Aileen Wuornos - Part 1 - Killer Queens: A True Crime Podcast

Aileen Carol Wournos was called the “Damsel of Death” and the “Hooker from Hell.” She is widely known as the first female serial killer. She was unique because of her method of murder and her motives.Most female murderers are poisoners or are driven in the heat of passion to kill. Some kill for money and typically someone they know like a husband or family member. However, Aileen was different. She killed with a gun, for money and an uncontrollable internal rage, and killed men she lured with the promise of sex – men she didn’t know.

Early Life

Aileen was originally named Aileen Carol Pittman when she was born February 29, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan to Diane and Leo Pittman. Diane and Leo were a disaster of a couple that started when Diane was just 14 years old and the couple eloped. Her parents obviously didn’t approve, but there was nothing they could do after they eloped.

In March 1955, at age 15, Diane gave birth to their first child, Keith. Leo got arrested for petty crimes and in order to stay out of jail, he enlisted in the army. As soon as he left, Diane saw her opportunity and ran off with Keith. Seven months later, at age 17, Diane gave birth to Aileen.

Diane couldn’t deal with having kids at such a young age and left the kids (Aileen was 4) with her parents. She never saw them again. Aileen also never met her father. Diane’s parents Lauri (grandfather) and Britta (grandmother) Wournos legally adopted Keith and Aileen on March 30, 1960 and raised them with their other young children. Aileen would later refer to them in interviews as “Mom” and “Dad.”

Around age 9, there were reports of Aileen stealing from her family and starting fires. When Aileen was about 10, Leo Pittman was arrested and found guilty of raping a 7 year old girl. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic at some point and on January 30, 1969, he hung himself in his jail cell. Grandma Wournos was a raging alcoholic and Grandpa was abusive to Aileen and Keith, specifically. Both grandparents were emotionally abusive, but Lauri was physically abusive. It was rumored that Aileen’s grandfather sexually abused her.

Aileen had a lot of anger, not just at her circumstances, but in general. She was known for exploding in anger at the slightest thing and had a difficult time making friends. Aileen’s brother Keith was her best friend. To the outside world, they were the typical brother and sister. Sometimes best friends, sometimes worst enemies, but always loyal to each other. However, their relationship was FAR from typical.

When Aileen was about 10 years old, she and Keith began to experiment sexually with each other. They had sex multiple times and were even caught by a neighbor, Danny Colewell, who later testified to this in court. There is no evidence that this was not consensual. By the time Aileen was 11, she had been sneaking out of the house to hang out with people at a place called “The Pit.” Which was apparently, literally, just a pit outside.

No one there really liked Aileen, but she wanted so badly to have friends. She began trading sexual favors with boys who would give her money and cigarettes which she would then use to buy drugs and alcohol to ingratiate herself to the people at The Pit. She realized early that sex could get her money, but boys had no respect for her. Aileen wasn’t doing well in school and her home life was volatile. Eventually, she and her brother attempted to run away. They were caught and put in a reform school for a bit.

In 1970, 14-year-old Aileen found out she was pregnant. She claimed that she had been raped by a neighbor, but there was never any action taken about that. It was also rumored that the baby’s father was any one of a number of men including: her grandfather, Keith, a friend of her grandfather, and a neighborhood boy. Her grandfather decreed that she would go to an unwed mothers’ home, have the baby, and it would be put up for adoption. The end.

On March 23, 1971, Aileen gave birth to a little boy who was immediately taken from her. She had never been opposed to the adoption, but she was very upset about the way it was handled. She never got to see the baby and no one talked to her about any of the process. He was simply gone. Coming back to her grandparents’ house proved more difficult than when she previously lived there. She ran away again and again, she was caught and put in a juvenile home.

A few months later, Aileen’s grandmother died and her grandfather decided that this was the end of his responsibility for these wild kids. He kicked Keith and Aileen out and told them no to come back.

