Aileen Carol Wuornos (February 26, 1956-October 9, 2002) was a female serial killer who murdered seven men in the state of Florida in the years 1980 and 1990. She had claimed that she only acted in self-defense, and that her victims either tried to rape her, or outright did. She was found guilty of six out of the seven murders, and was sentenced to death. On October 9, 2002, she was executed by the State of Florida through lethal injection.
Personal life
Wuornos was born as Aileen Carol Pittman in Rochester, Michigan, on Februrary 26, 1956. Her mother was 14 years old when she became engaged to Aileen's father, on June 3, 1954. They were divorced two years later before Aileen was born.
Aileen never got a chance to met her biological father. He was imprisoned at the time of her birth. He was a known schizophrenic who was convicted of sex crimes against minors. He eventually hang himself in prison in 1969. A few years earlier, Aileen's mother abandoned her and her brother in the month of January in the year 1960. They were taken to live with their maternal grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos, and they adopted them on March 18, 1960.
When she was 9 years old, Wuornos engaged in sexual activities at school in exchange for cigarettes, drugs, and food. She also did those activities with her brother, Keith. Aileen had claimed that her grandfather had abused her both physically and sexually, and claimed that he always told her to strip before he beat her. In the year 1970, she became pregnant at the age of 13. She had been raped by a friend of Lauri's. She eventually gave birth in a home for unwed mothers, and the baby was put up for adoption. She later dropped out of school, and her grandmother died of liver failure. When she was 15 years old, her grandfather threw her out of the house, and, in order to proivide for herself, she became a prostitute. She resided in the woods near her old home.
Early criminal activity
On May 27, 1974, she was arrested in Jefferson County, Colorado, because she was driving under the influence. She was also charged with disorderly conduct and firing a .22-caliber pistol from a moving vehicle. To add onto that charge, she was also charged with "failure to appear at the court."
Later on, she married a 69-year-old yacht club president Lewis Gratz Fell. Wuormos continually involved herself in confrantations at Lewis' local bar, and she was arrested yet again, this time for assault. On July 17, her brother succumbed to esophageal cancer, and she received $10, 000 from his life insurance. She later annulled her marriage to Lewis on July 21, and they were only together for nine weeks.
Wuornos was also charged among other things such as car theft, armed robbery, and many, many, other things.