Serial Killer of the Month: Aileen Wuornos

All good prostitutes are good in about the same way; all bad ones are bad in their own special areas. Aileen Wuornos is no exception. Aileen Woumos, originally Aileen Pittman, was born in Rochester, Michigan. Her teen parents separated months before she was born. Her father, Leo Pittman served time as a deranged child molester, and her mother abandoned Aileen and her brother Keith when she decided they made too much infantile noise. The children were adopted by their maternal grandparents. As may be expected, she was a troubled child. Aileen got pregnant at 14, possibly by her brother (she claimed she was having sex with Keith, but he died of throat cancer in 1976 and wasn’t able to verify), and soon dropped out of school to work the streets full time. It was all downhill  from there. 

Beginning in 1974, and up until she was arrested for murder in 1991, she was cited or booked for disorderly conduct, drunk driving, firing a .22 caliber pistol from moving vehicles, assault, disturbing the peace, lobbing a cue ball at a bartender’s head, outstanding warrants, driving without a license, consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle, armed robbery, trying to pass forged checks, speeding, obstruction by false information, pulling a gun on a person, lugging a man with a beer bottle, possessing a suspended driver’s license, vandalizing, altercation of lottery tickets, at a bank, theft of a pistol and ammo, auto theft and resisting arrest and the murder of 7 men. 

While most serial killers like to salivate over their prey and let some time pass before each murder, Aileen’s aliases — Sandra Kretsch, Lori Grody, Susan Blahovec, or Cammie Marsh Green — depend­ing on the year and circumstances committed the murders rela­tively close together, in some cases, within days. Her first victim Richard Mallory, a 51 year old electrician was last seen on November 30, 1989. He was shot three times in the chest with a .22 pistol (it seems as if she felt comfortable handling a .22). 43-year-old David Spears, last seen on May 19, 1990, was found on May 25. By the time they found Spears, another victim, Charles Carskaddon, age 40, was found dead and naked with nine holes in his body from that good ol .22. Peter Siems, a 65-year old, was last seen June 7 of the same year and later found dead, shot with — guess what? Eugene Burress, age 50, was found on August 4 shot twice, 56-year-old Dick Humphrys was killed September 11, shot a lucky seven times with the .22 and victim number seven was 60-year-old Walter Antoni, shot three times in the back and once in the head, found on November 24. 

Within two weeks of her capture, Aileen and her attorney had sold movie rights to her story (I’m sure the victims’ families were pleased). At the same time three top investigators on her case retained their own lawyer to negotiate offers from Hollywood. After her capture, Aileen was also befriended by Arlene Pralle, a bored rancher’s wife and  born-again  Christian.  (Jesus  told  Arlene to·write.) She then arranged to be a guest on tabloid talk shows. Aileen was then called, “America’s first serial killer” which isn’t the case but apparently was bought by most of media-influenced America.

Interestingly enough, given a rundown of Aileen’s history, she claimed all of the murders happened in self-defense. Which may or may not be the case. All of the above mentioned dead were interested in her services. Some other things to consider may be that other men picked her up and she did not harm them. It is also noted that one study of a group of prostitutes said that they had been raped an average of 33 times a year. So in fact it is possible these men were belligerent and aggressive. It is also possible… very possible, that Aileen was out of her mind and had an itchy trigger finger. Still, a controversy is going on about whether or not Aileen Woumos had a fair trial and she still sits on death row for two death sentences.

Here’s a small quote from Aileen that might help you make up your mind on the verdict:

“I felt if I didn’t shoot ‘em and didn’t kill ‘em, first of all … if they had survived, my ass would be gettin’ in trouble for attempted murder and so I’m up shits’ creek on that one anyway, and if I didn’t kill ‘em, you know, of course, I mean I had to kill ‘em … or it’s like, retaliation.”

Read more Serial Killer of the Month:
Serial Killer of the Month: Gertrude Baniszewski
Serial Killer of the Month: Judy Buenoano

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