Aileen Wuornos didn’t have the best childhood, in fact it was quite rocky. Her father was a child murderer with severe sociopathic tendencies, and when Aileen was four he died in prison. After her father’s death, Aileen, and her brother moved in and started living with her grandparents. The transition into her teenage years was a difficult one, at age 13 she was raped by a “family friend” and became pregnant and the child was immediately given up for adoption. In addition to that she had trouble in school, eventually ending up dropping out of high school altogether and began working as a sex worker.
As time went on she started to get into trouble with the law, and was arrested multiple times on account of armed robbery, check forgery, and auto theft. In her adult life she moved to Daytona Beach, Florida. Unfortunately, that same year her grandfather committed suicide and her brother, Keith, died of cancer. Desperate for a way to cope, she marries a wealthy retiree; however their marriage doesn’t last long and is annulled after nine short weeks.
After her release from robbing a convenience store, she’s charged with a slew of other crimes until 1986. She meets Tyria Moore, a lesbian in Daytona Beach, and the attraction is immediate and mutual. The new couple quickly moves in together and Wuornos makes most of their money through her work.
The nature of Wuornos’ crimes were cold and unfeeling. She seemed to have no remorse and was seemingly indifferent about her crimes with quotes like, “I robbed them and I killed them as cold as ice.” A list of a few of her victims are as follows.
On Jun. 1st, 1990, officer’s discovered the nude body of 43-year-old construction worker, David Spears. He had been shot six times with his truck close by.
On Jun. 6, 1990, the body of Charles Carskaddon, a 40-year-old truck driver and part time rodeo bull rider, was discovered in the woods, he had been shot nine times with his car at a different location.
Aileen Wuornos had a total of seven victims, all male, and her killing spree went across a span of 12 months, Nov. 30th, 1989 to Nov. 10th, 1990. When she was arrested for her first murder, she seemed to have feelings of remorse saying, “I just wish I never would’ve done what I did. I still have to say to myself, I still say that it was in self-defense.” She even gave directions for a dive team to find her weapon. She is then charged in connection to the murder of Richard Mallory.
However, during the trial she pleads not guilty claiming she acted in self defense because Mallory had raped her. Even though this first trial was only for the killing of Mallory, the judge allowed for evidence of the other 6 murders. On Jan. 27th, she was found guilty and charged with first degree murder. And despite being so compliant before, when the verdict was announced, evidently in distress she shouts, “I was raped. I hope you get raped, scumbags of America.”
Lastly, Aileen Wuornos was sentenced to death on January 31, 1992.