# Aileen Wuornos

> Convicted in 1992 of the 1989 murder of Richard Mallory, Wuornos then pleaded no contest or guilty to the murders of other men she met along Central Florida highways. She gave up her appeals and was executed in 2002.

- Case: State of Florida v. Wuornos · Volusia County, Florida · 1992
- Section: historical case (closed; the defendant has died)
- Outcome: Executed. Executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Oct. 9, 2002, after the Florida Supreme Court found her competent to discharge her lawyers and end her appeals. None of her convictions was overturned.
- Died: Oct. 9, 2002
- Topics: Serial killings
- Last updated: 2026-10-17
- Editorial review: approved 2026-10-17
- Web page: https://criminalbackstories.com/history/aileen-wuornos/
- All defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law. Charges and allegations described on this site are not proof of guilt.

## Why this case is remembered

The case reached a wide audience through the 2003 film *Monster*, with Charlize Theron as Wuornos.[16] In 2025 Netflix released a documentary, *Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers*, which, according to one review, shows her learning from an interviewer that Mallory "was, in fact, a convicted sex offender," a point the film left out.[16] She is still widely described as "America's first female serial killer," a label Biography.com called false in October 2025.[14][15]

## Case at a glance

- Murder record: Convicted of or pleaded guilty to 6 murders, each committed on a separate occasion. A Volusia County jury convicted Wuornos of the first-degree murder of Richard Mallory in January 1992.[1][5] She pleaded no contest on March 31, 1992, to the murders of Charles Humphreys and Troy Burress in Marion County and David Spears in Citrus County, and later pleaded guilty to the murders of Walter Antonio in Dixie County and Charles Carskaddon in Pasco County; the Florida Supreme Court affirmed each conviction and death sentence.[2][3][4][5]
- Convictions: First-degree murder of Richard Mallory (jury verdict, Volusia County, January 1992); murders of Charles Humphreys, Troy Burress and David Spears (no-contest pleas, Marion and Citrus counties, 1992); murders of Walter Antonio and Charles Carskaddon (guilty pleas, Dixie and Pasco counties, sentenced 1993)[5][2][3][4]
- Other charges: Armed robbery with a firearm in the Mallory case; robbery counts in the Burress, Spears and Antonio cases[1][5]
- Born: Feb. 29, 1956[5]
- Sentences: Six death sentences, imposed from January 1992 to February 1993[5]
- Jury recommendations: 12–0 for death in the Mallory case; 10–2 in the Marion and Citrus cases; 7–5 in the Antonio case; she waived a penalty-phase jury in the Carskaddon case[1][2][4][3]
- Direct appeals: *Wuornos v. State*, 644 So. 2d 1000 (Fla. 1994); 644 So. 2d 1012 (Fla. 1994); No. 81,466 (Fla. 1995); 676 So. 2d 972 (Fla. 1996). All affirmed.[5][1][2][3][4]
- Appeals ended: April 1, 2002, when the Florida Supreme Court approved a finding that she was competent to waive them[5]
- Died: Executed by lethal injection, Oct. 9, 2002, pronounced dead at 9:47 a.m.[12][11]

## The backstory

### Richard Mallory

On Dec. 1, 1989, a Volusia County deputy found Richard Mallory's abandoned car, and on Dec. 13 his body was found several miles away in a wooded area, according to the Florida Supreme Court's statement of the facts.[1] He had been shot several times; the court wrote that "two bullets to the left lung were found to have caused hemorrhaging and ultimately death."[1] His belongings were later traced to Wuornos, including items in a warehouse unit she rented and items she had pawned or given away.[1]

At the time, the court wrote, Wuornos "worked as a prostitute along Central Florida highways" and had lived for years with Tyria Moore, who worked as a maid.[1] Wuornos told Moore she had shot a man.[1] Moore later left Florida; officers "later contacted her in Pennsylvania," and Moore "agreed to return to Florida in an attempt to clear herself of any wrongdoing," then pressed Wuornos for a confession and "ultimately" got one.[1] Wuornos gave taped confessions after a public defender had advised her not to talk; the court later held the confessions voluntary.[1] She had thrown the gun "into Rose Bay," and Moore showed officers where to find it.[1]

