Aileen Wuornos

Aileen Wuornos (born Aileen Carol Pittman) was an American serial killer and prostitute who murdered seven men in Florida in 1989-1990 by shooting them. She claimed that the victims that she killed attempted to rape her or raped her while soliciting sex from her. She claimed all homicides were an act of self-defense. She was executed by lethal injection for six of the murders in 2002.

Early Years
Wuornos never met her father, as he was incarcerated at the time of her birth. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and later convicted of numerous sex crimes against children/minors. He eventually committed suicide in prison. When Wuornos was almost four, her mother abandoned her children, leaving them with their maternal grandparents who were both alcoholics. When Aileen was 11, she began engaging in sexual activities in school in exchange for cigarettes, drugs and food. She also engaged in sexual activities with her brother. Wuornos claimed that her grandfather had sexually assaulted her and beat her constantly when she was a child. Before he beat her, he made her strip. When she was 14, she became pregnant, having been raped by an accomplice of her grandfather.

Murders

 * Richard Charles Mallory (Age 51), November 30 1989 - Shot several times
 * David Andrew Spears (Age 47) - Shot six times
 * Charles Edmund Carskaddon (Age 40), May 31 1990 - Shot nine times
 * Peter Abraham Siems (Age 65) - Body was never found but Wuornos' palm print was seen on the handle of the abandoned car.
 * Troy Eugene Burress (Age 50) - Shot twice
 * Charles Richard "Dick" Humphreys (Age 56), September 11 1990 - Shot six times in the head and torso
 * Walter Jeno Antonio (Age 62) - Shot four times

Sentencing
On July 4, 1990 - Wuornos and Moore abandoned Siems car' after they were involved in a tragic car accident. Witnesses who saw them driving the victims car provided police with names and descriptions. Wuornos had a criminal record in Florida and her fingerprints were on the file. In January 1991, Wuornos was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Police located Moore the next day in Pennsylvania. She agreed to elicit a confession from Aileen in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Moore returned with the police in Florida. Under the guidance of the police, numerous calls were made to Wuornos from Moore. She pleaded to Wuornos for help in clearing her name. Three days later, Aileen confessed to the murders and claimed that men had attempted to rape her and all homicides were an act of self-defense and she was only trying to protect herself.

A year later, Wuornos went to trial for the murder of her first victim. Wuornos was convicted of Mallory's murder with help from Moore's testimony. At Aileen's sentencing, psychiatrists for the defense testified that Aileen was mentally unstable and had been diagnosed with a sickness called Borderline Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder. Four days later, she was sentenced to death.

In March 1992, Wuornos pleaded no contest to the murders of Humphreys, Burress and Spears, saying she wanted to "get right with God". On May 15, 1992, Wuornos was given three more death sentences. In June 1992, Wuornos pleaded guilty to the murder of Carskaddon. In November 1992, she received her 5th death sentence.

Execution
Wuornos was incarcerated at the Florida Department of Corrections Broward Correctional Institution death row for women, then she was transferred to state prison in Florida for her execution. Her appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied in 1996. In a 2001 petition to the Florida Supreme Court, Aileen stated her intention to dismiss her legal counsel and terminate all pending appeals. "I killed those men," she wrote, "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." She believes that she is so crazy, that she will kill someone again if she has to. Wuornos insisted she knew what she was doing and believes that she shouldn't be kept alive. Wuornos' execution took place on October 9, 2002. She was pronounced dead at 9:47am.