Aileen Wuornos: Serial Murderer

Often considered America’s first female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos was neither first nor the worst.

The most vicious female serial killers are Josephine Szany and Vera Renczi. Josephine Szany was born in Germany and Vera Renczi was born in Romania. Though they are quite different, they are also incredibly similar.

Sharla didn't have a great childhood and her mother abandoned her, forcing Addy to take her in. Sharla was immediately appreciated the caring of Addy as shown in this quote; ``Sharla liked the looks of Addy Shadd and thought how no one ever called her Honey before``(Lansen, pg 18). The biggest conflict in Addy's life was the fact that she was raped. When Sharla told her that her moms boyfriend was touching her inappropriately, Addy provided support, explanation and guidance so that it never happens to Sharla again. With the influence of Addy, Sharla learned manners, how to be caring and how to feel loved. If it wasn't for Addy, Sharla wouldn't have such a great life. Addy uses everything that she learned from her negative experiences and passes them on to

Riding the Pale Horse of Death, Aileen Wuornos murdered seven men over a nineteen-month period from December 1989 until November 1990, along highways in the state of Florida. While working as a prostitute, Aileen would solicit her victims then murder them. Wuornos confessed to committing seven murders. Aileen Wuornos was found guilty and convicted of six murders. Aileen received the dubious honor of being named officially the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s first female serial killer. Aileen was given six death sentences, more than anyone else on Death Row at that time and maybe even to this day. Ms. Wuornos was

From the time of her birth, Aileen Wuornos experienced abandonment and neglect. As an infant, Aileen’s 15-year-old mother, Diane, would leave her daughter to cry for

Aileen Wuornos was a mentally troubled woman that had a troubled life as a young child. Aileen Wuornos, also identified as Lee Wuornos, was born February 29th of 1956 in Rochester, Michigan. Aileen’s parents were not great role models. Her father was a psychopath who was under arrest for child molestation; he took his life in prison. Their mother abandoned Aileen and her brother. Their grandparents adopted them, which they thought were their parents for years. Their family life began to get worse as the years pass on by with a drunken grandmother /mother and a stern grandfather/father. When she was about 13 she got pregnant by an unidentified man; Aileen also said she was raped. No one believed that she was raped, and she was sent to a home for unwed mother. Once she gave birth the child was placed for adoption; her grandfather threw Aileen out of the house a short time later. At age 15 Aileen

Wuornos was unlike most female serial killers because her weapon of choice was a .22 pistol. Most female serial killers often kill by strangling, poisoning, or less automatic methods. Wuornos likely did kill her first victim in self-defense. Even though she became convicted of murdering her first victim, Richard Mallory Wuornos and maintained the story that he had tried to rape her and that it had become a self-defense matter. Richard Mallory served a 10-year sentence in prison for sexual assault, and the information became unseen by the court for some odd reason. In the year of 2002, after three different psychiatrists found Aileen Wuornos mentally competent to understand the death penalty given to her, then Jeb Bush the Florida Governor lifted a temporary stay of execution and signed Aileen death warrant. In the documentary of Aileen: Life and Death of a serial killer at the closing credits features the song Carnival by Natalie Merchants. According to Natalie Merchant, she gave permission for her song to become used after hearing that Aileen Wuornos frequently listened to her album Tigerlily while Wuornos was on death role, and she had requested that Carnival is the song played at her

To say that Aileen’s start in life was a poor one, is a great understatement. It was a horrible life right from the start. One of the only good things about her life was that she never got to know her father, a psychopathic child molester, serving a life sentence in a Kansas prison for raping a 7 year old girl, who hanged himself in prison in 1969. (Arrigo & Griffin (2004).

The objective of this case study is to examine the personality of one of the most notorious serial killers in modern history, Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy was alleged to have humiliated, tortured and murdered at least 50 women. Possibility more, but the true number will never be known. Because Ted Bundy kept the true number of his victims to himself and refused to inform authorities of the exact number of his horrific deeds, before he was executed on January 24, 1989 (Wikipedia, n.d.).