### Her accounts

The court found that "Wuornos' confession changed considerably in later versions."[1] In the earliest, she said Mallory picked her up while she was hitchhiking and that "she grabbed a bag in which she kept a gun, and the two began struggling over possession of the bag."[1] In that confession she also said she killed Mallory to eliminate him as a witness, the court wrote.[1] Later versions added hours of drinking, a violent rape and her hands being tied to the steering wheel before a fight for the gun.[1]

### The Mallory trial

The trial began on Jan. 13, 1992.[17] The state introduced evidence of the deaths of five other men under Florida's *Williams* rule, which allows evidence of other crimes when it is relevant to an issue such as intent; the court noted that "the bullets all bore similar characteristics."[1] The court held that the evidence was properly admitted "to rebut Wuornos' claims regarding her level of intent and whether she had acted in self-defense."[1]

Wuornos testified. The court wrote that "Wuornos' own testimony at trial portrayed her as the actual victim here," and that the "judge and jury were entitled to reject that testimony as self-serving."[1] On Jan. 27, 1992, the jury found her guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery with a firearm.[13][1]

### Why the Mallory jury chose death

The penalty phase began Jan. 28, 1992.[1] Three defense psychologists testified that she had borderline personality disorder and impaired capacity, and raised the possibility of brain damage; one, Dr. Toomer, testified that "Wuornos believed she was in imminent danger at the time of the murder."[1] The state's expert, Dr. Bernard, agreed that she had borderline personality disorder and also found "that she suffered antisocial personality disorder," but he testified that her impairment and disturbance were not substantial or extreme.[1] The defense also presented evidence of her childhood (see *Personal backstory*).[1]

The jury recommended death, 12 to 0.[1] Judge Uriel Blount sentenced her to death on Jan. 31, 1992, and to ten years for the armed robbery.[5] The trial court found five aggravating circumstances: a prior violent felony (a 1982 robbery conviction), a murder committed during a robbery, a murder committed to avoid arrest, a murder that was heinous, atrocious or cruel, and a murder that was cold, calculated and premeditated.[1] It found one mitigating circumstance: "that Wuornos suffered borderline personality disorder."[1]

### The Mallory appeal

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed on Sept. 22, 1994.[1] It held that her testimony did not entitle her to acquittal because "her testimony clearly was controverted by her own prior inconsistent statements."[1] It upheld the heinous-atrocious-or-cruel finding as a question for the factfinder, given "the protracted nature of this killing together with the mental suffering it necessarily would entail."[1] It found the jury instruction on cold, calculated premeditation flawed but the error harmless.[1] The court also held that the trial judge should have found and weighed her alcoholism, her childhood difficulties and some nonstatutory impaired capacity as mitigation, but that "the failure to find these nonstatutory factors in mitigation is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt."[1] Justice Kogan concurred specially, writing that "Aileen Wuornos obviously is an extreme case, but her general life history itself is not rare," and that "early victimization leads to even greater victimization"; he concluded that the aggravation would outweigh the mitigation even without the premeditation factor.[1]

### Charles Humphreys, Troy Burress and David Spears

The Marion and Citrus County indictments charged three murders, decided together on appeal.[2]

Troy Burress, a delivery truck driver, vanished while making deliveries on July 30, 1990. His truck was found the next day without its keys and delivery receipts, and his body was found on Aug. 4, about eight miles away. An autopsy found two gunshot wounds, to the chest and back, and his cash was missing.[2]

Charles Humphreys was reported missing by his family on Sept. 11, 1990, and two boys found his body the next day. His pockets had been turned inside out and his wallet and car were missing; the car was later found behind an abandoned gas station near Interstate 10. The autopsy found seven gunshot wounds, and the court wrote that "Humphreys had suffered bruises and abrasions and was shot while in the act of twisting or writhing in a vain effort to avoid his attacker."[2]

David Spears's body was found in June 1990. A forensic anthropologist concluded that he died of six gunshot wounds. His truck was found abandoned elsewhere, and his toolbox, clothing, vehicle tag and keys were missing.[2]

