The Life of Aileen Wuornos
Wuornos, whose national identification name was Aileen Carol Pittman, was born on 29th February 1956 in Rochester, Michigan. Diana Wuornos, Aileen’s Finnish-American mother, was born in 1939 and married Leo Dale Pittman, Aileen’s English-American dad when she was fourteen years old. Leo Dale Pittman was sixteen years old at the time of their marriage. Keith, Aileen’s eldest brother, was born on 14th March 1955. Following less than two years in marriage, Aileen’s mother filed for divorce; this was approximately two months before Aileen’s birth date. According to Diamond (2019), Aileen never had an encounter with his father since he was incarcerated during the period of her birth. Leo, Aileen’s father, was diagnosed with a mental condition known as schizophrenia. He was later sentenced for various sex offenses against children, and on 30th January 1969, Leo committed suicide while in prison– he hanged himself.
When Wuornos was approximately four years (this was around January 1960), her mother deserted the children. She left them with Britta and Lauri Wuornos, their maternal grandparents, who, according to Diamond (2019), were alcoholics. Their grandparents licitly adopted Aileen and Keith on 18th March 1960. Wuornos started engaging or taking part in sexual activities while in school when she was around eleven years old. According to Diamond (2019), Wuornos participated in sexual relations in exchange for pleasures such as food, drugs, and cigarettes. Tang (2019) further highlights that she also had a sexual encounter with her brother. According to Wuornos’s statement, her alcoholic grandfather assaulted her sexually and battered her when she was still a child. He would often coerce her to strip off her clothes before beating her. When she was around fourteen years of age, Wuornos became pregnant after being raped by her grandfather’s accomplice; this happened in 1970. On 23rd March 1971, Wuornos bore a baby boy who was later placed for adoption (Sarteschi, 2016). A few months after giving birth, Wuornos quit school; this was around the time of her grandmother’s demise. Her grandfather later threw or cast her out of the house. Wuornos resided in the woods around her old home and started supporting or financing herself as a sex worker.
Crimes Committed by Aileen Wuornos
Early Criminal History
Aileen was apprehended in Jefferson County, Colorado, on 27 May 1974 for disorderly behavior, DUI (driving under the influence), and firing a gun (22-caliber) from a moving car. Wuornos was later accused of failure to appear. She later moved to Florida, and while in this particular state, Wuornos met Lewis Gratz Fell, a sixty-nine-year-old president of a yacht club, and got married. While at the local bar, Aileen was constantly involved in confrontations, and according to Tang (2019), she was jailed for a brief period for assault. Diamond (2019) further indicates that Wuornos hit her husband, Lewis, with his Cane, which led him to file a restraining order within a short marriage period. Wuornos traveled back to Michigan, and on 14 July 1976, she was taken into custody while at Antrim County and indicted for disrupting the peace and assault after pitching a cue ball at the head of a bartender.
On 17 July 1976, Keith, Wuornos’ brother, died due to esophageal cancer. Aileen was given $10,000 from her sibling’s life insurance. Her marriage with Fell was later annulled on 21 July. In August, Wuornos was fined $105 for drunk driving. On 20 May 1981, Aileen was apprehended in Edgewater for armed robbery in a convenience store (Sarteschi, 2016). According to Sarteschi (2016), Wuornos stole two cigarette packs and $35. This act led to her conviction on 4 May 1982; she was later released on 30 June 1983. On 1 May 1984, she was detained for forgery at a bank located in Key West. On 30 November 1985, Wuornos was listed as a suspect in ammunition and revolver theft; this took place in Pasco County.
On 4 January 1986, Aileen was taken into custody in Miami and accused of justice obstruction, resisting arrest, and car theft. During her arrest, Diamond (2019) indicates that she provided an identification that bore her aunt’s denomination. The police officers at Miami also located an ammunition box and a revolver (38-caliber) in the stolen vehicle. On 2nd June 1986, Wuornos was arrested by deputy sheriffs at Volusia County for questioning following an accusation made by a male companion, which involved Wuornos pulling a gun while in his vehicle and demanding $200. During her arrest, Aileen had spare ammunition, and according to Diamond (2019), police officers found a 22 gun under the seat she had occupied. On 4th July 1987, Wuornos was apprehended by the Daytona Beach Police for interrogation about an incident whereby she, alongside her friend Moore, was accused of battery and assault using a beer bottle.
Murders
Aileen committed seven murders within twelve months. Delineated below is a full list of the people she killed.