While Keith had friends who let him stay, Aileen didn’t. Aileen started prostituting to get by. She would hitchhike and provide services to people while she got high and drunk. She ended up in Colorado for a bit, but she got in trouble and was arrested for disorderly conduct and was wanted for grand larceny when she left.

In May of 1974, Aileen was arrested for driving while intoxicated, disorderly conduct, and firing a gun at a moving vehicle. She didn’t show up to court and was charged with failure to appear on top or all that.

In 1976, Aileen decided she was done with cold weather. Being a homeless prostitute was hard enough, she could at least be warm so she found her way to Daytona, Florida. She also decided at some point that she was done being Aileen and people began calling her Lee. Not long after arriving in Florida, Aileen met and subsequently married a 70-year-old man named Lewis Fell. Fell met Aileen how everyone met Aileen: he picked her up on the side of the road while she was hitchhiking.

Aileen as a young adult

On March 12, 1976, when she was 20 her grandfather died. He was found in the garage of his son’s house – it was suspected to be a suicide.

Once Aileen married Fell, it became quickly apparent that her temper was uncontrollable. Fell denied her shopping money so she clocked him in the head with his own cane. Nine weeks after they were married, Fell filed for divorce (possibly annulment…differing reports). In July of 1976, Aileen got in a fight in a bar and threw a billiard ball at the bartender’s head.

That same month, Aileen’s big brother, Keith died from throat cancer. She lost her best friend, so she turned to alcohol to help her feel better. While she received $10,000 from his life insurance policy (which she used to buy a really nice car which she quickly wrecked), Aileen also went back to prostituting to make money.

In 1978, at 22-years-old, Aileen took her .22 caliber and shot herself in the abdomen in a failed suicide attempt. At the hospital, she confided in doctors that she had attempted suicide in the past. This must not have been a big deal to the doctors because she received almost no counseling and was sent on her way once she was fixed up. Within weeks, she attempted suicide again by taking an overdose of tranquilizers. Actually, between the ages of 14 and 22, Aileen attempted suicide 6 times.

On May 20, 1981, Aileen was arrested after robbing a mini-mart at gunpoint while wearing a bikini. She made away with 2 packs of cigarettes and $35. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 3 years in jail. She said that she robbed the place to see if her then boyfriend loved her. Surprise – he didn’t and never spoke to her again.

While in jail, Aileen frequently complained about all the lesbians in there and read her bible. When she was released at age 27, she almost immediately returned to the only career she’d ever known: prostitution. On May 1, 1984, she was arrested again for attempting to forge checks at a bank. On November 30, 1985, she was once again arrested and charged with grand theft auto, resisting arrest, and obstruction of justice. She tried to get out of trouble by using her aunt’s name and police found a .38 caliber and ammo in her car.

Then on June 2, 1986, a man she’d been “intimate with” accused Aileen of holding him up at gunpoint and stealing $200. She was very upset by the way men had treated her, so her logical move was to turn to women. Aileen wrote in a letter to God while she was in prison during the end of her life, “I became a lesbian around 28.” In her new lifestyle, Aileen began hanging out at biker bars and in 1986, she met 24-year-old Tyria (Tyra) Moore, and they became an item.

Apparently, when they met, they went into the bedroom and stayed there for an entire weekend, except for food and stuff. The two became inseparable and they lived their nomad lives with Aileen prostituting in the day and Tyria working at a hotel. Tyria claimed she tried to stop Aileen from prostituting, but she wouldn’t. Aileen’s anger was still always present, and she snapped at people for looking at her the wrong way.

Aileen began calling Tyria her wife. She was in desperate need of love, and it was thought that she might not be a lesbian and might just be lonely. By the time she was 33-years-old in 1989, Aileen was looking at least 43. Her life of hitchhiking, prostituting, drinking, drugs, homelessness, and violence had made it more difficult for her to get enough clients to make ends meet. Aileen was worried that she was going to lose Tyria, but Tyria felt like she was all Aileen had and was almost too guilty to leave her.

