Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) out of Quantico defines how one becomes listed as a serial killer and that is; someone who kills more than three people, the killing spree happened over a length of time, and the killing has no break between the killings (FBI Gov.). I started to look into what it takes to be a criminal, how the mind reacts to certain situations, and that a woman is likely to commit such horrible crimes themselves. There’s many reasons why one commits a crime, or even why they become a serial killer, a female serial killer. Female serial killer’s spree can usually last longer than their counterparts, because they tend to keep a lower profile. I found one woman who was coined a serial killer and she was Aileen Wuornos. Her story …show more content…
goes all the way back to her childhood and only led to a life of destruction for anyone who came in contact with her. Although Aileen was charged with killing seven men in Florida within a one-year span, she actually was convicted of six of the seven murders. Aileen Wuornos was born on February 29th, 1956 in Rochester Michigan to parents that only helped to contribute to her madness.
Aileen’s parents were Leo Dale Pittman and Diane Wuornos who at the age of fifteen got married. It was a doomed marriage from the start which did not last very long. Leo Pittman did not know his daughter Aileen and she did not get to know him. Leo was sentence to prison for child molestation charges and while in prison he hung himself. Aileen and her brother Keith had a very unstable, unfit mother who decided to drop them off in the care of her parents. For years Aileen thought that her grandparents, Lauri and Britta were her real parent’s no one told her the truth. Aileen was raised in a very hostile situation where she was abused, and raped by family members and even got pregnant from a family friend, but Aileen had lay claim that her brother in fact got her pregnant. Aileen’s son was born on March 23, 1971, she was only fourteen years old. Aileen would later on find out that her parents raising her and Keith were actually her grandparents in which had add to her troubles. Aileen and Keith had been thrown out of the only home they knew by their grandfather when their grandmother had pass …show more content…
away. Once Aileen had been thrown out from her grandparents’ home her life went even more downhill Aileen Wuornos had start her criminal life at a young age where she started to turn tricks in trade for food, cigarettes, and drugs. It was 1974 that Aileen was arrested for DUI (driving under the influence) and for carrying a handgun. Aileen was one of many female serial killers who used a handgun in the murders of the seven men she killed. During Aileen’s life of crime, she had a few alias names she went by and they were, Susan Lynn Blahovec, Lee Blahovec, Lori Grody, Cammie Greene and Sandra Kretsch (World Heritage Encyclopedia). This evil monster of a woman would later on be married.
It was 1976 that Aileen would eventually land a husband. While hitchhiking Wuornos got a ride from Lewis Fell who was way older than Aileen. Lewis who was seventy years old at the time had married Wuornos in 1976. While married Wuornos would continue her tyrant ways at the bars. Lewis was being abused by this monster and was forced to get a restraining order. That same year in July 1976 Aileen was arrested in Antrim County and was charged with disturbing the peace, and assault for hitting a bartender in the head with a cue ball. Aileen’s temper has always been an issue in her life and that would be her downfall. It would nine weeks later that Lewis would file for divorce from Aileen, she also had lost her brother Keith to cancer where she received a check from the insurance
company. Aileen just could not stop herself from getting into trouble, the brush in with the law was starting to become more frequent. Wuornos was sentence to a year (May, 1982-June 1983) in prison for robbery in Florida. It would be less than a year when Aileen Wuornos would be arrested again, this one was for forged checks she tried to cash at a Key West bank. Aileen’s life was not an easy life, living off the streets selling her body and ripping off people especially the men she encountered. On numerous occasions Wuornos was found in possession of firearms and on November of 1985 she was thought to have been the suspect of a revolver that was stolen from Pasco County. In 1986 Aileen was very busy getting into more trouble with the law in which she was charged with grand theft auto, was charged with giving false information to the police, and resisting the arresting officers. Once again Aileen Wuornos would be brought in by the police to talk about an incident. Again Aileen was caught with a firearm while trying to rob her companion she was with that day. It wouldn’t be too long after that Wuornos would latch on to a young lady she meets at a Lesbian bar in Daytona beach, Florida. Tyria Moore and Aileen became lovers and had move in together for a while. Tyria worked at the bar in which her and Aileen Wuornos met, but once they lived together Aileen would lay claim that she supported the two by prostituting. It’s not clear if Tyria had any part in the killing of the seven men that Wuornos had murdered. In the movie “Monster” (2003), Aileen had murdered seven men, but she was only convicted of six of the seven men murdered. The seventh gentleman that Aileen Wuornos killed was a missionary man, but she was not charged with that murder because his body was never located. Aileen’s rampant life of crime would soon come to a halt. After numerous times of being arrested and released Aileen Wuonros was finally captured on January 9, 1991at a biker’s bar in Volusia County. It would take the help of Tyria Moore, for the police to finally get a confession from Wuornos. Moore helped the police in order to receive prosecutorial immunity. The first victim of Wuornos was known to be a rapist and had done some time for his crimes, and out of the seven men Aileen murdered she insisted that Richard Mallory