Criminal Involvement Aileen Wuornos has a lasting history with the system, committing crimes from driving under the influence, providing false identification to police, firing a .22 caliber pistol from a moving vehicle, disorderly conduct, assault, disturbing the peace, resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, grand larceny and robbery (Murderpedia, n.d.). However, it was not until the late 1980’s that she would begin the series of murders that would make her most famous. From 1989 to 1990, Aileen Wuornos killed seven men throughout northern and central Florida during her time as a highway prostitute (Macleod, n.d.). On the night of November 20, 1989, Aileen was picked up by 51-year-old, Richard Mallory, who was later discovered to be …show more content…
During the trial, Aileen would paint a horrific picture describing details about the rape and assault by Mallory. Psychiatrist also testified that Aileen was not mentally stable and suffered from borderline personality disorder, as well as, antisocial personality disorder (Biography, n.d.). Tyria Moore, police’s main witness, testified against Aileen, and prosecutors presented evidence that related to the other crimes committed by Aileen under Florida’s Williams rule (Murderpedia, n.d.). Nonetheless, Aileen sat in the courtroom awaiting an acquittal based on self-defense. After two short hours of deliberation, the judge sentenced 36-year-old Aileen Wuronos to death on January 27, 1992 for the murder of Mallory (Broomfield, …show more content…
There were some things about her killings that remained consistent and other things that did not. One consistency was that her victims were all vulnerable, white, males, ranging in ages from 40 to 65. She picked her victims in a rather systematic why in that she lured them in by faking car troubles as a means to get the to stop and help her or by picking them up as “johns”. Her method of killing was consistent throughout each murder with the use of the .22 caliber handgun that took each victim’s life. While each victim was shot by the same weapon, the number of times they were shot and the locations in which they were shot all varied. After killing her victims, she would then rob them for their cars, money, and any other possession she could find. If she decided not to take the victim’s vehicles, she would then separate the dead bodies from the vehicles, making it more difficult to be caught by police. Police reported that some bodies were found naked, while others were not. However, she typically left her victims lying in the woods or along the interstate throughout five different counties in
On the night of August 31st 1986, Angelique Lavallee a battered 21 year-old woman in an unstable common law relationship was charged with murder. She shot her spouse, Kevin Rust in the back of the head while he was leaving the bedroom. Angelique was in fear for her life after being taunted with the gun and was threaten to be killed. Hence, she felt that she had to kill him or be killed by him. The psychiatrist Dr. Shane, did an assessment and concluded that she was being terrorized by her partner. Dr. Shane concluded that Angelique was physically, sexually, emotionally and verbally abused. As a result, in the psychiatrist’s opinion, the killing was a final desperate act by a woman who seriously believed she would be killed that night. This in turn identify her as a
A horrific murder happened in tiny Skidmore on December of 2004. Lisa Montgomery and Bobbi Jo Stinnett met and found out that they had much in common and became good friends (Nunes 85-86). Surprisingly, Bobbi and Lisa met in an internet chat room. Bobbi was into puppy breeding and she occasionally served as a judge. Lisa lived in Kansas where her close friends were shocked about what she was talking about. Of course, Lisa shrugged it off and she sent an email to Bobbi saying that she wanted to see the puppies (Nunes 85-86). When Lisa met Bobbi Jo she had a fake name which was Darlene Fisher because she didn’t want Bobbi to know her real identity. When Lisa sent Bobbi the email she had a criminal intent on her mind. She was planning to choke Bobbi into unconsciousness and then cut open her womb and steal Bobbi’s unborn baby. When Lisa arrived at the house she threw a rope around Bobbi’s neck and choked her until she was unconscious. That is when Lisa took a knife and started to cut open Bobbi’s stomach. Lisa had to cut through skin, fat, and muscle to get to Bobbi’s uterus. Bobbi’s baby was in eight-month gestation; Lisa cut and tied the baby’s cord. Lisa stole the baby and fled to her house in Kansas. Unfort...
Robert William “Willie” Pickton is currently serving a life sentence for the second degree murder of six British Columbian women. Although convicted for the murders of six victims, physical and forensic evidence for thirty-three women was uncovered at Pickton’s Port Coquitlam pig farm which served as the crime scene for his murders. Numerous other missing women, mostly marginalized prostitutes with chronic drug addiction, from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside area remain unaccounted for. It is not unreasonable to assume that they too, met the same disturbing fate as the other murder victims. Pickton’s modus operandi for the serial murders was the same; he would prowl the drug and poverty ridden Downtown Eastside neighbourhood of Vancouver looking for potential victims, take the victims back to his Port Coquitlam pig farm, and then sexually abuse, torture, and murder them before mutilating and disposing their bodies. Most disturbingly, the victim’s remains were allegedly fed to the pigs on his farm, which were then slaughtered with the meat given out to associates of Pickton or to visitors of the farm (The Pickton Trial, CBC.ca/news).
Often considered America’s first female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos was neither first nor the worst. She had been suspected of committing at least seven murders and was sentenced to four of cases she had confessed to police. All the while, she maintained her innocence claiming that some or all of the killings were in self-defense.
