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Aileen Wuornos (February 29, 1956 – October 9, 2002) was an American serial killer who was sentenced to death by the state of Florida in 1992. Wuornos admitted to killing seven men, in separate incidents, all of whom she claimed had raped her while she was working as a prostitute. She was executed in 2002.

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Born in Rochester, Michigan, Wuornos had what was by most accounts a traumatic childhood. Her father, a psychopathic child molester, left her mother before Aileen was born, and later committed suicide in prison when she was 13 (1969). Her mother abandoned her and her brother, Keith, in 1960, leaving them in the care of their grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos.

Wuornos later said that Lauri physically and sexually abused her as a child, that Britta was an abusive alcoholic, and that they both claimed to be her actual parents until she was twelve. She also claimed to have had sex with multiple partners, including her brother, at a young age.

Wuornos became pregnant at age fourteen (she gave the baby up for adoption), which supported her claim of early sexual activities. After Britta died later that year (officially of liver failure, although Wuornos' mother later accused Lauri of killing her), Wuornos ran away from home and turned to prostitution, traveling around the country and supporting herself with sex up until her arrest for murder years later. She was arrested multiple times throughout the 1970s and 1980s for crimes including drunk driving and shoplifting, as well as prostitution.

A storeowner in Palm Harbor, Florida, named Richard Mallory took a ride with Wuornos on November 30, 1989, and became her first victim. Over the next two years, five subsequent victims were found; one other is still missing. Wuornos was eventually identified when she and her girlfriend Tyria Moore had an accident while driving a victim's car. She was apprehended a few months later.

Wuornos cited self defense for Mallory's murder, maintaining that he had attempted to rape her. She was convicted for this first murder in January 1992 with help from Moore's testimony. In November of the same year, reporter Michele Gillens uncovered that Mallory had served 10 years for violent rape in another state. Despite this, Wuornos was never given a re-trial.

During the trial, she was adopted by Arlene Pralle and her husband, after Pralle had a dream in which she was told to take care of Wuornos. Despite Pralle's help, her appeal to the Supreme Court was denied in 1996.

Within weeks of her arrest, Wuornos had engaged agents to sell the rights to her story, and so had three of the law enforcement agents who had been tracking her down. Touted as "the first female serial killer" (which she was not), Wuornos' life has been documented in numerous books and portrayed in several films and television shows.

(2003). Broomfield conducted the last media interview with Wuornos on the day before her execution., starring Charlize Theron, tells Wuornos' story from the moment she met Selby Walls, the first person in her life who showed some kindness towards her (the Walls character was based on Wuornos' lover and four-year companion, Tyria Moore) until her first conviction for murder. For her performance as Wuornos, Theron received the Academy Award for Best Actress. This award was given on what would have been Wuornos' birthday, although this was not mentioned in Theron's acceptance speech.

After her first death sentence, Wuornos often said she wanted it all to be over. In 2001 she began fighting to be executed as soon as possible. She petitioned the Florida Supreme Court for the right to fire her legal counsel and stop all appeals, wording her request so as to forestall any objection: "I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again." Some have argued that she was in no state for them to honor such a request.

Wuornos declined the traditional last meal, which could have been anything she wanted for under $20, and instead was given a cup of coffee.

Wuornos was executed by lethal injection (which she requested instead of the electric chair) at 9:47 a.m., Wednesday, 9 October 2002. Her last words:

dlI'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock and I'll be back like Independence Day with Jesus, June 6, like the movie, big mothership and all. I'll be back.

After her execution, she was cremated, and her ashes were taken to her native Michigan and spread around a tree.

She had requested that Natalie Merchant's (from the group 10,000 Maniacs) song "Carnival" be played at her funeral. Natalie Merchant commented on this when asked why her song was run during the credits of the documentary "When director Nick Broomfield sent a working edit of the film, I was so disturbed by the subject matter that I couldn't even watch it. Aileen Wuornos led a tortured, torturing life that is beyond my worst nightmares. It wasn't until I was told that Aileen spent many hours listening to my album while on death row and requested 'Carnival' be played at her funeral that I gave permission for the use of the song. It's very odd to think of the places my music can go once it leaves my hands. If it gave her some solace, I have to be grateful."

Wuornos was the tenth woman in the U.S. to be executed since the reintroduction of the death penalty in 1976, and the second woman in Florida to be executed.