On March 31, 1992, Wuornos "pled no contest on all counts with advice of counsel."[2] At the plea she said her religious beliefs required her to go to the electric chair, that she wanted to "go to God," and that she wanted to "get off this crooked, evil planet," the court recorded; it found these statements consistent with a religious conversion, not incompetence.[2] She waived her presence at the penalty phase. Her defense presented her taped confession and testimony from a woman who had adopted her as an adult; the state showed that this witness had screened media requests and been paid $7,500 for a broadcast.[2] The jury recommended death by a vote of 10 to 2, and Judge Thomas D. Sawaya imposed three death sentences on May 15, 1992.[2][5]

The trial court found four aggravators for each murder (a prior violent felony, pecuniary gain, witness elimination and heightened premeditation) and, for Humphreys alone, that the murder was heinous, atrocious or cruel. Its order listed remorse, a religious conversion and a deprived childhood as mitigation, but it also found these "not supported by the greater weight of the evidence" and wrote that the aggravators "overwhelmingly outweigh" any mitigation.[2] On witness elimination, the Florida Supreme Court noted that "Wuornos herself stated in one of her confessions that she killed to eliminate witnesses."[2] It affirmed the convictions and sentences on Oct. 6, 1994, rejecting her claims that the plea was involuntary and that the judge should have ordered a competency hearing on his own.[2]

### Charles Carskaddon

Charles E. Carskaddon was last seen alive on May 31, 1990, when he left home for Tampa in his Cadillac. His body was found on June 6 in a secluded area of Pasco County. The medical examiner determined that he died of gunshot wounds; eight bullets were recovered. Witnesses saw Wuornos with his car, and she pawned a gun identified as his.[3]

Wuornos told the court she wanted to plead guilty while also complaining of pretrial publicity and claiming self-defense; the judge warned her that a plea would give up that defense, and she pleaded anyway.[3] Before the penalty phase a defense expert, Dr. Harry Krop, wrote that she was delusional and incompetent; two other doctors found her competent with a personality disorder, and the court agreed.[3] She then waived a penalty-phase jury, the presentation of mitigation and her own presence, saying she "didn't care anymore."[3] The trial court found three aggravators (prior violent felonies, a murder during a robbery and cold, calculated premeditation), found no mitigation, rejected her self-defense claim, and sentenced her to death in February 1993.[3][5]

On Sept. 21, 1995, the Florida Supreme Court held that the plea colloquy fell short of the procedural rule but caused no prejudice; that the premeditation finding was error because it rested only on evidence of the other crimes; and that the judge should have weighed her personality disorder. With two valid aggravators and minimal mitigation, it held the errors harmless and affirmed.[3]

### Walter Antonio

Walter Antonio, 62, left Cocoa, Florida, for Montgomery, Alabama, on Nov. 18, 1990. The next day his body was found "in a wooded area north of Cross City, Florida"; he had been "shot four times in the back with a .22 caliber gun."[4] By her own confession, Wuornos was engaged in roadside prostitution when Antonio picked her up; she said he showed a false police badge and demanded sex in exchange for not arresting her, and that she shot him.[4] She took his car and some of his belongings. Officers found that she had pawned his ring and found his belongings in a warehouse unit she rented, and Moore helped them recover the murder weapon from a bay.[4]

"At trial Wuornos eventually entered a guilty plea," the court wrote. A jury recommended death, 7 to 5.[4] The trial court found four aggravators: nine prior convictions for violent felonies; a murder during a robbery and for pecuniary gain, treated as one; cold, calculated premeditation; and a murder to avoid arrest.[4] It found no statutory mitigation but found as nonstatutory mitigation her antisocial and borderline personality disorders, possible childhood physical abuse, the suicides of her natural father and grandfather, an alcoholic grandmother, and a mother who "abandoned her as an infant."[4] It rejected testimony from a defense expert that she acted under extreme emotional disturbance.[4] She was sentenced to death and to 17 years for armed robbery.[4] The Florida Supreme Court affirmed on May 9, 1996, holding that the victim-participation mitigator "does not encompass situations in which the killer surprises the victim with deadly force," and that her claims about her plea and her lawyer belonged in a postconviction motion.[4]

### Peter Siems

The state's *Williams* rule evidence at the Mallory trial also tied Wuornos to Peter Siems: witnesses placed her and Moore at his car where it was later found, but "Siems' body has never been found," the Florida Supreme Court wrote.[1] No conviction for his death appears in the state's record of her cases, and he is not counted here.[5] People reported that she confessed to killing him but was not charged because his body was never found, and Fox News, citing the Florida Sheriffs Association, also reported that she was not charged.[18][19]

