The Drifter’s Resume
Aileen Wuornos was born in Michigan in 1956 to teenage parents. Her father, a convicted child molester, committed suicide in prison before she ever met him. Abandoned by her mother at a young age, Aileen was raised by her grandparents in an abusive home. By her teens, she was living on the streets, trading sex for food, money, and shelter. She gave birth to a child at 14 and was soon completely on her own. Her life became a blur of hitchhiking, panhandling, and petty crime across several states. Arrests for assault, armed robbery, and theft filled her record well before the murders began.
The Highway Huntress
Wuornos found work as a sex worker along Florida’s highways in the late ’80s. During this time, she met Tyria Moore, a hotel maid who would become her lover and the most important person in her life. As their relationship deepened, so did Wuornos’s desperation for money. In late 1989, she killed her first known victim, Richard Mallory, a convicted rapist who had picked her up for sex. She claimed he tried to assault her, and she shot him in self-defense. Over the next year, six more men were found murdered across Florida—each shot multiple times, their bodies dumped in wooded areas, their cars and belongings stolen.
A Love Fueled by Blood
Wuornos’s victims were all middle-aged or older men, many of whom had no known history of violence. Wuornos maintained that each man had either raped or attempted to rape her, though no forensic evidence supported her claims. She sent letters from jail stating that she did what she had to do to survive, for herself and for Tyria. Some believe she acted out of love, trying to maintain the only real relationship she had ever known. But when the law closed in, Tyria cooperated with police and testified against Wuornos in exchange for immunity.
The Final Ride
Aileen was arrested in January 1991 at a biker bar in Port Orange, Florida. Over the following months, she confessed to the murders in detail, though she later claimed she had been coerced into doing so. In 1992, she was convicted of six counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Her seventh charge was dropped due to lack of evidence. Wuornos spent over a decade on death row, during which time she gave a series of increasingly unhinged interviews where she claimed the government was using sonic pressure to control her mind.
The End of the Road
On October 9, 2002, Aileen Wuornos was executed by lethal injection. Her final 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 mothership and all. I’ll be back.” Her story was immortalized in documentaries, books, and the 2003 film Monster, where she was portrayed by Charlize Theron. To this day, she remains one of the most infamous female serial killers in American history.
Motif
While the motive for Wuornos’s crimes was officially deemed robbery and murder, psychologists have debated the deeper reasons behind her violent behavior. Some view her as a classic example of a serial killer with antisocial personality disorder. Others argue she was a deeply traumatized woman whose rage was the result of years of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Her story is often cited in debates about nature versus nurture, systemic failure, and the limits of justice for women pushed beyond the edge.
Sources: FBI Archives / The New York Times / Biography.com / Court TV / Eileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer