documentaries, and even Hollywood films.
She was Aileen Wuornos — the “Damsel of Death.
A media circus
Wuornos’ trial quickly became a media circus. She maintained that every killing was an act of self-defense against men who had tried to harm her. But the jury didn’t believe her. In January 1992, she was found guilty and sentenced to death.
Having been handed six death sentences upon being found guilty, Wuornos said in court: “I am as guilty as can be. I want the world to know I killed these men, as cold as ice. I’ve hated humans for a long time. I am a serial killer. I killed them in cold blood, real nasty.”
Confined to death row at Broward Correctional Institution in Florida while she awaited her execution, she regularly complained about the decision to delay her fate.
“There is no point in sparing me,” Wuornos said in July 2001. “It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money. I killed those men, robbed them. And I’d do it again, too.
“There’s no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I’d kill again. I have hate crawling through my system.”