was the only one who actually raped her. The seven men Wuornos murdered were Richard Mallory (Nov. 30, 1989), Charles Humphreys (May 19, 1990), David Spears (June 1, 1990), Charles Carskaddon (May 31, 1990), Troy Burress (July 30, 1990), Walter Antonio (Nov. 19, 1990) and Peter Siems whose body was never found. The car of Peter Siems was found on July 4, 1990 in which Aileen and Tyria were wanted by police for questioning. Aileen Wuornos may have been disturbed at the time of each killing, but it does not make her crazy. Aileen’s past does not justify what she had done, it may have made her very depress, she may have been very cruel in her killings, she just had a bad life growing up and that had fuel the fire that was inside of her. In Florida the law states that anyone convicted of murder could be sentenced to death if the criminal had murdered more than two people, or if it was an officer of the law or a firefighter, this is known as “Capital Murder”. In this case Aileen got the death penalty because she murdered seven men (convicted of six). The murder of Richard Mallory was enough for prosecutors to want the death sentence for Wuornos, since she committed the crime while robbing Mallory and was in possession of a firearm. What most people don’t know is that out of the six men murdered, only the death of Mallory went to trial the rest was pleaded out in court. Another fact most people didn’t know about this case is retired Judge Uriel Blount had come out of retirement just to preside over Aileen Wuornos case. The prosecuter had use the “Williams Rule” that helped them link the other crimes to Aileen. It was the inconsistency of Wuornos confessions that tripped her up, and it was as if she wanted to be caught. During her confessions she would repeatedly tell her lawyer to be quiet and would add, “I took a life, I am willing to give up my life because I killed people, I deserve to die” (Dead Ends, pg.209). It was clear Aileen Wuornos was tired of doing what she did and wanted her tired life to end also. She pleaded in her letters from death room to have her life taken sooner. Aileen was asked by her lawyers not to take the stand, but she took the stand making her the only witness for the defense. The defense had brought to light that some people on the case had talk to the media about selling their stories before the case went to court. It didn’t take the jurors long to come back with a guilty verdict on all six charges once the lawyers closed. One side was pleading to spare Wuornos life and on the other side they were asking for the death penalty, but it was up to the jury and they found twelve to zero in favor of the death penalty for Aileen. It was clear that Aileen Wuornos knew right from wrong causing the jurors to come back with their verdict. The jury found that there were five aggravating circumstances in Aileen’s case and just one mitigating factor.
Jasmine Beckford’s case is the oldest out of the three; in 1984 Jasmine died as a result of long-term abuse aged 4. In 1981 her and her younger sister suffered serious injuries and were paced with foster carers for six months. After this they were allowed back home with their mother on a trial basis as social services were meant to support them. During the last ten months of Jasmine’s life she was only seen once by social workers (Corby, 2006).
Aileen Wuornos is one of the most famous psychopathic serial killers in the world. Not only is she one of the only female serial killers, her killings are unlike any other there has been. She exhibited psychopathic traits since birth and her abuse as a child didn't help matters. She killed six men in the span of a year and told police she was the victim in all the cases, not admitting to intentionally killing them many months later. After getting caught by the police and going through a long, tedious trial she was found guilty of all her charges and was charged with the death penalty.
When Deborah was only sixteen she became pregnant with her first child by Cheetah and boy she liked when she was younger. Cheetah and Deborah got married and then had their second child. Deborah became very unhappy in the marriage because Cheetah started drinking and doing drugs. He started abusing Deborah. Cheetah pushed Deborah so much she almost killed him if it wasn’t for Bobbette. Deborah’s brothers Sonny and Lawrence were doing well except for Joe. Joe was another case. Joe went to the military, and the family was hoping that would do him good; but he came out worse than when he went in. Joe was threatened and beaten up by a boy named Ivy. Joe was in so much rage he went and stabbed him and killed him. Joe eventually turned himself in to the law, was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced fifteen years in prison.
Susan Leigh Vaughan Smith was born September 26, 1971 in Union, South Carolina to Linda and Harry Vaughan. She was born the third child in the Vaughan family, with two older brothers. Linda Vaughan divorced Harry when Susan turned 7, and five weeks later Harry committed suicide at 37 (Montaldo). Within weeks of Linda and Harry’s divorce, Linda got remarried to Beverly (Bev) Russell, a local successful businessman. Linda and the children moved from their home into Bev’s, a larger house located in an exclusive subdivision in Union, South Carolina. Susan grew to be a well-liked teenager, and even became president of her Junior Civitan Club and Friendliest Female in her senior year (Montaldo). Everyone liked her, and she put on a great show at school. But after the last bell rang, she had to look forward to seeing Bev at home, something she feared above anything else. Bev had taken to molesting Susan when she turned sixteen, and it was not long afterward that she sought help with the local Department of Social Services (Wiki). The Department of Social services did little to help Susan, only making Bev attend a few counseling sessions (Wiki). When he returned home, he chastised Susan heavily for “airing their dirty laundry in public” and continued with the molestation (Montaldo). I believe thi...