### Ending the appeals

In April 2001 Wuornos asked the Florida Supreme Court to let her discharge her lawyers and drop her remaining appeals; the court sent the question of her competency to a circuit court, which found her competent on July 20, 2001.[5] At that hearing she testified that she had lied at trial, the Associated Press reported: "I killed those men in the first degree, robbed and killed them."[8] She also said, "I am a serial killer. I would kill again," and "There's no sense in keeping me alive."[8] UPI reported her saying at a July hearing, "I robbed them and I killed them as cold as ice, and I'd do it again, too."[9] Her collateral lawyer said she did not understand the consequences.[8] On April 1, 2002, the Florida Supreme Court approved the competency finding, discharged her lawyers and dismissed her remaining appeals.[5]

### The governor's commission and the execution

Gov. Jeb Bush signed a death warrant on Sept. 5, 2002, setting the execution for Oct. 9.[5] At the end of September, Bush stayed the execution and said it would go forward if three psychiatrists found her competent.[10][11] Florida law requires the governor, when told that a condemned person "may be insane," to stay the execution and appoint "a commission of three psychiatrists" to determine whether the person "understands the nature and effect of the death penalty and why it is to be imposed."[7] The three psychiatrists concluded that "she understood she would die and why she was being executed," and Bush lifted the stay.[11]

She was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on Oct. 9, 2002, and pronounced dead at 9:47 a.m.[12][11] Her last words, as reported, were "I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock and I'll be back like Independence Day with Jesus, June 6."[11] A daughter of Charles Humphreys who witnessed the execution said, "I'm glad that it's over."[11]

## Personal backstory

### Early life

Wuornos was born on Feb. 29, 1956.[5] The evidence presented in mitigation at the Mallory trial, as the Florida Supreme Court summarized it, was that "her biological father hanged himself in prison," where he was serving time for rape and kidnapping; that she was abandoned and taken in by her grandparents; and that "her grandfather was an alcoholic, and later committed suicide."[1] In the Antonio case the trial court found that her mother "abandoned her as an infant" and that her grandmother was an alcoholic.[4] The evidence was that "at about age 14, Wuornos was raped by a family friend," and that her grandfather "later forced her to give up the child for adoption."[1] Her IQ "was established at 81, in the low dull-normal range."[1] Chesler, writing in support of her self-defense claim, added that she was scarred in a fire at 9 and had an uncorrected hearing impairment.[20]

The state disputed the account of abuse. In rebuttal, her grandparents' son, who grew up in the same household, described a "straight and narrow family" and testified that he never saw his father beat her, "although the girl sometimes was spanked"; he agreed that her biological father was abusive.[1] In the Marion County case, the court noted that much of the defense evidence of an abusive childhood was hearsay.[2]

### Mental health

At the Mallory penalty phase, defense psychologists diagnosed borderline personality disorder and testified to impaired capacity and possible brain damage; the state's expert agreed on borderline personality disorder and added antisocial personality disorder.[1] The Mallory trial court found borderline personality disorder as mitigation, and the Dixie County trial court found both disorders as nonstatutory mitigation.[1][4] In 1992 a defense expert called her delusional and incompetent, and two other doctors found her competent; the courts that took her pleas and, in 2001 and 2002, her waiver of appeals, found her competent.[3][2][5]

### Life before the killings

Mitigation evidence at the Mallory trial described years of life on the streets, and the Florida Supreme Court held that her alcoholism should have been weighed in mitigation.[1] In 1982 she was convicted of robbery.[1] By the time of the killings she "worked as a prostitute along Central Florida highways" and had lived for years with Tyria Moore.[1] The state's capital case record lists three other names she used.[5]

### In custody

She spent about ten years on death row; the state's record lists eight disciplinary entries at Broward Correctional Institution between 1992 and 2000.[5] The Marion County trial court listed remorse and a religious conversion as mitigation.[2] In a 2000 television interview she said, "After you're done killing a person and you realize what you've done, it will haunt you the rest of your life," UPI reported.[9] In 2001 she told a judge, "I know what the heck I'm doing."[8] In a final interview before her execution she said that once the men parked in the woods, "I whipped out the gun and shot 'em," CBS News reported.[11]

