One of the most infamous serious killers in American History is Aileen Wuornos, who shot
and robbed 7 men who were her clients.
Aileen had a very troubling and tough life, however she became known for being a deadly
woman, and a woman whose story is much more tragic and harrowing than many expect.
She was raised in a house that was incredibly troubling, and it’s believed her childhood
and what happened to her could have influenced her violent streak which motivated her to
kill.
But for her crimes, on the 9th October 2002, after being found guilty of murder, despite
claiming that the homicides were all committed in self defence, Aileen Wuornos was taken
to an execution chamber, and inside of Florida State Prison was executed by lethal injection.
Join us today as we look at ‘the troubling execution of Aileen Wuornos,’ remember to
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Aileen Wuornos was born in 1956, and her mother was 16 when she gave birth to her.
She never met her father, and her father was a schizofenic, and she was abandoned by her
mother at the age of 3.
She was adopted by her grandparents however these were both alcoholics, and inside of
her household she was allegedly assaulted by her grandfather and was beaten badly.
At the age of 14 she became pregnant having been assaulted by a friend of her grandfather’s
and then she gave birth to a boy who was placed in adoption, and shortly after she dropped
out of school.
At the age of 15 her grandfather threw her out of the home, and she supported herself
through prostituition and she lived in woods near her old home.
She began to indulge in a life of crime, and was arrested for a DUI at the age of 18, but
then she hitchhiked in 1976 to Florida and met a 69 year old yacht club president Lewis
Fell.
The couple married, and Wuornos was involved in assaults at the local bar and she did go
to jail.
She hit her husband and he issued a restraining order against her, and she was later arrested
again for breach of the peace and assault.
The two would annul their marriage, and further legal issues continued.
She was later arrested in Miami again, and she had stolen a car and also had a revolver
on her person.
In 1986 she met Tyria Moore a Hotel maid, and they moved in together and Aileen would
claim that she loved her.’
However, the pair moved in together and Aileen supported them with prostituion.
But despite being a violent individual, Aileen would take things further and she would murder
7 men inside of a 12 month period.
The first victim was Richard Mallory, who was 51 and Aileen would claim he assaulted
her and drove her to an abandoned area, and that she killed him in self defence.
Mallory had previous as a violent offender, and he was murdered on the 30th November 1989
and his body was found 2 weeks later, and it had been shot a number of times.
The second victim was David Spears who was a 47 year old construction worker, whose naked
body was found along Route 19, and he had been shot six times.
His body was found around 7 months after Mallory’s.
The third victim Charles Carskaddom was a part time rodeo worker, and his body was found
in Pisco County and he had been shot 9 times, and his body was wrapped in an electric blanket
and was in a bad state of decomposition.
Victim number 3 was Peter Simms, a 65 year old retired seaman, whose car was found abandoned.
Aileen and her partner were seen abandoning this, and Aileen’s palm print was found
on a door handle, but his body was never found.
Troy Eugene Burress was a 50 year old salesman, who was reported missing at the end of July
1990, but then a few days later his body was recovered, with two fatal gunshot wounds.
Victim number 6 was Charles Humphreys a retired US Air Force Major, and former Chief of Police.
He was found fully clothed and had been shot 7 times in the head and torso.
But the final victim of Aileen Wuornos was Walter Antonia, a 62 year old security guard,
whose nearly naked body was found on a remote road with four gunshot wounds in it.
Her fingerprints were found on the crime scenes, and she was later arrested on the 9th January
1991 on an outstanding warrant.
However Tyria Moore her companion was found and agreed to get a confession from Aileen
to escape prosecution.
On the 16th January 1991, Aileen confessed to the murders, and claimed the men had tried
to assault her and that she killed them in self-defence.
She was placed on trial, but at trial the defence testified she was mentally unstable
and she suffered with a borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
But she was sentenced to death.
She was then tried for other murders and the murders of the 7 men she killed, and she was
made out by the defence to have been a psychopath, but there were a number of inconsistencies
in her story regarding self defence.
After being sentenced to death, she was held in a Florida prison on death row for women.
She later wrote that she, ‘"robbed them as cold as ice.
And I'd do it again, too.
There's no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I'd kill again.
I have hate crawling through my system...I am so sick of hearing this 'she's crazy' stuff.
I've been evaluated so many times.
I'm competent, sane, and I'm trying to tell the truth.
I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again.’
Her lawyers continued to push that she was not mentally competent, and to execute her
was condemning an ill person.
She claimed that the prison guards urinated in her food and tarnished it with dirt, and
she said that they wanted her to take her own life before she was executed.
She complained of ill-treatment and the pure hatred towards, her and she began to boycott
showers and food.
In the final weeks before her execution, she gave a number of interviews and spoke about
being ‘taken away to meet God and Jesus and the angels,’ and she also claimed her
head was tortured and her head was hurting from the pressure.
She also said that food poisoning had got worse, and she blamed society for executing
a woman who was quite clearly very damaged.
But she was the first woman to ever fit the FBI profile of a serial killer, and for this
she was to executed in 2002 by lethal injection.
Compared to execution methods of the past centuries for example, hanging drawing and
quartering, or execution by axe, this is considered one of the more humane execution methods,
if there is ever one.
There have been examples throughout the decades where this has been performed poorly, but
her execution was scheduled for the 9th October 2002.
She was offered a last meal, and was offered anything under $20, but she declined this
and instead just asked for a cup of coffee.
It was said that her final words were, ‘Yes.
I would like to say that 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.
I’ll be back.’
Her words were eerily spoken, and she was then strapped to the chair inside of the execution
chamber, as a number of witnesses looked through the glass to see her final moments.
At 9:47am, she was declared dead after the combination of drugs were injected into her
system that led to her body to shut down in a matter of minutes.
She was the second woman in Florida to be executed since the restoration of capital
punishment.
Following her death, her remains were cremated and her ashes were scattered beneath a tree
by a childhood friend.
Documentaries and films were made about her and her and one man who made a film on her
would outline her mental state.
He said, ‘I think this anger developed inside her.
And she was working as a prostitute.
I think she had 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 had killed in self-defense.
I think someone who's deeply psychotic can't really tell the difference between something
that is life threatening and something that is a minor disagreement, that you could say
something that she didn't agree with.
She would 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.’
There has been much debate about Aileen Wuronos and her mental state, and whether it was fair
to put the woman who despite killing 7 men, was clearly very damaged.
It led to much speculation about whether she was actually mentally ill, and whether her
past influenced her to the point it made her a serial killer.
She had many behavioural problems, and could not make and maintain strong relationships,
but she also had an explosive temper.
What cannot be disputed is that she had a horrible upbringing and early life, however
her crimes cannot be excused.
Inside of an execution chamber in Florida in 2002, the most infamous serial killer in
American History was executed, and her life was taken away by lethal injection.
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