When viewed from a strictly medical, psychological aspect, Andrea Yates medical history indicates that after the birth of her first child, she began to suffer from various forms of depression and suicide attempts. If one only examines the paper trail and doesn’t think beyond what the medical history does or does not indicate, then perhaps, Andrea would be innocent by reason of mental insanity as the 2006 acquittal suggest. However, when viewed form a legal aspect there are several inconstancies that challenge if this former nurse was insane or if she in fact premeditated the murder of her children as well as her acquittal.
It took the United States court system seven times to finally convict Assata Shakur, and even after being finally convicted, the notion was under false information and misrepresentation. She was accused of multiple bank robberies that took place between 1971 and 1972 and the murder of a drug dealer in 1973(Shakur XIX). While most of the trials were dismissed, one trial did end with the conviction of Assata. The action that caused her conviction was the accusation of murdering a New Jersey State Trooper. Whether people believe Assata Shakur murdered a state trooper in 1973, the facts prove that Assata could not have possibly murdered a man in the condition that she was (Puryear).
Ramsland, K. (2008, n/a n/a). The Bottom Falls Out. Retrieved june 15, 2008, from www.crimelibrary.com: http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/andrea_yates/index.html
Last June in 2001, a 37-year-old lady by the name of Andrea Yates, was arrested for killing her five children. Most people like me would agree that she was sane, and the death penalty would have been the right punishment for Mrs. Andrea Yates.
In a study conducted by Hickey, he discovered that out of thirty-four female serial killers, almost one in two had a male accomplice committing murders with them (Holmes et al., 1991). He also revealed that 97% were white and the average age the women started committing murders was thirty-three (Holmes et al., 1991). Women serial killers differ from men in that most women kill for material gain, such as money or insurance benefits, and they usually commit murder with pills or poison. Stephen Holmes, Ronald Holmes, and Eric Hickey developed a typology for female serial killers similar to the one developed by Holmes and Holmes, discussed earlier. They begin with visionary serial killers, who are compelled by some force, such as God, or spirits, to commit murders. The second type is the comfort killer, who usually kills acquaintances and does so for a material gain, money or real estate (Holmes et al., 1991). The third category is hedonistic female serial killers, which is similar to the earlier typology in that the offender connects murder with sexual gratification. This is the least represented category for female offenders, but evidence for this type of killer can be seen in the case of Carol Bundy (Holmes et al., 1991). Bundy allegedly helped her husband kidnap, murder, and decapitate the
As the years goes by, Wuornos life was becoming unstable and a nightmare. As a result, Wuornos childhood is well defined on how and why she became a criminal and killed those seven men victims. Her life consists of abandonment, mental and physical abuse by family, peers and neighborhood. While her mother was a teenager when she gave birth to Wuornos. Her father was absent in her life and abuse her mother. After he absent father was in jail for the rape of an underage child. Wuornos was abandoned by her mother as a teenager and left with grandparents. On the video stated she was emotional, sexually and physical abused by both grandparents. She became a prostitution to earn a living in the street of Florida. The life of Wuornos could be associated in with a diverse of theories of crime behavior. There are three various theories that could describe the life and subsequent in crimes of Aileen Wuornos. These three theories consist of biological/biosocial theory, self-control theory, and social control
Kathleen Weiand shot and killed her husband Todd. At trial, Kathleen’s defense was BWS; because of Todd’s abuse, she had no choice but to kill him, fearing that if she did not, he would eventually kill her. Defense expert Dr. Len...
The FBI defines serial killing as “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s) in separate events” (Farrell, Keppal, & Titterington, 2011, p. 231). While individuals who partake in such activity do receive a large amount of attention, the female parts of this population are vastly under recognized. Female serial killers receive little academic attention, even though they are a complex and dynamic group to study (p. 229). Women make up 15% of American serial killers, with 36 known to be active in the last century (p. 230). It is speculated that at any given time there are 50-70 serial killers in the United States, and approximately 7-8 of them are female (Schurman, 2000, p. 12).
The person I chose to research was Gary Ridgway. He is also known as The Green River Killer. Gary was a serial killer in Washington. He has been convicted of murdering 49 women, he has confessed to around 60 killings, but is estimated to have killed closer to 80 women. All the women that he had killed were prostitutes that he had picked up, had sex with them, and then strangled them. He says that he never raped or tortured any of his victims, he just killed them. Gary started killing prostitutes in 1892 and is confirmed to have killed till 1998, but is thought that his last kill was around 2001. He was called the Green River Killer because his first victims’ bodies were found around the Green River.
In recent years, there has been a considerable amount of research conducted in order to better understand and profile both male and female serial killers. With this new research in the law enforcement system, more information about female serial killers and how they tend to differ from their male counterparts is more accessible. The differences between male and female serial killers vary in many different areas such as victim damage, victim torture, weapon/method, stalking versus luring behavior, crime scene organization, reasons for murders, substance abuse history, psychiatric diagnosis, and household composition (Keeney and Heide, 1994). These differences, along with information describing the social background of the perpetrator provide researchers and individuals in the law enforcement system with substantial signs that can be used to pre...