*The sources reviewed contain no statement from Richard Mallory's family.*

## The victims

### Proven in court

- Richard Mallory, Dec. 1, 1989 (car found); body found Dec. 13, 1989, Volusia County, Florida (Convicted). A Volusia County jury convicted Wuornos of his first-degree murder in January 1992, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed.[1][5]
- Charles E. Carskaddon, May 31, 1990 (last seen); body found June 6, 1990, Pasco County, Florida (Guilty plea). Wuornos pleaded guilty to his murder and was sentenced to death, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed in 1995.[3]
- David Spears, June 1990 (body found), Citrus County, Florida (Convicted). Wuornos was convicted of his murder on a no-contest plea entered March 31, 1992, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed.[2][5]
- Troy Burress, July 30, 1990 (last seen); body found Aug. 4, 1990, Marion County, Florida (Convicted). Wuornos was convicted of his murder on a no-contest plea entered March 31, 1992, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed.[2][5]
- Charles Humphreys, Sept. 11, 1990 (reported missing); body found Sept. 12, 1990, Marion County, Florida (Convicted). Wuornos was convicted of his murder on a no-contest plea entered March 31, 1992, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed.[2][5]
- Walter Antonio, Nov. 18, 1990 (last seen); body found Nov. 19, 1990, North of Cross City, Dixie County, Florida (Guilty plea). Wuornos pleaded guilty to his murder during trial and was sentenced to death, and the Florida Supreme Court affirmed in 1996.[4][5]

### Other deaths attributed (not proven in court)

- Peter Siems, June 1990 (last seen), Last seen in Jupiter, Florida (By her own statement; not proven in court). Wuornos confessed to killing him but was never charged because his body was never found, People reported; the Florida Supreme Court noted that witnesses placed her and Tyria Moore at his car and that "Siems' body has never been found."[18][19][1]

## Myth and record

- Claim: Wuornos was "America's first female serial killer," as she is still widely called; in 2001 the Associated Press described her as "one of the nation's first known female serial killers."[14][13][8]
  The record: No court opinion reviewed for this page calls her the first, and no court decided that question. The record shows six murder convictions, the first in January 1992.[5] At her Pasco County sentencing, Wuornos herself complained that male serial killers received fewer death sentences, the Florida Supreme Court noted.[3] Writing in 1993, the psychologist Phyllis Chesler cited the criminologist Eric Hickey's count of 34 female serial killers between 1800 and 1988, and Biography.com wrote in 2025 that she "wasn't actually 'America's first female serial killer.'"[20][15]
- Claim: As the 2003 film *Monster* shows it, Mallory sexually assaulted Wuornos and she killed him while fighting him off.[16]
  The record: Wuornos testified to a version of that account, but the jury convicted her of first-degree murder and armed robbery, and the Florida Supreme Court held that "her testimony clearly was controverted by her own prior inconsistent statements": in her earliest confession she described a struggle over a bag holding her gun and said nothing of rape.[1] Her later statements went both ways: in 1993 she maintained Mallory raped her, and in 2001 she testified that she had killed the men to rob them.[17][8] The record does not settle what happened in Mallory's car.[5]

## Aggravating circumstances found

- Fla. Stat. § 921.141(5)(b): "The defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or of a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person." Found in all six cases; in the Mallory case the trial court relied on a 1982 robbery conviction.[[fl-stat-921-141]][[wuornos-1994-mallory]][[wuornos-1994-marion]][[wuornos-1995-pasco]][[wuornos-1996-dixie]]
- Fla. Stat. § 921.141(5)(d): The capital felony "was committed while the defendant was engaged ... in the commission of ... any: robbery." Found in the Mallory, Antonio and Carskaddon cases.[[fl-stat-921-141]][[wuornos-1994-mallory]][[wuornos-1995-pasco]][[wuornos-1996-dixie]]
- Fla. Stat. § 921.141(5)(e): "The capital felony was committed for the purpose of avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest." Found in the Mallory and Antonio cases, and as "witness elimination" in the Humphreys, Burress and Spears cases.[[fl-stat-921-141]][[wuornos-1994-mallory]][[wuornos-1994-marion]][[wuornos-1996-dixie]]
- Fla. Stat. § 921.141(5)(f): "The capital felony was committed for pecuniary gain." Found in the Humphreys, Burress and Spears cases, and merged with the robbery factor in the Antonio case.[[fl-stat-921-141]][[wuornos-1994-marion]][[wuornos-1996-dixie]]
- Fla. Stat. § 921.141(5)(h): "The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel." Found in the Mallory and Humphreys cases.[[fl-stat-921-141]][[wuornos-1994-mallory]][[wuornos-1994-marion]]
- Fla. Stat. § 921.141(5)(i): "The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification." Found in all six cases; the Florida Supreme Court held the finding was error in the Carskaddon case, but harmless.[[fl-stat-921-141]][[wuornos-1994-mallory]][[wuornos-1994-marion]][[wuornos-1995-pasco]][[wuornos-1996-dixie]]

