Video: 'History's Mysteries The Strange Case Of Lizzie Borden (History Channel Documentary)'

(Tuesday, June 20, 1893, 4:40 p.m. EST) — A jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden, 32, not guilty today of the Aug. 4, 1892, ax murders of her father, Andrew, and stepmother, Abby, at their home in Fall River, Massachusetts.

Upon exiting the courthouse, she told reporters she was “the happiest woman in the world.”

Businessman Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, the father and stepmother of Lizzie, were axed to death on Aug. 4, 1892 in their home in Fall River, Massachusetts.

According to the forensic investigation, Abby was facing her killer in a guest bedroom between 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. when she was first struck on the side of the head with a hatchet, which cut her just above the ear, causing her to turn and fall face down on the floor, creating contusions on her nose and forehead.

Video: 'The Truth About Lizzie Borden'

Her killer then struck her multiple times, delivering 17 more direct hits to the back of her head, killing her.

Andrew returned from a walk at around 10:30 a.m. 40 minutes later, Andrew was found slumped on a couch in the downstairs sitting room, struck 10 or 11 times with a hatchet-like weapon.

One of his eyes had been split cleanly in two, suggesting that he had been asleep when attacked. His still-bleeding wounds suggested a very recent attack.

Lizzie, Andrew’s 32-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, was accused of the killings but acquitted today at trial.

No one else was charged in the murders, and despite ostracism from other residents, Borden spent the remainder of her life in Fall River.

She died of pneumonia at age 66, just days before the death of her older sister, Emma.