The Damsel of Death aka Aileen Wuornos

How better start our notorious killers series than with the most widely known female serial killer - Aileen Wuornos. 

© All That's Interesting

© IMDB 

Name	Aileen Carol Wuornos
Date of birth	29th February, 1956
Number of victims	7
Modus Operandi	Shooting the victim with .22 calibre
Date apprehended	9th January, 1991
Convictions	6 counts of 1st degree murder
Sentence	Sentenced to death
Died	9th October, 2002

Aileen Carol Wuornos was born on 29th February 1956 to a single seventeen years old mother Diane Pitman. Her father Leo Pitman left Diane while pregnant, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and later got convicted of paedophilia. He was found hanged in his prison cell. Diane was not ready to become a mother and left Aileen and her brother Keith to live with their grandparents - Lauri and Britta.

Lauri was an aggressive man, heavy drinker and obsessed with discipline. He used to beat both Aileen and Keith, telling them they are evil. Britta failed to protect the children from the abuse. Most probably since she was a victim of her husband's abuse as well. The family was rather poor, therefore it was not unusual for Aileen to go to school hungry, and in old and dirty clothes. Around the age of 12, Aileen started offering sexual favours to older students for their lunch. Later, she would be offering herself for beer, cigarettes, and mood-altering pills. Aileen became pregnant at the age of 14. It is still not clear who was the father. Aileen claimed that a family friend raped her when she was between 13 and 14. There is also a possibility that Lauri or Keith was the father. On 23rd March 1971, she gave birth to a boy, who was immediately put up for adoption. A few months later, Britta died. Aileen and Keith got in contact with their mother Diane and were offered to go live with her in Texas, but they refused. In 1976 Lauri committed suicide by locking himself up in his garage with a car's motor running. Four months later Keith died due to throat cancer, leaving Aileen all by herself. 

When Aileen was 20 years old, she met Lewis Fell. Lewis Fell was 69 years old when he met Aileen hitchhiking. Soon they got married. Lewis bought a new car for Aileen and was buying her jewellery.  Shortly, Aileen started asking Lewis for more and more money, to spend on alcohol. One of their arguments turned into a fight and Lewis issued a restraining order against her. 

After divorce with Lewis, Aileen claimed Keith's life insurance. She bought herself a car and she spent the rest of the money on alcohol and drugs. She slept either in her car or in motels, sometimes getting a job there or working as a waitress. The money from occasional jobs and prostitution were not enough and so Aileen started committing petty crimes, such as stealing and forging cheques. She was numerously arrested for her crimes and got sent to prison a few times. 

Summer of 1986, Aileen (27 years old at that time) met Tyria Moore, 22 years old motel maid. Tyria came from a religious family, causing her insecurity about her own sexuality. Her mother died when she was a little girl, which created a strong bond with Aileen since both of them lacked maternal love. Shortly they fell in love, rented an apartment together and spent most of their time together. Tyria stopped working and Aileen tried to provide for them both. Since drugs and alcohol have taken its toll, Aileen could not make much money by prostitution anymore. That is most likely the reason Aileen killed for the first time...

First victim: Richard Mallory

© Aileen's victim n.1

November 30, 1989, Aileen killed her first victim. Richard Mallory was 51 years old owner of an electronic repair shop. Richard picked up Aileen and they drove and talked and drank. They stopped in woods in Daytona Beach to have sex, but Aileen had a different plan. She took out her pistol and shot Richard three times in his chest and once in his side. She dragged him out, emptied his pockets and covered him in a piece of carpet she found in the car. 

Second victim: David Spears

© Aileen's victim n.2

The body of David Spears was found on 1^st June 1990 in Citrus County. He was a 43-year old construction worker. On May 19^th he was on his way to visit his family for the weekend, as always. No one ever heard from him again. His body was found naked with at least nine bullet wounds and his car emptied and abandoned. Aileen waited about six months between first and second murder however, following these killings she became a killing machine. After the murder of David Spears she waited only two weeks until she struck again...

Third victim: Charles Caskaddon 

© Aileen's victim n.3

Charles Caskaddon was a 40-year-old laborer, who on 31st May 1990 traveled to Florida to pick up his fiancée. Caskaddon picked up hitch-hiking Aileen and ended up shot in the head. Later in her testimony, Aileen stated, that after she shot Caskaddon, she found a handgun in his car. She believed he would have killed her and therefore, filled with rage, she reloaded her gun and shot dead Caskaddon several more times. As previously, she drove away from the murder scene in the victim's car. Seven days later, she met Peter Siems. 

Fourth victim: Peter Siems

© Aileen's victim n.4

Peter Siems was a 67-year-old preacher traveling to join a 'Christ Is the Answer Crusade'. Aileen ended up in a car with him. She testified they got naked and were about to have sex when she realized he wanted to rape her. She reached for her gun and shot him dead. She drove away in his car and stole everything valuable. Peter Siems' body was never found. This time Aileen decided to keep the victim's car. On July the 4th, Ty and Aileen went for a road trip in Siems' car. They were both drinking and ended up crashing the car and running away. Police were able to recover Aileen's fingerprint from Siems' car, however, murders were not yet connected together because of different jurisdictions. 

Fifth victim: Eugene 'Troy' Burress

© Aileen's victim n.5

On July the 30th 1990 Eugene 'Troy' Burress, a route driver for sausage company, never got home. His truck has been found the next day, abandoned. Troy's body was found on August 4 with two shot wounds. Aileen in her testimony again claimed that she acted in self-defense, because Troy would have raped her. 

Sixth victim: Charles 'Dick' Humphreys 

© Aileen's victim n.6

On September 11, 1990, Aileen struck again. This time her victim was a 56-years-old Charles 'Dick' Humphreys, former police officer now employed as child abuse investigator. His body was found on September 12 fully dressed with his pockets turned inside out. Aileen didn't steal his watch and wedding ring. He had been shot seven times. 

Seventh victim: Walter Jeno Antonio

© Aileen's victim n.7

60-years-old Walter Jeno Antonio was murdered on November 17, 1990. He was a trucker, security guard and member of the reserve police. Aileen claimed, that they have agreed upon paid sex. After she undressed, he revealed his police ID and threatened to arrest Aileen unless she would sleep with him for free. They started arguing, Aileen drew her gun and shot Antonio in his back as he was running for his life. 


Aileen committed four murders in one county, which helped the police connect the murders thanks to Aileen's modus operandi. It didn't take long for officers to also connect the three remaining murders from other counties together. Police had Ty's and Aileen's description from car crash witnesses. They also had fingerprints from Peter Siems' car. It didn't take long and police traced Aileen to the alias she was using. For a very long time, police considered Ty an accomplice. In the autumn of 1990, the police issued a public announcement with the description of Ty and Aileen. That led Ty to break up with Aileen and move back to her family home in Ohio.

On January 8, 1991, Aileen was spotted and put under surveillance. That night she went to a party at The Last Resort bar in Daytona. Aileen was so drunk she fell asleep in the corner of the bar, where the police arrested her in early morning hours.