The Anger Overflows

On November 30, 1989. Aileen was picked up by 51-year-old Richard Mallory in Tampa. Mallory had actually served a ten-year prison sentence for a sexual assault prior to meeting Aileen. Mallory pulled his car over somewhere off I-95 so they could get down to business, but Aileen had a different agenda.

Aileen pulled out her .22 caliber and shot Mallory 4 times in the chest and back. She stole anything of value off of him (mostly money), and then covered his body with a random carpet that was out there (probably covering some other dead body…). Aileen stole Mallory’s car and went straight to tell Tyria what she did. Tyria didn’t believe her, but when Aileen told her they were leaving, Tyria went. Aileen cleaned out Mallory’s car and pitched his things in the sand somewhere. Then she abandoned his car in a different location.

Police found the car a few days later, but wouldn’t find Mallory’s body for another 2 weeks. On December 13th, 1989, 2 teenage boys found Mallory’s body naked in the woods off I-95. Tyria was still in some insane denial and didn’t go to the police thinking that Aileen got her anger out of her system and now she’s done.

She was not.

On June 1, 1990, 43-year-old heavy machine operator David Spears was found naked and dead due to 6 gunshot wounds from a .22 caliber pistol. He was identified by his dental records and had been missing since May 19th. A week later on June 6th, the body of 40-year-old rodeo worker Charles Carskaddon was found naked as well and shot 9 times with a .22 caliber.

On July 4, 1990, Aileen and Tyria were driving the car that Aileen had stolen from 65-year-old Peter Siems, a retired merchant seaman (whose body was never found). Siems was last seen on June 7th, 1990. Aileen and Tyria got into an argument and they were involved in an accident. Neither were hurt, but the car had rolled over and police were on their way. Aileen snatched the license plate off the car with her bare hands and threw it in the woods.

When the police arrived, they said that she was belligerent and that they bolted. Police found out who the car actually belonged to, but they couldn’t find the women who had flipped the car and run off. Sketches were done of both women and posted in local newspapers. Aileen’s fingerprints were on file from her extensive arrest record and her prints were all over the car.

Later that same month, 50-year-old delivery driver Eugene “Troy” Burress’ body was found shot twice with a .22 caliber pistol. Burress had been reported missing on July 30, 1990 when his boss found that he hadn’t finished his route. On August 4, 1990, Burress’ naked body was found by a family that was just trying to have a picnic! On September 12, 1990, the body of Charles “Dick” Humphreys, a retired police chief and child abuse investigator, was found shot 6 times with a .22 caliber pistol. His wife had reported him missing on September 11th. Then on November 19, 1990, 62-year-old truck driver Walter Jeno Antonio’s body was found shot 4 times with a .22 caliber.

Aileen’s “shtick” was to lure them either with prostitution or find a car that had been left on the side of the road and pretend to need help. Tyria claimed that by now she was too afraid of Aileen to leave her. Aileen was stumping the police. They couldn’t figure out who was killing these men.

Aileen had been killing across 5 counties, but always killed with a .22 caliber handgun. Police then decided to release their sketches nationwide. Tyria was worried because she was “innocent,” in that she didn’t kill anyone. She left Aileen in Florida and went to stay with her family in Pennsylvania. During their investigation, officers found a pawn shop that had records of things that had been sold there but turned out to belong to some of these victims. The police were able to get a thumbprint off an item and use it to make an identification.

Aileen had used the name “Cammie Marsh Greene” when pawning Richard Mallory’s camera, but was required to provide a fingerprint under Florida law so it was linked back to her when they looked into the murders. She also used this name to pawn David Spears’ tools. Fingerprints linked this identity to the “Lori Christina Grody” identity that was linked to the fingerprints in Peter Siems’ car. They were then all linked back to Aileen Wuornos when the information was sent to the National Crime Information Center – NCIC.

The detectives followed Aileen for 2 days, but when they found out she was in a biker bar in Port Orange, Florida called “The Last Resort” they worried that she’d find someone willing to take on a hitchhiker, and she’d be gone.

They arrested her there on January 9th, 1991.