## The two sides

- Prosecution: The state's theory, as the Florida Supreme Court described it in the Mallory case, was that Wuornos armed herself, lured Mallory to an isolated place and killed him for his belongings, a sequence the court said "only could be the product of a careful plan or prearranged design." Evidence of the other killings was admitted to rebut her claim of self-defense.[1]
- Defense: At the Mallory trial, Wuornos testified that she shot him in self-defense. In the penalty phases her lawyers presented evidence of a deprived and abusive childhood, alcoholism and personality disorders; a defense psychologist testified that she believed she was in imminent danger when she shot Mallory.[1][2]
- Wuornos, later: In July 2001 she testified that she had lied at trial: "I killed those men in the first degree, robbed and killed them," the Associated Press reported.[8] In a February 1993 plea hearing she had maintained that "Richard Mallory did violently rape me as I've told you," according to a record compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center.[17]

## Timeline

- Feb. 29, 1956: Aileen Wuornos is born.[5]
- 1982: She is convicted of robbery.[1]
- Dec. 1, 1989: A Volusia County deputy finds Richard Mallory's abandoned car; his body is found Dec. 13.[1]
- May 31, 1990: Charles Carskaddon is last seen alive; his body is found in Pasco County on June 6.[3]
- June 1990: The body of David Spears is found.[2]
- July 30, 1990: Troy Burress disappears while making deliveries; his body is found Aug. 4.[2]
- Sept. 11, 1990: Charles Humphreys is reported missing; his body is found the next day.[2]
- Nov. 19, 1990: Walter Antonio's body is found north of Cross City.[4]
- Jan. 16, 1991: In custody, Wuornos gives a videotaped confession.[20][1]
- Jan. 27, 1992: A Volusia County jury finds her guilty of Mallory's murder.[13][1]
- Jan. 31, 1992: Judge Uriel Blount sentences her to death.[5]
- March 31, 1992: She pleads no contest in the Humphreys, Burress and Spears cases; she is sentenced to death in all three on May 15.[2][5]
- February 1993: She is sentenced to death in the Antonio and Carskaddon cases after guilty pleas.[5]
- Sept. 22, 1994: The Florida Supreme Court affirms the Mallory conviction and death sentence.[1]
- May 9, 1996: The last of her direct appeals, in the Antonio case, is decided; all six death sentences have been affirmed.[4][5]
- July 20, 2001: A circuit judge finds her competent to drop her appeals after she testifies that she killed the men to rob them.[5][8]
- April 1, 2002: The Florida Supreme Court approves the competency finding and dismisses her remaining appeals.[5]
- Sept. 5, 2002: Gov. Jeb Bush signs her death warrant.[5]
- Oct. 9, 2002: She is executed at Florida State Prison.[12][11]

## What came after

Wuornos's lawyers had pursued postconviction motions in several counties; when the Florida Supreme Court found her competent to waive them in April 2002, it discharged her collateral counsel and dismissed the pending appeals, so those claims were never decided on appeal.[5] Her case was followed by documentaries, among them Nick Broomfield's *Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer*, and by the 2003 film *Monster*.[17][16] In 2025 a Netflix documentary returned to the question of what the Mallory jury did not hear about him.[16]

