Aileen Wuornos: ‘America’s First Female Serial Killer’

Aileen Wuornos was a serial killer, responsible for the deaths of seven men in Florida between 1989 to 1990. Wournos had an upbringing of sexual assault and child abuse. She never met her father, a convicted child molester who hung himself in prison. Her mother abandoned her to her alcoholic grandparents when she was four. She was sexually active at a young age, including with her older brother. She was the first woman in America to be profiled by the FBI as a serial killer.

During her trial, she maintained the murders were self-defense. Each of the victims raped or attempted to rape her. She later recanted her testimony. She received death sentences for the six murders she ultimately pled guilty to. After a decade on death row, she was executed by lethal injection in 2002.

Her alleged 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.”