Everything about Aileen Wuornos totally explained
Aileen Carol Wuornos (born
Aileen Carol Pittman;
February 29 1956 –
October 9 2002) was an
American serial killer who was convicted and
sentenced to death by the state of
Florida in 1992. She ultimately received five additional death sentences. Wuornos admitted to killing seven men in separate incidents, all of whom she claimed either
raped or attempted to rape her while she was working as a
prostitute. She was
put to death via
lethal injection on
October 9 2002.
The early years
Aileen Carol Wuornos was born in
Rochester, Michigan to Diane Kathleen Wuornos and Leo Arthur Pittman. Her maternal grandparents were of
Finnish descent. Pittman, whom she never knew, was a
child molester who served time in
Kansas and Michigan
mental hospitals. He died by
hanging, presumably
self-inflicted while in prison at
Kansas State Penitentiary in
Lansing,
Kansas on
January 30 1969. Wuornos' mother Diane was 15 years old when she married Pittman on
June 3 1954. Two children were produced during their marriage; Keith was born in
1955 and Aileen in 1956. Less than two years into their marriage and just a few months before Aileen was born, Diane
divorced Pittman. Diane abandoned the two children in
1960. She left them in the care of their maternal grandparents, "Lauri" Jacob Wuornos and Aileen "Britta" Moilanen. Lauri and Britta legally
adopted the two children and brought them into their
Troy, Michigan home.
Wuornos said that her grandfather physically and sexually abused her as a child and her grandmother was an abusive
alcoholic. In the book
Lethal Intent, Sue Russell wrote that Wuornos was whipped with a belt by her grandfather. At the age of 12 Aileen and her brother Keith discovered that Lauri and Britta were really their grandparents, not their biological parents. Aileen claimed to have had sex with multiple partners, including her own brother, at a young age. She became
pregnant at the age of 14. Upon giving birth to her child at a Detroit maternity home on
March 23,
1971 she was banished from her family home and disowned by the community. The child was put up for adoption soon after. Wuornos was forced to take shelter in an abandoned car in the woods before being sent to a home for unwed mothers.
Britta Wuornos died in July 1971 (officially of
liver failure, although Aileen's mother Diane later accused Lauri of killing her). After their grandmother's death, Wuornos and her brother became
wards of the court. She began to work as a
prostitute while still in school. She began using the alias Sandra Kretsch in May 1974. She was jailed in
Jefferson County, Colorado for
drunk driving, disorderly conduct, and firing a .22-caliber pistol from a moving vehicle. An additional charge of failing to appear in court was also filed when she left town before her trial.
In 1976, Wuornos hitchhiked to
Florida, where she met 76-year-old yacht club president Lewis Gratz Fell. They married that same year, and the news of their nuptials was printed in the local newspaper's society pages. However, Wuornos continually involved herself in confrontations at their local bar and was eventually sent to jail for assault. She also hit Fell with his own cane, leading him to get a
restraining order against her.
She returned to Michigan. She was arrested in
Antrim County and charged with
assault and disturbing the peace on
July 13,
1976 following an incident in which she threw a
cue ball at a bartender's head. She was also served outstanding warrants for driving without a license and drinking in a motor vehicle. She was fined $105. On
July 17, her brother Keith died of
throat cancer and Wuornos acquired $10,000 from his
life insurance. Wuornos and Fell also divorced on
July 21, having been married only six weeks. Wuornos then paid the $105 fine which had been levied on
August 4, and within two months squandered the remaining money on luxuries including a new car, which she later wrecked.
The middle years
On
May 20,
1981 Wuornos was arrested in
Edgewater, Florida for
armed robbery. She was consequently sentenced to
prison on
May 4,
1982 and released on
June 30,
1983. On
May 1,
1984 she was sentenced 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 pistol and ammunition in
Pasco County. By this time Wuornos was "borrowing" the alias
Lori Christine Grody from her aunt/stepsister (her grandparents' daughter) in Michigan. In
December 1985, the
Florida Highway Patrol cited "Lori Grody" (Wuornos) for driving without a valid license.
On
January 4,
1986 Wuornos was arrested in
Miami under her own name and charged with
grand theft auto, resisting arrest, and obstruction by false information. Miami police found a .38-caliber revolver and a box of ammunition in the stolen car. On
June 2,
1986 Volusia County deputies detained "Lori Grody" (Wuornos) for questioning after a male companion accused her of pulling a gun in his car and demanding $200. Wuornos was found to be carrying spare ammunition and a .22 pistol was discovered beneath the passenger seat she occupied.
Wuornos, now using the alias
Susan Blahovec, Some argued that she was in no state for them to honor such a request.
Florida governor
Jeb Bush instructed three
psychiatrists to give Wuornos a 15-minute interview. All three judged her mentally fit to be executed. The
test for competency requires the psychiatrist(s) be convinced that the condemned person both understands that he or she'll die, and also understands for which crimes he or she's being executed.
