For the brutal crimes she committed, she was sentenced to six death sentences. She went down in history as a monster. But was Aileen Wournos really a conscientious monster? Or was she a victim herself?
Aileen "Lee" Carol Wuornos was born on February 29, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan. She had a difficult childhood from the very beginning. Her father repeatedly molested her, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment, and after several years of imprisonment in a prison, he committed suicide. Wuornos' mother abandoned her and her brother, so they both ended up in the care of their grandparents.
A nightmare childhood
Childhood friends said that Wuornos' grandfather beat her, her grandmother was an alcoholic. At 11, Aileen began prostituting herself for money, beer and cigarettes. At the age of 14, she became pregnant - she gave the child up for adoption. Soon after, she began to spend more time outside the home. She lived in the woods or hitchhiked around the country, often under assumed names.
In the early 1980s, after her brother's death, Wuornos moved to Florida to work as a prostitute. She was in trouble with the law often . Until 1991, there were arrests of incl. for illegal possession of weapons, forgery, assault and robbery. Colleagues and law enforcement officials described her as being erratic and easily angered.
In Florida, Aileen met wealthy sailor Lewis Fell. They married in 1976, but Fell canceled the relationship shortly after Wuornos was arrested again. Ten years later, Wuornos met 24-year-old Tyria Moore in Daytona, Florida. They started an affair that involved having sex, taking drugs and consuming a lot of alcohol.
Aileen Wournos Police Photo
Aileen and Tyria began living together in a motel. Unfortunately, Wuornos was an extremely jealous person and told her partner to quit her maid job, because with her clothes "she could tempt hotel guests". Tyria quit in the name of love, and the household budget was mended out of Aileen's income - prostitution. She offered her services in car parks, motels, bars and clubs, but numerous addictions and a life of poverty made her far from being a beauty.
In a profession where looks prevail, she barely made ends meet. Gray complexion, being overweight, missing teeth, and alopecia effectively scared off potential clients. Aileen and Tyria were running out of money for motel and food. They started begging, spent the night in sheds and barns, under bridges or in the woods. Wournos, however, was determined to keep the love of life with her.
Streak of killings
Wuornos decided to increase her prostitution income by robbing clients. Her first victim was Richard Mallory, 51, who has had multiple sexual crimes and violence. The dramatic scene took place on November 30, 1989 on a highway near Dayton Beach.
Richard offered to hitch Aileen. While driving, they both consumed alcohol and talked about various topics. Finally, they decided to have sex on the roadside. The car drove slowly into a dark forest, where Mallory brutally beat up his passenger and then raped her. At the end the woman pulled out a pistol and fired three times at the attacker. Then she robbed him of all his savings, credit cards, watch and camera. She moved the body deep into the forest. After the incident, she moved away from the crime scene in the man's car.
In less than a year, Wuornos had six more men to her name. The likelihood is slim that each of them, like Richard Mallory, was a sex offender. Among her victims were, among others farmer, rodeo worker and even the Alabama Police Chief! The corpse, hidden near state roads, was in such a bad condition that it was only possible to identify them after examining specific signs - dentition, fingerprints, DNA.
Interestingly, the killings were so brutal that Florida law enforcement found a man behind them. Only a broader analysis of the traces of the crime, as well as autopsies, led to suspicions being directed at local prostitutes. In November 1990, a memory portrait of Aileen and her partner was published. From then on, the women were prosecuted in every possible way.
Authorities finally managed to track them down with the fingerprints and hands of another missing man, Peter Siems, left in the wrecked vehicle. . Wuornos was arrested at a bar in Port Orange, Florida, her lover detained in Pennsylvania. To avoid being charged with the killings, Tyria Moore renounced her love and made a deal with the police. In mid-January 1991, she taped Aileen admitting the murders and taking full responsibility.
Accusation and execution
The case was extremely high-profile, partly because of the grim nature of the crime. During the trial, Wuornos claimed that she had been raped and attacked by Mallory, and that killing the other men was also for self-defense. In time, however, it withdrew from this line of defense.
The bar where Aileen Wournos was arrested
The doomsday came on January 27, 1992, when a jury found Aileen guilty of first degree murder in the Mallory case, for which she was sentenced to death. Over the following months, she confessed to the remaining killings, seven in total. Interestingly, Siems's body was never found.
After a decade on death row, Wuornos finally decided to fire her appeals lawyers who were working to stay the execution. The court-appointed attorney was concerned about Wuornos' comments, which suggested that she was deeply out of touch with reality. Execution of the sentence was suspended on this basis, but in 2002 Florida Governor Jeb Bush lifted the temporary suspension after three psychiatrists found her mentally competent to understand the death penalty and the reasons for its execution.
Wuornos was executed by lethal injection on the morning of October 9, 2002.
Glory killer
The story of Wuornos was immortalized on the silver screen. British documentary filmmaker Nick Broomfield made two films - Aileen Wuornos:The Selling of a Serial Killer (1993) and Aileen:Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) .
In 2003, the movie Monster - was made a unique adaptation of Aileen's dramatic biography. The main role was played by a beautiful actress - Charlize Theron. In order to become like a psychopath, she underwent a major physical and emotional transformation. The thrilling spectacle was hailed by critic Roger Ebert as a cinematic milestone. Theron won an Oscar for Best Actress.
In addition, Wuornos appeared in 2015 in the production of American Horror Story , where she is played by Lily Rabe. To this day, the dramatic silhouette of Aileen Wuornos remains an inspiration for book and film makers.
Sources:
- Aileen Wournos, Biography.com (accessed September 8, 2021).
- John Philip Jenkins, Serial murder, Britannica.com (accessed September 8, 2021).
- Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill, Aileen:Life and Death of a Serial Killer.
- Nick Broomfield, Aileen Wuornos:The Selling of a Serial Killer .