Aileen Carol Wuornos (February 29, 1956 – October 9, 2002) was an American serial killer who killed seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Wuornos claimed that her victims had either raped or attempted to rape her while she was working as a prostitute, and that all of the homicides were committed in self-defense. She was convicted and sentenced to death for six of the murders and was executed by the State of Florida by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.
You have to kill Aileen Wuornos, because she'll kill again
2
[last words before being executed] I'd 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.
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Fact
1
After her trial, it was revealed that Tyria Moore made several book and movie deals selling her story. As did three detectives on the case, who later resigned. Though Moore was implicated in several of the killings, she was never charged because she agreed to elicit a confession from Wuornos in exchange for immunity from prosecution. There is also evidence that Volusia County sheriff deputies negotiated contracts for book and movie deals about Wuornos' case before she was even arrested.
2
Charlize Theron won an Oscar for portraying Wuornos in Monster (2003) on February 29, 2004, what would have been Wuornos' 48th birthday, less than a year and a half after Wuornos was executed.
3
Her execution took place on October 9, 2002. She died at 9:47 AM that morning. She had Kentucky Fried Chicken and french fries as her last meal. 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.".
Requested that Natalie Merchant's song "Carnival" be played at her funeral.
6
After her execution, she was cremated with her bible and her ashes were taken to her native Michigan and spread around a tree by her friend Dawn Botkins.
7
Wuornos never met her father (he was incarcerated at the time of her birth). He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, later convicted of sex crimes against children, and eventually hanged himself in prison on January 30, 1969 when she was just 13-years-old.
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Parents' names were Diane Wuornos and Leo Dale Pittman. They divorced a couple of months before she was born.
9
Her ancestry was English and Finnish.
10
During her career as a prostitute, she claimed to have had sex with 250,000 men.
11
Wuornos became pregnant at 14-years-old after being raped by a friend of her grandfather's and was sent to a home for unwed mothers. She gave birth to a baby boy on March 23, 1971. The child was put up for adoption.
12
The biker bar in Port Orange, Florida, where Wuornos was arrested on January 9, 1991, has become a tourist spot with the slogan: "Cold Beer and Killer Women.".
13
She was the tenth woman in the U.S. to be executed since the re-introduction of the death penalty in 1976, and the second woman in Florida to be executed.
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Was adopted by Arlene Pralle, a 44-year-old "born-again Christian" and her husband (November 22, 1991)
15
Despite prostituting herself to men, she had a female lover, Tyria Moore, who testified against her at her first murder trial.
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Convicted of murdering seven men in Florida from 1990-1992, and after receiving six death sentences, was executed (9 October 2002)
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Widely considered America's first female serial killer. While not the first, she was one of only a few female serial killers that used a gun as their weapon.
18
In January 1960, when Wuornos was almost four years old, her mother Diane Wuornos abandoned her and her brother Keith, leaving them with their maternal grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos. They legally adopted Keith and Aileen on March 18, 1960. The children were chronic runaways and had several brushes with the law and were eventually kicked out of the house by Lauri after Britta's death.
19
Her case spawned two movies (1992 and 2003), two documentaries (1993 and 2003), several books, an opera (2001), and a "True Crime" comic book pairing her with mobster John Gotti. There have also been may songs and poems written about her, dedicated to her, and as a tribute to her.
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer
2003
Documentary
Herself
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer
1992
Documentary
Herself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Reel Crime/Real Story
2012
TV Series documentary
Herself
Twisted
2010
TV Series documentary
Herself
Crimes That Shook the World
2009
TV Series documentary
Herself
THS Investigates: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer
2005
TV Movie documentary
Herself
Biography
2003
TV Series documentary
Herself
American Justice
1992
TV Series documentary
Herself
Known for movies
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer 2003 as Herself
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer 1992 as Herself
$250,000