Aileen Wuornos is believed to be Americas first female serial killer. She was sentenced to death for killing seven men (Thefamouspeople). Wuornos was born on February 9th, 1956 and was executed on October 9th 2002 (Thefamouspeople). Although Wuornos was her real name, she was also known as “Sandra Ketsch, Susan Lynn Blahovec, Lee Blahovec, Cammie Marsh Greene, and Lori Kristine Grody” (Thefamouspeople, p. 1). Wuornos life had been affected by criminal behavior from birth. Her father, Leo Dale, was a psychopath and a child molester who was incarcerated at her birth (Thefamouspeople). In addition to her father's lifestyle, Wuornos had been molested by her father, grandfather, and had sexual relations with her brother (Thefamouspeople). Wuornos was not able to rely on the females in her life either. After her father died, her mother, Diana Wuornos, abandoned

There is evidence of physical, mental, psychological abuse described from an early age. An alcoholic Father, controlling Mother responsible for a series of abortions made against the will of Malaika. A husband who after physically abusing her, once separated becomes a vicuous stalker inducing a consistent fear. At the central part of the book, a man walks into Malaika's life, a charming man with an accent, a man who seemed foreign to her in many ways, he was kind to her, offered a sanctuary away from her tyrannical husband and family, a role model for her two daughters in the true meaning of a “Father”. It is no surprise to the reader when this knight in shining armour turns out to be too good to be true.

The money was not rolling in as much as it was before when she was younger. The frustration for making ends meet to pay the bills and the fear of Tyra leaving had started to have an impact on Aileen’s peace of mind. On December 1, 1989, Aileen came home and told Tyra she had shot and killed a man that same day. Tyra really did not believe Aileen killed someone. She really did not think Aileen was capable of committing murder and Tyra discouraged Aileen from discussing the matter (Brazil, 1992). This first incident labeled Aileen as a “murderess” (a woman killer). Aileen no longer wanted to prostitute her body so she started murdering for money, valuables, and their vehicles. Her first victim was 51-year-old Richard Mallory, an electronics storeowner. The police located his car on December 1, 1989, but his body was not found until 12 days later miles away in

The movie “Monster” is based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a woman who was popularly known as “America’s first female serial killer” (Pearson, 2007, p.256). She was executed for killing six men on October. 9th, 2002, after 12 years on Florida’s Death Row (Jenkins, 2003). Aileen Wuornos was a 37-year-old white woman, born in Rochester, Michigan, and growing up in the nearby Troy area. When Aileen was young, a friend of her father sexually assaulted her for years. She complained to her farther, while her farther did not believe her and physically abused her instead (Jenkins, 2003). After her farther killed himself, she was abandoned by her family because she engaged in prostitution. Due to the

His dead body was found in the woods near Daytona Beach, Florida, shot with a twenty two caliber rifle. “She ended up shooting six .22 caliber bullets into him” (McDuff 202). This is just one of the many catastrophes performed by a woman serial killer. Serial killers are a problem in the United States, murdering on average 2000 people each year (Indiana University np). “In fact, serial murder in the United States alone makes up more than three-quarters of the estimated world total” (Innes 5). Although women serial killers are not very common, they still have a huge impact on the death toll of innocent victims. In order to understand how woman serial killers operate, it is important to understand their motives, the different classifications

The media today, is highly selective in their constructions of offences, offenders and victims. Media representations of crime are moulded and women are portrayed in a way that is entertainment driven and is appealing to the audience. Despite the fact that women seldom stalk, murder outsiders or commit sequential murders- in fact they are rarely vehement, “accounting for only ten percent of convicted violent offenders- those who do so are highly newsworthy because of their novelty” (Jewkes 2011, p. 123) Present day media admits that because fierce women are comparatively uncommon, they are all the more appealing and diabolical to the audience as a result. The essay shall discuss the reason and presentation in the media of female offenders, female victims and women specific crimes.