Final Project Milestone One Ziaraye Horn Southern New Hampshire University PSY 310: Criminal Psychology Timothy Franklin September 16, 2023
Summary Aileen Wuornos is one of America's most prolific female serial killers. Aileen was born Aileen Carol Pittman on February 29, 1956, to parents Diane Wuornos, who was 14 at the time of Aileen's birth, and Leo Dale Pittman in Rochester, Michigan. Aileen was the youngest of two siblings. Her father, Leo Pittman was a convicted child molester who was incarcerated at the time of her birth and would later go on to commit suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell. In 1960, when Aileen was almost four years old, her mother took off and abandoned her and her older brother Keith, leaving them in the care of their maternal grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos. According to Aileen, both of her grandparents were alcoholics, and in addition to that, her grandfather was extremely abusive both sexually and physically to her and Keith and had a pattern of making Aileen strip naked and lie down on the bed before beating her repeatedly with a leather belt (Estep, 2021). Aileen was forced on several occasions to fend for herself and live out in the woods when her grandfather locked her out of the house. At a young age, Aileen gained a reputation with the kids in the neighborhood for engaging in sexual activities with her brother, Keith. At the age of 11, she began to start trading sexual favors for the price of a few cigarettes, alcoholic drinks, and food. Aileen picked up the habit of binge drinking almost everyday as a way to cope with her life. When she was only 14- years old, she became pregnant as the product of sexual assault by an unknown character in her story, and the baby was given up for adoption shortly after it was born. After the birth of her child, Aileen's grandfather Laurie kicked her out of the house to fend for herself. She began living in the woods behind her house and hitchhiking around the country, using prostitution as a way to make money and support herself (Estep, 2021).
Once Wuornos began drifting across the country, her criminal activity ramped up from prostitution to other high-level offenses. In May of 1974, when Aileen was 18 years old, she was arrested in Colorado for driving under the influence of alcohol along with disorderly conduct after she reportedly fired a .22 caliber pistol from the vehicle while driving on a public highway. Wuornos arrived in the state of Florida in the spring of 1976 and continued to stay in trouble with the law committing various crimes that ranged from forgery and theft to armed robbery and assault. After meeting Tyria Moore at a bar in Daytona Beach, the two began an intense and volatile relationship that only caused more trouble for the two of them. While working as a prostitute along the Florida coastline in the late 1980's, Wuornos' violent behaviors took a