From a very young age, Bone was sexually abused by her step-father, Glen Waddell. Like Bone, Dorothy Allison also suffered abuse from her step-father, starting at the young age of five years-old. During the time of the novel, and until recent years, it was unthinkable to speak of any sort of abuse outside the household. Throughout history, children have been victims of abuse by their parents or other adults, and fo...
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
The present paper intent to enquire into a female serial killer. It shall describe and analyze the theories behind the occurrences and sequent offer explanations. The studies of criminology theories it is important to recognize why humans decide on living a life cycle of crime. Wikipedia.org defines serial killer as, “a person who murders three or more people, usually in service of abnormal psychological gratification, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant break (a “cooling off period”) between them.” Precisely of this, humans who tend to be a serial killer are prone to developmental and physical characteristics. Several of these trends could fit into a model standard of a crime. A good example of analyzing the life and crimes of Aileen Wuornos, an American female serial killer who killed
In Aisha’s situation she was the one who was physically abused, that lead her and her sister being taken from the home. Aisha had a brown spot on her arm where someone burned her from a cigarette. Aisha or her sister, Alisha was ever diagnosed with any psychiatric problem or have substance problems. But their mother did. She was placed in a psychiatric hold because she threatened to kill herself after the girls were put on a 72 hour hold.
Several serial killers have a definitive and common personality profile. Almost every major social, biological, psychological behavioural influence that has been seriously suggested as playing a role in causing crime has been thoroughly thought as potentially contributing to the behavior of serial killers (Levin, 2008). The time period and amount of killings fluctuate depending on the individual committing the crimes. Usually, the murders happen in different geographical areas. A mass murder has a separate definition than a serial killer, because a serial killer has a “cooling off” period, where mass murders kill several individual in a single event.
The FBI has defined 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). Moreover, females acting alone manage
Keeney and Heide (1994) define serial murder to be the premeditated murder of three or more victims committed over time, in separate incidents, in a civilian context, with the murder being chosen by the offender. 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 murder, 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 prevent further serial murders....
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Most people do not understand what can make a person want to kill multiple people for no reason other than their own satisfaction gain. In actuality, serial killers have been studied for over hundreds of years, and the information that has been documented continues to grow. The research that I have gathered about serial killers focuses on their childhood development, the differences and similarities between male and female serial killers, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts. There have been many theories over the years about how a person becomes a serial killer, and how having an unstable childhood affects a person.
Serial killers have many frightening facets. The most frightening thing about them is that experts still do not know what makes a human become a serial killer. Many experts believe serial killers become what they are because they have a genetic disposition or brain abnormality while other experts believe that a serial killer is created by childhood abuse; and some other experts believe that it is a combination of both brain abnormalities and abusive childhood experiences that creates a serial killer. A murderer is considered a serial killer when they “murder three or more persons in at least three separate events with a “cooling off period” between kills” (Mitchell and Aamodt 40). When defining a serial killer, their background, genes, and brain are not mentioned; perhaps one day those aspects of the serial killer can be included.
She was raised by her grandmother together with her brother and evidently lacked the parental guidance as a child since her mother had abandoned her when she was only four years old (Seal, 2014). Her father on the other hand was a known child molester and psychopath who later hanged himself in prison. This is an evident genealogical aspect and coupled with the assertions mentioned above; these are some of the biological developmental and environmental factors that may have led to her indulgence in crime. Aileen also claims that she became pregnant at a tender age of 14, a pregnancy that she inconsistently blames on either her grandfather’s friend or her brother. The decision to adopt the baby could also be a resound proof that it could have altered her attitudes when growing up and it is also backed up by the fact that she chose a woman for a spouse and not a man (Frei, Graf & Dittmann, 2006). This is a factor that can be pegged on the fact that she probably grew a hatred for men after being impregnated by an individual she knew too
So what makes a serial killer? Levin points out that contrary to popular belief, serial killers don't just 'snap'; or 'go crazy'; (Douglas, p. 137). Many of the serial killers have been the victims of childhood abuse. Jack Levin stated 'Research shows many serial killers suffered abuse, incest or neglect as children and develop poor self images'; (Douglas, p. 137). Serial killers often have a childhood marked by the absence of any nurturing relationship. 'They often come from families where the parents were absent or ineffective, where authority was not defined, and where they could engage in destructive behavior undeterred-violent play, cruelty to animals, and incidents of arson being some of the childhood behavior patterns noted among many serial killers'; (Clark, p. 206).