Aileen Carol Wuornos February 29, 1956 – October 9, 2002, was an American serial killer. In 1989–1990, while engaging in street prostitution along highways in Florida, she shot dead and robbed seven of her male clients. Wuornos claimed that her clients had either raped or attempted to rape her, and that all of the homicides were committed in self-defense. Wuornos was sentenced to death for six of the murders and on October 9, 2002, after 12 years on Florida's death row, was executed by lethal injection.
In the biographical film Monster (2003), Wuornos' story is described from her first murder until her execution. For her portrayal of Wuornos, Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
On May 27, 1974, at age 18, Wuornos was arrested in Jefferson County, Colorado, for driving under the influence, disorderly conduct, and firing a .22-caliber pistol from a moving vehicle. She was later charged with failure to appear.
In 1976, Wuornos hitchhiked to Florida, where she met 69-year-old yacht club president, Lewis Gratz Fell. They married quickly; and the announcement of their nuptials was printed in the local newspaper's society pages. However, Wuornos continually involved herself in confrontations at their local bar and went to jail briefly for assault. She also hit Fell with his own cane, leading him to gain a restraining order against her within weeks of the marriage. She returned to Michigan where, on July 14, 1976, she was arrested at Bernie's Club, in Mancelona, in Antrim County and charged with assault and disturbing the peace for throwing a cue ball at a bartender's head.
On July 17, her brother Keith died of esophageal cancer and Wuornos received $10,000 from his life insurance. Wuornos and Fell annulled their marriage on July 21 after only nine weeks. In August 1976, Wuornos was given a $105 fine for drunk driving. She used the money inherited from her brother to pay the fine and spent the rest within two months buying luxuries including a new car, which she wrecked shortly afterwards.
In 1978, at the age of 22, she attempted suicide by shooting herself in the stomach. Between the ages of 14 and 22, she attempted suicide six times. On May 20, 1981, Wuornos was arrested in Edgewater, Florida, for the armed robbery of a convenience store, where she stole $35 and two packs of cigarettes. She was sentenced to prison on May 4, 1982, and released on June 30, 1983. On May 1, 1984, Wuornos was arrested for attempting to pass forged checks at a bank in Key West. On November 30, 1985, she was named as a suspect in the theft of a revolver and ammunition in Pasco County.
Wuornos murdered seven men within a period of 12 months.
Richard Charles Mallory, age 51, electronics store owner in Clearwater (date of murder: November 30, 1989). Wuornos claimed that Mallory beat, raped, and sodomized her after he drove her to an abandoned area for sexual requests. Mallory was Wuornos' first victim and she claimed to have killed him in self-defense. Later, it became known that Mallory had previously been convicted for attempted rape in Maryland. Two days after the murder, a Volusia County deputy sheriff found Mallory's abandoned vehicle. On December 13, his body was found several miles away in a wooded area; he had been shot several times, and two bullets to the left lung were found to have been the cause of death. David Andrew Spears, age 47, construction worker in Winter Garden. He was declared missing as of May 19, 1990. On June 1, 1990, his naked body was found along U.S. Route 19 in Florida in Citrus County. He had been shot six times by a .22 pistol. Charles Edmund Carskaddon, age 40, part-time rodeo worker (date of murder: May 31, 1990). On June 6, 1990, his body was found in Pasco County. He had been shot nine times with a .22 caliber weapon. The body had been wrapped in an electric blanket and was badly decomposing when found. Witnesses saw Wuornos in possession of Carskaddon's car, and Wuornos had also pawned a gun identified as belonging to Carskaddon. Peter Abraham Siems, age 65, retired merchant seaman. In June 1990, Siems left Jupiter, Florida, for Arkansas. On July 4, 1990, his car was found in Orange Springs, Florida. Moore and Wuornos were seen abandoning the car, and Wuornos' palm print was found on the interior door handle. His body was never found. Troy Eugene Burress, age 50, sausage salesman from Ocala, Florida. On July 31, 1990, he was reported missing. On August 4, 1990, his body was found in a wooded area along State Road 19 in Marion County. He had been shot twice. Charles Richard "Dick" Humphreys, age 56, retired U.S. Air Force Major, former State Child AbuseInvestigator, and former Chief of Police (date of murder: September 11, 1990). On September 12, 1990, his body was found in Marion County. He was fully clothed and had been shot six times in the head and torso. His car was found in Suwannee County. Walter Jeno Antonio, age 62, trucker, security guard, and reserve police officer. On November 19, 1990, Antonio's nearly naked body was found near a remote logging road in Dixie County. He had been shot four times. Five days later, his car was found in Brevard County.
On July 4, 1990, Wuornos and Moore abandoned victim Peter Siems' car after they were involved in an accident. Rhonda Bailey, who witnessed the accident, provided police with a description of two women, resulting in a media campaign to locate them. Police also found some of the victims' belongings in pawnshops. Wuornos' fingerprint that was found on a receipt at one of the pawnshops matched the print that was left in Siems' car. Wuornos had a criminal record in Florida, and samples of her prints were in a database.
The Last Resort bar in Volusia County, where Wuornos was arrested
On January 9, 1991, Wuornos was arrested on an outstanding warrant at The Last Resort biker bar in Volusia County. Police located Moore the next day in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She agreed to elicit a confession from Wuornos in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Moore returned with the police to Florida, where she was put up in a motel. Under police guidance, she made numerous telephone calls to Wuornos, pleading for help in clearing her name. Three days later, on January 16, 1991, Wuornos confessed to the murders. She claimed the men had tried to rape her and she killed them in self-defense. In November 1991, Wuornos was legally adopted by 44-year-old Arlene Pralle who saw her photo in a newspaper.
On March 31, 1992, Wuornos pleaded no contest to the murders of Charles Richard Humphreys, Troy Eugene Burress, and David Andrew Spears, saying she wanted to "get right with God".In her statement to the court, she said, in part, "I wanted to confess to you that Richard Mallory did violently rape me as I've told you; but these others did not. They only began to start to." On May 15, 1992, Wuornos was given three more death sentences. In June 1992, Wuornos pleaded guilty to the murder of Charles Edmund Carskaddon. In November 1992, she received her fifth death sentence. In February 1993, Wuornos pleaded guilty to the murder of Walter Jeno Antonio and was sentenced to death again. No charges were brought against her for the murder of Peter Abraham Siems, as his body was never found. In all, Wuornos received six death sentences.
Wuornos's execution took place on October 9, 2002. She declined her last meal which could have been anything under $20 and opted for a cup of coffee instead. 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." She died at 9:47 a.m. EDT. She was the second woman in Florida and the tenth in the United States to be executed since the 1976 United States Supreme Court decision restoring capital punishment.
After her death, Wuornos' body was cremated. Wuornos' ashes were scattered beneath a tree in her native Michigan by Wuornos' childhood friend Dawn Botkins. At Wuornos' request, Natalie Merchant's song "Carnival" from her album Tigerlily was played at her funeral: Wuornos spent many hours listening to this album on death row.
Broomfield discussed Wuornos’ posible motive and state of mind and said:
“I think this anger developed inside her. And she was working as a prostitute. I think she had a lot of awful encounters on the roads. And I think this anger just spilled out from inside her. And finally exploded. Into incredible violence. That was her way of surviving. I think Aileen really believed that she had killed in self-defence. I think someone who’s deeply psychotic can’t really tell the difference between something that is life threatening and something that is a minor disagreement, that you could say something that she didn’t agree with. She would get into a screaming black temper about it. And I think that’s what had caused these things to happen. And at the same time, when she wasn’t in those extreme moods, there was an incredible humanity to her.”
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