America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (2024)

Support truly
independent journalism

Support Now

Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.

Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.

Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (1)

Louise Thomas

Editor

Known as America’s first female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos carried out a string of notorious and brutal murders along the dark highways of Florida in late 1989 and 1990.

A victim of child abuse herself, in adult life Wuornos was a petty criminal who worked as a sex worker.

It was during this work that she shot and killed six – possibly seven – men, typically dumping their bodies in remote wooded areas and stealing their possessions.

Wuornos claimed she killed her victims in self-defence when the men became violent towards her.

She was arrested in 1991 and convicted of murder the following year, being handed six death sentences.

Wuorno was executed by lethal injection on 9 October 2002 after spending a decade on death row.

Who was Aileen Wuornos?

Wuornos, then known as Aileen Carol Pittman, was born on 29 February 1956 to teenage parents in Rochester, Michigan. Her mother Diane was just 16 when she gave birth to Wuornos – her second child.

After Wuornos’ father Leo was jailed for raping a minor (later taking his own life in his prison cell), her mother abandoned the children, leaving them in the care of her own alcoholic parents.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (2)

Growing up, Wuornos was sexually abused by her grandfather, committed incest with her brother Keith and was raped and impregnated by a family friend.

After being forced to give up the child for adoption aged just 15, she was driven out of her grandparents’ home and forced to live in the woods, where she turned to sex work to earn money for food.

She then hitchhiked her way to the south, where she met and married Florida yacht club president Lewis Gratz Fell, 69, in 1976. The union appeared to be a search for security after a troubled upbringing but it didn’t last.

Just nine weeks after the wedding, it was annulled and Wuornos returned to an itinerant life of barroom brawls, petty crime and periodic suicide attempts, living for a time off the $10,000 she had received from Keith’s life insurance policy after he died of esophageal cancer.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (3)

Throughout the 1980s, she was regularly in trouble with the law, engaging in armed robbery, car theft and disorderly conduct, leaving a trail of chaos in her wake. In 1986, she met Tyria Moore, a 24-year-old Daytona Beach motel maid, at a gay bar.

They fell in love and Wuornos tried to support Ms Moore with her earnings from sex work.

What did Aileen Wuornos do?

Operating along Florida’s highways in the late 1980s, Wuornos is believed to have murdered up to seven men between 1989 and 1990. All of the victims were motorists who had approached her as sex work clients.

The first victim was Richard Mallory, a 51-year-old electronics store owner, who was shot dead on 30 November 1989. His body was found in a wooded area two weeks later, riddled with bullets.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (4)

Wuornos claimed that Mallory had beaten and raped her after he picked her up.

It later emerged that Mallory had a prior conviction for attempted rape in Maryland, adding credibility to Wuornos’ account.

The bodies of five other missing men were discovered between 1 June and 19 November 1990, all traced back to Wuornos.

The victims were:construction worker David Andrew Spears, 47; rodeo rider Charles Edmund Carskaddon, 40; salesman Troy Eugene Burress, 50; retired US Air Force major and police chief Charles Richard Humphreys, 56; and trucker and security guard Walter Jeno Antonio, 62.

Wuornos is also believed to have killed and robbed a seventh man – retired merchant seaman Peter Abraham Siems, 67 – during the same period. He was reported missing but his body has never been found.

How did she get caught?

The law finally caught up with Wuornos when Siems’ car was found crashed along a roadside and her palm print was discovered on an interior door handle.

Wournos was arrested at The Last Resort biker bar in Port Orange, Volusia County, on 9 January 1991 and Ms Moore in Pittston, Pennsylvania, the following day.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (5)

Ms Moore was persuaded to turn on her lover and elicit a confession from her.

During a taped phone call on 16 January, Wuornos duly admitted to Ms Moore that she had carried out the murders.

On 27 January 1992, Wuornos was convicted of Mallory’s murder.

During her trial, psychiatrists for the defence argued that she was mentally unstable and suggested that she may be suffering from borderline personality disorder.

Despite this, Wuornos was sentenced to death for the murder.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (6)

On 31 March 1992, she then pleaded no contest to the killings of Spears, Burress and Humphreys, receiving three more death sentences. She later pleaded guilty to the murders of Carskaddon and Antonio and was again sentenced to death.

Siems’ murder is the only one she was not compelled to answer to, due to the fact that there was no body.

How did Aileen Wuornos die?

Wuornos spent the next decade on death row at the Florida Department of Corrections’ Broward Correctional Institution.

In 2001, Wuornos wrote to the state Supreme Court renouncing all remaining appeals on her behalf and declaring: “I killed those men, robbed them as cold as ice. And I’d do it again, too.”

She was transferred to the Florida State Prison ahead of her execution in October 2002.

For her final meal, Wuornos chose to have only a cup of coffee.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (7)

Her final words are recorded as: “Yes, I would 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, I’ll be back.”

Wuornos’ story has been told several times on the big screen.

British filmmaker Nick Broomfield interviewed her during her time on death row, for his film Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1993). He later made a second documentary, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2003) – which reflected on her hard life.

Wuornos’ story was also told in Patty Jenkins’ Oscar-winning movie Monster (2003) starring Charlize Theron.