Wuornos later started accusing the prison matrons of abusing her. She accused them of tainting her food, spitting on it, serving her potatoes cooked in dirt, and her food arriving with
urine. She also claimed overhearing conversations about "trying to get me so pushed over the brink by them I'd wind up committing suicide before the [execution]" and "wishing to rape me before execution." She also complained of strip searches, being handcuffed so tightly that her wrists bruised any time she left her cell, door kicking, frequent window checks by matrons, low water pressure,
mildew on her mattress and "cat calling ... in distaste and a pure hatred towards me." Wuornos threatened to boycott showers and food trays when specific officers were on duty. "In the meantime, my stomach's growling away and I'm taking showers through the sink of my cell."
Her attorney stated that "Ms. Wuornos really just wants to have proper treatment, humane treatment until the day she's executed," and "If the allegations don't have any truth to them, she's clearly
delusional. She believes what she's written".
During the final stages of the appeal process she gave a series of interviews to Broomfield. In her final interview shortly before her execution she claimed that her mind was being controlled by "sonic pressure" to make her appear crazy and that she'd be taken away by
angels on a space ship. When Broomfield attempted to get her to speak about her earlier claims to have killed her victims in self-defense, Wuornos became livid, cursed Broomfield, and terminated the interview. Broomfield later met Dawn Botkins, a childhood friend of Wuornos', who told him, "She's sorry, Nick. She didn't give you the finger. She gave the media the finger, and then the attorneys the finger. And she knew if she said much more, it could make a difference on her execution tomorrow, so she just decided not to."
The contents of Wuornos'
last meal are uncertain. Some sources state that she declined the traditional last meal, which could have been anything she wanted for under $20, and instead was given a cup of coffee.
Her last words were "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."
Post-mortem
After her execution, Wuornos was
cremated. Her ashes were taken by Dawn Botkins to her native Michigan and spread beneath a tree. She requested that
Natalie Merchant's song "
Carnival" be played at her funeral. Natalie Merchant commented on this when asked why her song was played during the credits of the documentary .
» When director Nick Broomfield sent a working edit of the film, I was so disturbed by the subject matter that I couldn't even watch it. Aileen Wuornos led a tortured, torturing life that's beyond my worst nightmares. It wasn't until I was told that Aileen spent many hours listening to my album Tigerlily while on death row and requested 'Carnival' be played at her funeral that I gave permission for the use of the song. It's very odd to think of the places my music can go once it leaves my hands. If it gave her some solace, I've to be grateful.
Wuornos was the tenth woman in the United States to be executed since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976 and the second woman ever executed in Florida.
Broomfield later stated:
» I think this anger developed inside her. And she was working as a prostitute. I think she'd 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'd killed in self-defense. I think someone who's deeply psychotic can't really tell the difference between something that's life threatening and something that's a minor disagreement; that you could say something that she didn't agree with, she'd 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.".
Publicity
Within weeks of her arrest Wuornos' lover Tyria Moore, as well as three of the law enforcement agents who were tracking her, had engaged agents to sell the rights to her story. Wuornos' life has been documented in numerous books and portrayed in several films and television shows inaccurately touted as "the first female serial killer".
Books: » *Lethal Intent (2002), ISBN 0-7860-1518-7, by Sue Russell
*Notes from the condemned chamber (2002), ISBN 9985-9310-3-3, by Miina Hint » *Dead Ends (2003), ISBN 0312984189, by Michael Reynolds
Documentaries: » *Nick Broomfield directed two documentaries:
:* (1992) » :* (2003).
Broomfield conducted the last media interview with Wuornos on the day before her execution.
Movies: » *The 2003 movie Monster starring Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci tells Wuornos' story from the moment she met Selby Wall (based on Wuornos' lover and four-year companion Tyria Moore) until her first conviction for murder. Theron received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Wuornos on what would have been Wuornos' 48th birthday, though this wasn't mentioned in Theron's acceptance speech. Theron donned prosthetic teeth, wore spray-on freckles and gained 30 pounds to play Wuornos.
Television: » *1992 made-for-television movie Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story starring Jean Smart as Wuornos was first broadcast in 1992.
*Wuornos has also been featured on 60 Minutes, A&E, and Court TV.
Music: » *Diamanda Galás calls Wuornos "a huge hero" and dedicated to her the song "Iron Lady" on the album Malediction and Prayer.
*In 2006, Bitch released the sympathetic song "Aileen Wuornos" on the album Make This/Break This. » *New York-based metalcore band It Dies Today's song "Sixth Of June" was based on Wuornos' last words. The song can be heard on their album Sirens.
*An operatic adaptation of Wuornos' life events premiered at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on June 22–24, 2001. Entitled Wuornos, the opera was written by composer/librettist Carla Lucero, conducted by Mary Chun, and produced by the Jon Sims Center for the Arts in San Francisco. » *The Japanese stoner metal band Church Of Misery wrote a song about Aileen Wuornos called "Filth Bitch Boogie" which appears on their 2004 album The Second Coming.
Further Information
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