell, Larissa and Jennifer.

[Author Cara Robertson]

What are the big concerns here?

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano]

The prosecutor said resentment, bitterness and greed. It just seems like overkill if she wasn't going to lose everything. Either she's a sociopath or possibly not guilty, but. And that's my only question, I feel

[Juror]

like to go for first degree murder of both victims, there has to be malice and forethought and I don't believe that was proven.

[Author Cara Robertson]

But you know, you could, I mean,

[Narrator/Host]

these are two different counts. So if you wanted to, you could decide that she's guilty of one and not guilty of the other.

[Juror]

Abigail was struck 19 times. Like you said, that is overkill. But there's still a lot of like, like I said, unknowns in terms of how did they clean that up.

I can't figure out how she could have done it and been standing there with nothing on her house and everything normal.

I feel like it has to Be somebody familiar with the house, also familiar

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

with the victims because they clearly familiar with the attacker.

[Juror]

I'm not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that she's guilty. I don't buy it, but I don't

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano]

think the standard is completely convinced. It's beyond a reasonable doubt. But that doesn't mean completely.

[Narrator/Host]

Unlike the original jury, this panel has

[Author Cara Robertson]

no trouble believing a woman could kill. The question is, was it this woman?

[Juror]

If she does know how to kill a pig or livestock, then she knows how to do it, right.

[Author Cara Robertson]

They believe she had the motive.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

She hated her stepmother.

[Author Cara Robertson]

But there were still questions.

[Juror]

Why leave Bridget alive?

Why leave the bloody rags just hanging out?

[Paramount Plus Advertiser]

Listen, let's forget about accomplices or her motivation. The question is, did she do it?

[Narrator/Host]

After more than an hour of deliberation.

So do you want to, you know, take a vote from everybody on two different counts?

The vote on the charge of first degree with the death of Abby Borton.

[Carvana Salesperson]

Guilty.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano]

Guilty.

[Juror]

Guilty.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

Guilty.

[Juror]

Guilty.

Guilty.

I keep going back to, she looks guilty, but I'm not convinced. So I'm back to not guilty.

[Narrator/Host]

You're the last one, Jerrell.

[Juror]

Guilty.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

Yeah.

[Juror]

Guilty.

[Narrator/Host]

You're sure?

[Juror]

Yes, positive on that one.

[Narrator/Host]

On the charge of first degree with Andrew Borden.

[Carvana Salesperson]

Guilty.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano]

Guilty.

[Juror]

Guilty.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

Guilty.

[Juror]

Guilty.

Guilty.

Not guilty.

Not guilty.

[Narrator/Host]

While Jerrel was confident Lizzie had planned to kill Abby, he believed the murder of her father was purely spontaneous.

[Juror]

I just. I don't know if that premeditation factored in with dad.

[Narrator/Host]

And with that, the foreman published the jury's verdict.

[Juror]

On the charge of first degree murder of Abby Borden, we are a hung jury. And on the charge of first degree murder for Andrew Jackson Borden, we are also a hung jury. Thank you.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

There's still something profoundly unsettling about the idea that a woman who seems normal committing a crime like this.

[Narrator/Host]

We heard most of these jurors vote

[Author Cara Robertson]

to convict her, but you heard a lot of doubt there.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

So, yeah, there was a lot. There were a number of them that were expressing doubt. And, you know, you wonder, is that a misunderstanding of the standard or is

[Narrator/Host]

it just they're making a call?

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

Right. It was fascinating, but at the same

[Narrator/Host]

time troubling at times.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

I think if you really broke it down, those that voted for guilty at the end really did express that they did think it was her and that the evidence had proven it. While they may not have expressed it that clearly in that one thought.

[Narrator/Host]

So is it fair to say that

[Author Cara Robertson]

we've not solved the mystery of Lizzie Borden and it will be argued for another 120something.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi (speaking in trial)]

I feel like we've solved the mystery of Lizzie Borden. We just haven't solved whether she should have been found guilty or not. Because it's a very different question.

[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

I think that that's the best way to say it, and maybe that's the beauty of the system, and maybe it's not.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Clearly, Lizzie Borden didn't care what people thought of her.

[Narrator/Host]

After her acquittal, she wasted little time getting on with her life. She stayed in Fall river, just not in this home.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

She and her sister Emma promptly vacate the cramped family house that was a source of some dissatisfaction.

[Narrator/Host]

Inheriting almost $350,000 from their father's estate, which would be $10 million in today's money, Lizzie and Emma bought the house they always wanted at the top of the hill in the wealthy part of town.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

She changed her name from Lizzie to Lizbeth and she named her house Maplecroft.

[Narrator/Host]

It seemed, well, unseemly to many in the community.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Very soon there are people who start to wonder if it wasn't Lizzie Borden, then who was it? Lizzie Borden finds herself unwelcome at the church where she had spent so much of her time and which had provided the foundation of her support during the trial.

[Narrator/Host]

Twelve years later, even Lizzie's sister Emma turns her back on her.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Emma was deeply troubled by something that was going on in the house, such that she felt it was necessary to sever all ties with her sister.

[Narrator/Host]

Lizzie, who never married, finished out her life as a recluse, alone in her home with her dogs until her death in June of 1927.

[Author Cara Robertson]

Did Lizzie ever talk to the press? Did she ever give her side of the story?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

No. Lizzie Borden remained silent.

[Narrator/Host]

Coincidentally, Emma, living in New Hampshire, died just nine days later. They were both laid to rest here alongside their father and their stepmother. Today, Fall River, Massachusetts, Embrace embraces the woman who brought so much notoriety to the town.

[Prosecutor Anasiga Nicolasi]

Lizzie Borden took an ax

[Narrator/Host]

and gave her mother 40 whacks.

[Crime Scene Investigator Erin Rubas]

When she saw what she had done,

[Criminalist Andrew Schweikart]

she gave her father 41.

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[Defense Attorney Matthew Troiano (speaking in trial)]

There's just way too too many of them and way too few of us.

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