America’s ‘first female serial killer’ (2024)

FAQs

Who was the first woman serial killer in America? ›

Legend has held that the first widely recognized female serial killer in the United States was Lavinia Fisher. She was born in 1793, but her birth location, maiden name, or any information about her childhood is unknown. Historical records do not agree with all of the legends, but Fisher was hanged for her crimes.

Who is America's first female serial killer Netflix? ›

Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman.

Who is the most famous female serial killer in America? ›

Known as America's first female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos carried out a string of notorious and brutal murders along the dark highways of Florida in late 1989 and 1990.

Who was the American Girl serial killer? ›

Aileen Wuornos
Conviction(s)6 counts of first-degree murder
Criminal penalty6 death sentences
Details
Victims7
16 more rows

Who was the 12 year old female serial killer? ›

The conviction meant that Carr was officially Britain's youngest ever female murderer, having been only 12 at the time of the killing (Mary Bell was infamously convicted at age 11 of killing two boys in 1968, but she was convicted of manslaughter, not murder).

Who was the first serial killer in the United States? ›

America's first prolific serial killer designed a castle of crime with only murder and malice in mind. A man of many alias and few scruples, H.H. Holmes horrified the nation. Inspired by the riches of insurance fraud, Holmes murdered men, women, and children across the country. Read more about it!

Who is the most evil female serial killer in history? ›

  • Here are the most horrifying and ruthless female serial killers in history.As per the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, men make up 90% of homicide perpetrators globally. ...
  • Belle Gunness. ...
  • Amelia Dyer. ...
  • Joanna Dennehy. ...
  • Elizabeth Bathory. ...
  • Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova. ...
  • Juana Barraza. ...
  • Gesche Gottfried.
Dec 7, 2023

Who is the most famous serial killer in America? ›

Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy loved the attention his murders garnered him, and many in the United States were more than happy to give him that attention. The western U.S. was his hunting ground, with an unknown number of murders piling up—mostly college-age women—from Washington and Oregon all the way to Utah and Colorado.

Who was the South American female serial killer? ›

Juana Barraza
Juana Barraza Samperio
Juana Barraza as a wrestler (left) and after her arrest (right)
Born27 December 1957 Epazoyucan, Hidalgo, Mexico
Other namesMataviejitas (Sp. Little Old Lady Killer") La Dama del Silencio (Sp. The Lady of Silence)
SpouseMiguel Ángel Quiróz ​ ​ ( m. 2015; div. 2017)​
11 more rows

Who is the number one female killer? ›

The most prolific female murderer and the most prolific murderer of the western world, was Elizabeth Báthory, who practised vampirism on girls and young women.

Who is the youngest serial killer? ›

According to ABP News, Amarjeet Sada was responsible for the murders of three, out of which two went unreported. His horrific actions made him known as the world's youngest serial killer.

Who is the most ruthless woman in history? ›

  • 1- Miyuki Ishikawa. Miyuki Ishikawa, a midwife from Japan, became known as possibly the most prolific serial killer in Japanese history during the 1940s. ...
  • 3- Juana Barraza. ...
  • 5- Darya Saltykova. ...
  • 7- Catherine de Medici. ...
  • 9- Tillie Klimek.
Feb 12, 2024

Who was the first woman serial killer? ›

The legend of Lavinia Fisher, the first known female serial killer in the U.S., is over a century old, dating back to the early 1800s. She is said to have rolled with a group of highway robbers and outlaws, including her husband John Fisher.

Who is America's worst serial killer? ›

Samuel Little
Known forBeing the most prolific serial killer in United States history by number of confirmed victims
Conviction(s)Murder (x8)
Criminal penaltyFour life sentences without the possibility of parole
Details
11 more rows

Who was the girl who survived a serial killer? ›

The final product, Escaping Captivity: The Kara Robinson Story, premiered on Oxygen in 2021, detailing how Chamberlain not only outsmarted her captor — serial killer Evonitz — but used her remarkable memory to help police track him down and stop his reign of terror.

Who was the ancient female serial killer? ›

Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (Hungarian: Báthori Erzsébet, pronounced [ˈbaːtori ˈɛrʒeːbɛt]; Slovak: Alžbeta Bátoriová; 7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the Báthory family, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia).

Who was the female serial killer in the 1920s? ›

Dubbed the "Giggling Granny," Nannie Doss killed four out of her five husbands between the 1920s and 1950s. She also murdered two children, two sisters, her mother, two grandsons, and a mother-in-law.

Who were America's first serial killer victims? ›

He was the only man in the United States that could do what he did.” Holmes' probable first victims were Julia Conner, the wife of a man who worked in his drugstore, and her daughter, Pearl, who were last seen alive just before Christmas 1891.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Prof. An Powlowski

Last Updated:

Views: 5753

Rating: 4.3 / 5 (64 voted)

Reviews: 87% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Prof. An Powlowski

Birthday: 1992-09-29

Address: Apt. 994 8891 Orval Hill, Brittnyburgh, AZ 41023-0398

Phone: +26417467956738

Job: District Marketing Strategist

Hobby: Embroidery, Bodybuilding, Motor sports, Amateur radio, Wood carving, Whittling, Air sports

Introduction: My name is Prof. An Powlowski, I am a charming, helpful, attractive, good, graceful, thoughtful, vast person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.