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Quick Facts
- NAME: Aileen Wuornos
- OCCUPATION: Serial Killer
- BIRTH DATE: February 29, 1956
- DEATH DATE: October 09, 2002
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Rochester, Michigan
- PLACE OF DEATH: Florida State Prison, Florida
Best Known For
Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer who killed seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. She was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.
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Aileen Wuornos. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 05:03, May 16, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792
Aileen Wuornos [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792, May 16
" Aileen Wuornos." 2012. Biography.com 16 May 2012, 05:03 http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792
' Aileen Wuornos', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792 [accessed May 16, 2012]
" Aileen Wuornos," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792 (accessed May 16, 2012).
Aileen Wuornos [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 16]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792.
Aileen Wuornos, http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792 (last visited May 16, 2012).
Aileen Wuornos, http://www.biography.com/people/aileen-wuornos-11735792 (last visited May 16, 2012).
Synopsis
Aileen Wuornos (b. (February 29, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan) was an American serial killer who killed seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990, claiming they raped or attempted to rape her while she was working as a prostitute. She was convicted and sentenced to death for six of the murders and executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.
Profile
Serial killer. Born Aileen Carol Wuornos on February 29, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan. Wuornos' childhood was a troubled one. She and her brother were raised by their grandmother after her father, a child molester and a psychopath, hanged himself in prison and her mother abandoned them in 1960.
After Wuornos got pregnant at 14 (claiming her brother as the father), she gave the baby up for adoption and left home to hitchhike across America working as a prostitute. She soon fell in love with a young waitress, Tyria Moore, and the couple stayed together for four years. Wuornos and Moore barely survived on Aileen's meager income from prostitution, a vocation that was all too frequently coupled with violence. She and Moore decided that she would have to rob her johns -- and then shoot them -- to make ends meet.
The corpse of Richard Mallory was found on December 13, 1989 in a wood near Daytona Beach; he had been shot three times. Six months later, another man was found shot six times with the same gun. Before the body could be identified, the third victim was found. Four other men were also found shot by November.
Police received four calls identifying the killers as Wuornos and Moore, and detectives arrested both women in January 1991. At Moore's request, Wuornos confessed to six of the killings, all allegedly performed in self-defense. After a lengthy trial, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. While on death row, Wuornos feverishly read the bible, created drawings, helped others with their appeals, and began writing about her life. But on October 9, 2002, her life was ended by lethal injection. She is considered America's first female serial killer.
Aileen Wuornos' story was turned into a Hollywood film titled Monster in 2004. Wuornos was played by Charlize Theron, who earned a Best Actress Oscar for the role.
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