Aileen Carol Wuornos was born on February 29th, 1956 in Michigan. She later grew up to become one of the most famous American serial killers in history after killing seven men between 1989 and 1990.
Aileen had an incredibly rough and depressing childhood. She had never met her father, Leo Dale Pittman, as he was incarcerated at the time of her birth for the sexual crimes against children. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia, he hung himself in prison on January 30th, 1969.
As the years went on, Wuornos' mother abandoned her and her brother, Keith; leaving them with their grandmother who eventually legally adopted them.
From a very young age, Wuornos had been engaging in strange and abnormal behavior and at the age of 11, she had began taking part in sexual activities in school for exchange for cigarettes, drugs and food. She even participated in sexual activities with her own brother. It is also said that Wuornos was being sexually assaulted and beaten by her alcoholic grandfather and in 1970, when she was just 14-years old, Wuornos has fallen pregnant after being raped by her grandfather's friend. In March 1971, she gave birth to her son in a home for unwed mothers and later put him up for adoption. A few months after the birth, Wuornos decided to leave school, just some time after the death of her grandfather. When she reached the age of 15, her grandmother kicked her out of the house, where she lived in the woods and supported herself as a prostitute.
Throughout the years, Wuornos was arrested a number of times due to driving under the influence, disorderly conduct, firing a gun from a moving vehicle, assault, disturbing the peace and not turning up to court.
In 1981, she was arrested in Florida due to an armed robbery in a convenience story, where she stole $35 and two packs of cigarettes. In 1982, she was sentenced to prison and was released one year later. However, this did not stop her from committing crimes and from 1982-1988, she was roughly arrested around ten times.
On November 30th, 1989, Wuornos killed her first victim. His name was Richard Mallory, aged 51. He was a convicted rapist who she claimed to have killed in self-defense. His body was found on December 13th and he had been shot several times.
Her next victim was 43-year-old Davis Spears. In June 1990, his naked body was discovered along the highway in Florida and it was found that he met the same fate as her previous victim, after six bullet wounds marked his body. Just 5 days after the discovery of the second body, the third was found. 40-year-old Charlies Carskaddon's body was found in Pasco County, Florida. Like the previous victims, he had also been shot several times.
More and more men were being reported missing in such a small space of time. In July, 65-year-old Peter Siems' car was found abandoned in Orange Springs, Florida. A witness stated that they saw Wuornos and her partner, Tyria Moore, leave his car; however, Siems' body was never found.
Troy Burress, aged 50, was her fifth victim. On July 31st, he was reported missing before his body was found in a wooded area on August 4th. He had been shot two times.
The next victim was 56-year-old Charles Humphries, a former Child Abuse Investigator and former Cheif of Police. His body was found in Marion County on September 12th. He was discovered fully clothed and had been shot six times in the head and torso.
Her seventh and final victim was 62-year-old Walter Jeno Antonio. On November 19th, his half-naked body was found in Dixie County. He had been shot four times.
After the murder of Peter Siems, the police were provided with the names and descriptions of Wuornos and Moore who were seen abandoning the victim's car. Wuornos had also left fingerprints in the vehicle and due to her criminal record, her details were on the file.
On January 9th, 1991, Wuornos was found and arrested at 'The Last Resort', a biker bar. Tyria Moore was located next day and she agreed to elicit a confession from Wuronos in exchange for immunity from prosecution. After numerous phone calls to Wuornos, Moore begged her to help clear her name. Three days later, Wuornos confessed to the murders, however, she claimed that she killed them in self-defense after the men tried to rape her.
On January 27th, 1992, Wuornos was convicted of the murder of Richard Mallory. Psychiatrists came to the conclusion that Wuornos was mentally unstable and was eventually diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
On May 15th, Wuornos was convicted of the murders of Dick Humphreys, Troy Burress and David Spears. She then pleaded guilty to the murder of Charles Carskaddon one month later. Finally, in February 1993, Wuornos pleaded guilty to the murder of Walter Jeno Antonio.
Aileen Wuornos was given a total of six death sentences, as she was not convicted of the murder of Peter Siems due to the fact that the body was never found.
Wuornos was incarcerated in the Florida Department of Corrections Broward Correctional Institution (BCI) death row for women and was later transferred to Florida State Prison for execution. In a 2001 petition to the Florida Supreme Court, Wuornos commented, "I killed those men, robbed them as cold as ice. And I'd do it again, too. There's no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I'd kill again. I have hate crawling through my system...and I am so sick of hearing this 'she's crazy' stuff. I've been evaluated so many times. I'm competent, sane, and I'm trying to tell the truth. I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again."
One year later, Wuornos was plagued with the delusion that prison matrons were tainting her food with saliva, dirt and urine. She also believed that people were trying to make her commit suicide before the execution and that the officers wanted to rape her.
On October 9th, 2002, Wuornos was executed at 9:47 AM. She requested "Kentucky Fried Chicken and french fries" as her last meal and her last words were, "Yes, I would just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I'll be back, I'll be back."
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