A Female Serial Killer ?

Serial killers are almost always men, so it is always surprising to find a female serial killer. The fact that they are women make the whole case even more surprising. Aileen Wuornos is one of the modern female serial killers, and there is even a Netflix special about her, if you are interested. Her unfortunate upbringing seemed to be the perfect recipe to make a serial killer.

The Psychological Profile

Aileen Wuornos had a very troubling upbringing. She was born in Florida in 1956 to a father who was a child molester and murderer. He killed himself while he was in prison while Wuornos was a young girl. Her mother was an immigrant and abandoned her around the same time, so she was raised by her father’s parents. While she was in elementary school she traded sexual favors for cigarettes and other things from other children. She had a brother also, but it was later revealed that she had an incestuous relationship with him. Soon after her father’s suicide, Wuornos’ grandmother died of liver failure and her grandfather had been abusing and raping her. Eventually, she became pregnant at the age of fourteen by her grandfather’s friend, which caused her to enter a life of crime and prostitution. She gave her son up for adoption after she dropped out of school and left her grandfather’s house. Her whole life, she had reason to hate men, as they had always disappointed and abused her.

The Crimes

With every murder, Wuornos claimed it was in self defense as the men had been trying to rape her. However, her stories constantly changed throughout the time she was imprisoned. Her first victim was in fact a convicted rapist. The men she murdered were usually shot about 5 or more times and the bodies were dumped in different places. These men picked Wuornos up on the street, seeing that she was a prostitute or because she was hitchhiking.

In 1987, Wuornos moved in with a hotel maid named Tyria Moore, who would become her lover who would help her on her killing sprees. A witness had seen two women matching Wuornos’ and Moore’s description. As it turns out, Moore helped Wuornos kill three more men before she left and moved to Pennsylvania.

The Backstabbing

Wuornos was constantly getting into fights at bars, and this finally led to a warrant for her arrest. Police arrested Moore around the same time, and the police quickly urged her to manipulate Aileen into giving a confession over the phone that could be used against Wuornos in court. Eventually, she repeated the story to Moore of their killings, but mentioned that Wuornos’ killings that happened prior to them meeting were all because of defending herself from being raped.

Moore was then considered a witness of the state and was offered full immunity for her cooperation with prosecution. Aileen knew that her girlfriend had completely turned on her, but she just seemed to accept the fact and continue to stay in touch with Moore. While in prison, Aileen grew paranoid that the people preparing her food were spitting in it, so she went on several hunger strikes. She was also kept in solitary confinement, which can always be damaging to someone’s psyche.

She was paranoid of her lawyer and the prison staff, and was a nervous wreck. She thought everyone was plotting against her, and as a result she asked to fire her defense counsel and to represent herself, and surprisingly, the judge allowed it. She was now representing herself on a seven count murder trial. She either plead guilty or was found guilty of the murders, and was sentenced to death. She petitioned the court to hurry her death sentence along, as she claimed she was victim of inhumane treatment and claimed she was being attacked by a sonic weapon. She was found to be psychotic and was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.

In 2002, Aileen Wuornos was put to death by lethal injection. These were her last words:

“’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.”

She has been titled one of the most infamous female serial killers in American history.