Aileen Wuornos Execution
Aileen was sentenced to jail/d3@th row for women at the Florida Department of Corrections Broward Correctional Institution. Aileen appealed her case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996, but she was denied a hearing. She appealed to the Florida Supreme Court to fire her legal counsel and stop all appeals because she will not make any more appeals. She told the Florida Supreme Court, "I ki**ed those men, robbed them as cold as ice. And I"d do it again, too. There"s no chance of keeping me alive or anything because I"d k*ll again. I have hate crawling through my system...I am so sick of hearing this "she"s crazy" stuff. I"ve been evaluated so many times. I"m competent, sane, and I"m trying to tell the truth. I"m one who seriously hates human life and would k*ll again." Three psychiatrists affirmed that she was not sane, and her execution should be carried out after an attorney argued that Aileen is not sane and her appeal should not be listened to.
Aileen claimed that some officers were abusing her and threatened to stop showering and taking food trays when certain officers were working. Aileen said the officers are tainting her food, spitting on it, cooked her potatoes with dirt, and giving her food with urine. She also claimed that the officers would perform strip searches on her and handcuff her hands tightly so that her wrists would easily bruise whenever she left her cell. Aileen stated that she heard the officers talking about her "trying to get me so pushed over the brink by them I"d wind up committing suicide before the execution" and "wishing to r**e me before execution." "catcalling ... in distaste and a pure hatred towards me." "In the meantime, my stomach"s growling away, and I"m taking showers through the sink of my cell."
Aileen"s final interview before her d3@th - she said that she was being tortured at BCI (Broward Correctional Institution), and so was her mind. She claimed that she was abused, and each time she said something about it, the abuse would get worse than the last time. She said that BCI was trying to make her look insane. She said that she was ready to leave and "The Angels and Jesus Christ would be there and that when she died, it would be "being taken away to meet God and Jesus and the angels and whatever is beyond the beyond." In an interview with Nick Broomfield, she told him, "You sabotaged my ass! Society, and the cops, and the system! A r**ed woman got executed and was used for books and movies and sh*t!"
Her final words that were not caught on camera was "Thanks a lot, society, for railroading my ass." Dawn Botkins met Nick the day before the execution and told him, "She"s sorry, Nick. She didn"t give you the finger. She gave the media the finger and then the attorneys the finger. And she knew if she said much more, it could make a difference on her execution tomorrow, so she just decided not to."
October 9, 2002 - Aileen was brought into the d3@th chamber and asked what she would like her last meal. She replied that she would only like a cup of black coffee. Aileen"s last words before she was executed were, "Yes, I would 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 mother ship and all, I"ll be back, I"ll be back." Aileen died at 9:47 a.m. on October 2, 2002, in Florida State Prison, Florida. The Supreme Court removed the ban on capital punishment in 1976, making Aileen the tenth female to be executed in the United States.
After Aileen Wuornos Died
Dawn Botkins spread Aileen"s cremated ashes beneath a tree in Michigan. Upon dying, Aileen requested that the song "Carnival" by Natalie Merchant be played at her funeral. The song was played during the credits of Aileen: Life and d3@th of a Serial Killer and the composer was questioned as to why she would let her song be played for a serial killer. Natalie permitted her song to be in the documentary because she felt sympathy for Aileen and her life from childhood to her first kill. Natalie was touched when she heard that Aileen played her album Tigerlily while on d3@th row for hours.
Aileen Wuornos Books
- FBI profiler Robert K. Ressler wrote about Aileen Wuornos briefly in his 1992 autobiographical book about his 20 years history with the FBI. Robert usually does not write about female serial killers, but Aileen was an exception.
- Journalist Sue Russell wrote a book in 2002 about Wuornos titled Lethal Intent.
- Lisa Kester and Daphne Gottlieb wrote "Dear Dawn: Aileen Wuornos in Her Own Words" in 2012 after editing several letters written over a ten-year period. The letters were from Aileen to her childhood friend Dawn Botkins.
Aileen Wuornos Documentaries
- Nick Broomfield directed: Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial ki**er (1993) and
Aileen: Life and d3@th of a Serial ki**er (2003)
- Aileen Wuornos was portrayed in the TV series American Justice "d3@th Row Prostitute: Aileen Wuornos."
- Aileen Wuornos was the subject and portrayed in an episode of the TV series Biography.
- Aileen Wuornos was in the Deadly Women episode "Predators."
Movies/Songs/Poems
- Monster (movie 2003) chronicles Aileen"s life/struggles from childhood to her first m**der conviction. Monster earned Charlize Theron an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Aileen Wuornos.
- Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story ((TV movie 1992)
- Composer Carla Lucero wrote an opera titled Wuornos about Aileen Wuornos produced by the Jon Sims Center for the Performing Arts and conducted by Mary Chun.
The opera was premiered at San Francisco"s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on June 22, 2001.
- Jewel ("Nicotine Love")
- New York-based Metalcore band It Dies Today "Sixth of June."
- Poet Doron Braunshtein wrote a poem called "Aileen Wuornos," published in his spoken word CD The Obsessive Poet in 2011.
- Poet Rima Banerji wrote "Sugar Zero," which is dedicated to Aileen Wuornos.