## Sources

1. [Wuornos v. State, 644 So. 2d 1000 (No. 79,484)](https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1659486/wuornos-v-state/). Florida Supreme Court, Sept. 22, 1994 (via CourtListener). (court or official record)
2. [Wuornos v. State, 644 So. 2d 1012 (No. 81,059)](https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1659710/wuornos-v-state/). Florida Supreme Court, Oct. 6, 1994 (via CourtListener). (court or official record)
3. [Wuornos v. State, No. 81,466 (slip opinion)](https://library.law.fsu.edu/Digital-Collections/flsupct/dockets/81466/op-81466.pdf). Florida Supreme Court, Sept. 21, 1995 (via Florida State University College of Law). (court or official record)
4. [Wuornos v. State, 676 So. 2d 972 (No. 81,498)](https://law.justia.com/cases/florida/supreme-court/1996/81498-0.html). Florida Supreme Court, May 9, 1996 (via Justia). (court or official record)
5. [Inmate details: Aileen Wuornos, DC# 150924](https://www.leg.state.fl.us/capitalcases/inmatedetailsdf35.html?IID=462). Florida Commission on Capital Cases (archived record). (court or official record)
6. [Florida Statutes § 921.141 (2010), sentence of death or life imprisonment for capital felonies](https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/statutes/2010/921.141). The Florida Senate. (court or official record)
7. [Florida Statutes § 922.07, proceedings when person under sentence of death appears to be insane](https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0900-0999%2F0922%2FSections%2F0922.07.html). Florida Legislature. (court or official record)
8. [Female Serial Killer Wants Death](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/female-serial-killer-wants-death). Associated Press, July 20, 2001 (via CBS News). (news report)
9. [Florida court lets Wuornos drop appeals (UPI report, reprinted)](https://archive.santegidio.org/pdm/news2002/11_04_02_b.htm). United Press International, April 2002 (reprinted by Comunità di Sant'Egidio). (news report)
10. [Bush stays Wuornos execution pending psychiatric exam (wire report, reprinted)](https://archive.santegidio.org/pdm/news2002/09_10_02_b.htm). Wire report datelined Tallahassee, Sept. 30, 2002 (reprinted by Comunità di Sant'Egidio). (news report)
11. [Woman Serial Killer Executed](https://cbsnews.com/news/woman-serial-killer-executed). CBS News, Oct. 9, 2002 (Jaime Holguin). (news report)
12. [CNN Live On Location, transcript, Oct. 9, 2002](https://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/09/lol.07.html). CNN. (news report)
13. [FL v. Wuornos (1992): America's First Female Serial Killer](https://www.courttv.com/?p=15228). Court TV, Jan. 27, 2020. (news report)
14. [How Aileen Wuornos Went From Sex Worker To 'America's First Female Serial Killer'](https://www.oxygen.com/snapped/crime-time/aileen-wuornos-sex-worker-americas-first-female-serial-killer). Oxygen, April 20, 2023 (Aly Vander Hayden and Cydney Contreras). (news report)
15. [Was Aileen Wuornos the First Female Serial Killer?](https://www.biography.com/crime/a69168135/was-aileen-wuornos-the-first-female-serial-killer). Biography.com, Oct. 29, 2025 (Tyler Piccotti). (news report)
16. [Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers Netflix doccie exposes one crucial detail that Charlize Theron's Monster left out](https://businessreport.co.za/entertainment/streaming/2025-11-12-aileen-queen-of-the-serial-killers-netflix-doccie-exposes-one-crucial-detail-that-charlize-therons-monster-left-out). Business Report, Nov. 12, 2025 (Michael Sherman). (news report)
17. [Aileen Wuornos – The Post-Trial Period](https://capitalpunishmentincontext.org/node/77456). Capital Punishment in Context (Death Penalty Information Center). (news report)
18. [What Happened to Aileen Wuornos After She Confessed to Killing 7 Men?](https://www.aol.com/articles/happened-aileen-wuornos-she-confessed-091500000.html). People, Sept. 19, 2026 (Caroline Blair and Emily Blackwood), via AOL. (news report)
19. ['Queen of the serial killers' confessed to multiple murders after girlfriend's police betrayal](https://www.foxnews.com/us/queen-serial-killers-confessed-multiple-murders-girlfriends-police-betrayal.amp). Fox News Digital, Nov. 1, 2025 (Stephanie Nolasco). (news report)
20. [Phyllis Chesler, "A Woman's Right to Self-Defense: The Case of Aileen Carol Wuornos," 66 St. John's Law Review 933](https://scholarship.law.stjohns.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1799&context=lawreview). St. John's Law Review, 1993. (book)