She looked so innocent — but grew up to become one of the most notorious female killers

At first glance, Aileen Wuornos seemed like any other small-town girl. She had bright eyes, a soft smile, and an almost shy demeanor that made her appear gentle and ordinary. But behind that innocent appearance was a deeply troubled child, one whose early years were filled with rejection, trauma, and pain. The scars of that childhood would eventually shape her into one of America’s most infamous and misunderstood figures.

Born in Rochester, Michigan, in 1956, Aileen’s life began under dark circumstances. Her mother, only twenty years old, struggled to care for two young children. When Aileen was just four, her mother abandoned her and her brother, Keith, leaving them to be raised by their grandparents. Years later, Aileen’s mother would call that decision “the biggest mistake of her life.” Their father was already gone, imprisoned for the assault of a minor. He would later take his own life while behind bars, leaving the children with a legacy of shame and instability.

The household they entered was far from safe. Their grandmother battled alcoholism, often disappearing into long drinking spells. Their grandfather, meanwhile, was said to be strict, violent, and emotionally abusive. He would beat the children and belittle them constantly. “We suffered a form of child abuse,” Aileen’s mother later admitted. “We were always told we were no good.” Those words sank deep into Aileen’s mind and never left her.

At the age of thirteen, tragedy struck again. Aileen became pregnant after a sexual assault. Rumors spread through their small community, but few believed her story. No investigation was ever opened, and the people around her offered no protection. She was sent to a home for unwed mothers, where she gave birth to a baby boy. The child was taken away for adoption, and Aileen never saw him again. The loss devastated her. Soon after, her grandmother died of liver failure, and her grandfather also ended his life.

Now effectively alone, Aileen and her brother were placed in state care. By age eleven, she had already begun exchanging sexual favors for food, cigarettes, and shelter. It was survival, not choice. Her life became a cycle of neglect, exploitation, and violence. She dropped out of school and started drifting between towns, sleeping in abandoned cars or in the woods. Petty thefts and assaults followed, and by her teenage years she had her first criminal record.

As she grew older, Aileen moved south in search of warmth and work. By her mid-twenties, she had settled in Florida, living mostly on the margins of society. Her relationships were unstable, and her anger toward men, born from years of abuse, had hardened. In late 1989, police near Daytona Beach discovered the body of a man shot several times. Investigators found more victims over the following months, each killed in a similar way. The connection between them soon led to Aileen.

When she was finally caught, Aileen confessed to killing several men. She claimed she had acted in self-defense, saying each man had tried to assault or harm her while she worked as a sex worker. “They would have killed me if I hadn’t done it first,” she told investigators. Her words stirred debate across the country. Some saw her as a cold-blooded serial killer. Others believed she was a broken woman pushed beyond her limits by a lifetime of cruelty.

Aileen Wuornos’s story remains one of the most haunting in American criminal history. It is not just the story of the crimes she committed, but also the story of what created her—a chain of abandonment, abuse, and pain that began long before the first shot was fired.