Netflix’s ‘Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers‘ dives into one of the most chilling true stories in America’s crime history. It follows Aileen Wuornos, who wasn’t born a monster and was shaped by years of neglect, abuse, and betrayal.
But somewhere along that road, something inside her snapped, and the result was a string of murders that shocked the entire country. How did a girl who just wanted to be loved turn into the face of fear? That’s where her story takes a dark turn you won’t see coming.
Hard Childhood Never Gave Aileen Wuornos A Chance
Trouble followed Aileen Carol Pittman from the start. Her father, Leo Dale Pittman, was a convicted child abuser who died by suicide when Aileen was thirteen. Her mother, Diane Wuornos, abandoned her and her brother, Keith, when Aileen was just six months old, leaving them with their grandparents. But the grandparents weren’t saviors.
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Lauri was an alcoholic who regularly beat the children, and Britta mostly stayed silent. By eleven, Aileen was already getting into fights and running away from home. She was also being taken advantage of by older men who offered her food or cigarettes.
When she was fourteen, she became pregnant after a family acquaintance assaulted her. The baby was put up for adoption, and her grandparents kicked her out soon after. Ultimately, Aileen ended up living in the woods near her hometown. Eventually, her teenage years blurred into a cycle of arrests and bad choices; theft, forgery, robbery. She had to hitchhike across states, doing sex work along highways to make ends meet.
The Love Story That Led To Murder
Later, in 1986, Aileen met a woman named Tyria Moore at a gay bar in Daytona Beach. They quickly became inseparable and moved in together. Even though love was adequate, desperation overtook. They barely had money, and Aileen supported them through sex work. By 1989, Aileen started carrying a gun, saying it was for protection after violent encounters with clients. Then the killings began.
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Between late 1989 and 1990, seven men were found shot to death along Florida highways; all killed with the same type of gun. The first was Richard Mallory, an electronics store owner, killed in November 1989. Aileen later said he attacked her and she shot him in self-defence. But as more bodies were found, her claim started to fall apart.
Eventually, Aileen was caught pawning their belongings, and her palm print was found in one of the victims’ cars. When the police arrested her, the media went wild. A woman serial killer, and one in a same-sex relationship, was something America had never seen before.
Aileen’s Guilt And Execution
In 1992, she was convicted of Mallory’s murder and sentenced to death. More death sentences followed for the other killings. Ultimately, she admitted to all seven murders but insisted they were all acts of self-defence. Even though her lawyers said that she had PTSD and suffered from years of trauma, the jury didn’t believe her.
Aileen spent over a decade on death row. During those years, her mental health crumbled. She accused guards of poisoning her food and believed the media was trying to kill her faster. Eventually, she was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison.
Thanks to filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who documented her life in two powerful films and captured her final interviews and her slow breakdown. So, what do you think? Was Aileen Wuornos born evil? Or was she made that way by the world around her?