30th November 1989: A 51-year-old man named Richard Charles Mallory, who owned an electronics store in Clearwater (Tang, 2019). Mallory had initially been sentenced for rape, and according to Wuornos’s statement, she murdered Mallory in self-defense. Aileen stated that she was brutally beaten and sodomized after being taken to an abandoned region for sexual appeals.
David Andrew Spears, a construction worker situated in Winter Garden and aged 47 (Tang, 2019). Spears was confirmed missing on 19th May 1990, and on 1st July, his naked corpse was discovered in Citrus County along Route 19 in Florida. Spears had been shot around six times using a 22 revolver.
31st May 1990 – Charles Edmund Carskaddon, rodeo worker (part-time) aged forty. Carskaddon’s body was discovered on 6th June 1990 in Pasco County, and according to Sarteschi (2016), he had been around nine times using a 20-caliber gun. An electric blanket was used to wrap the victim’s body. Witnesses claimed to see Aileen with Carskaddon’s vehicle; furthermore, she had pawned a pistol whose owner was identified as Carskadon.
Peter Abraham Siems, an ex-seaman trader. In June 1990, Peter left Florida for Arkansas, and on 4th July, his vehicle was discovered in Orange Springs. Witnesses saw Wuornos and Moore deserting the car, and the palm print of Wuornos was identified on the interior handle of the car’s door; however, his body was never located. A sausage salesman by the name of Troy Eugene Burress and residing in Ocala and aged 50. Burress’s missing report was filed on 31st July 1990, and on 4TH August, his corpse was discovered in a wooded region in Marion County alongside State Road 19 – he had two gunshot wounds.
11th September 1990 – Charles Richard Humphreys, an ex-major of the U.S Air Force, and a former police chief and child abuse investigator. His corpse was discovered in Marion County on 12th September 2020 (Sarteschi, 2016). He had six gunshot wounds in the torso and head and was wholly clothed. Humphreys’ car was located in Suwanee County.
Walter Jeno Antonio, a police reservist, security guard, and trucker aged sixty-two. His body was discovered on 19th November 1990 around a remote logging street in Dixie County (Sarteschi, 2016). He had four gunshot wounds, and his vehicle was located in Brevard County after five days.
Application of Theories
Routine Activities Theory
The routine activities postulation is a rational choice theory’s subsidiary coined by Cohen and Felson (1979) (Argun & Daglar, 2016). This theory was selected for this particular analysis because it provides a macro viewpoint on offenses by predicting how changes in economic and social conditions impact the overall victimization and crime rate.
The above-mentioned theory emphasizes the presence of three primary factors or aspects for a crime to take place. These elements include a motivated wrongdoer with unlawful intentions and the capacity to act on these predilections, the lack or unavailability of a capable guardian to hinder them from taking place, and a suitable target or victim (Argun & Daglar, 2016). These aspects should converge in space and time for the offense to be initiated.
Wuornos’s criminal activities were not trivial or random; instead, her operations were structured and inspired by illegal intentions and her willingness to act on these inclinations. Her incapacity to achieve her personal goals using legal means also motivated her to engage in criminal acts such as theft and forgery. For instance, on one particular occasion, Wuornos was apprehended for armed robbery for stealing two cigarette packs and $35. Her interaction with Moore also inspired her to engage in several crimes, including battery, assault, and murder.
About the availability of suitable targets, Wuornos’s choice of targets was impacted by her perception of the victims’ susceptibility. For example, all her murder victims were older men aged between 47 and 65 years who were easily accessible.
The unavailability of a capable guardian also influenced Wuornos’ involvement in various criminal acts. As indicated earlier, Aileen never had an encounter with her father because he was jailed when she was young, her mother abandoned her, and her maternal grandparents were alcoholics. Wuornos further reported being sexually assaulted and battered by her grandfather and raped by her grandfather’s accomplice.
Social Learning Theory
The social learning postulation relates to a socio-behavioral strategy that highlights the reciprocal interconnection between environmental, behavioral, and cognitive determinants of human deportments (Nodeland & Morris, 2018). The above-mentioned theory was selected for this analysis because of its practical applications in elucidating a wide range of criminal conducts. It centers around the conception that the same learning procedure in a social structure context, situation, and interaction generates both deviant and conforming deportments. Its fundamental premises include imitation, differential reinforcement, definitions, and differential association (Nodeland & Morris, 2018).
Regarding the differential association concept, Wuornos’ interaction and association with individuals such as Moore, who participated in wrongful acts, influenced her engagement in criminal acts, including battery and assault and the murder of Peter Abraham Siems. Her encounter with her grandfather, who battered and assaulted her sexually, as well as her grandfather’s accomplice who raped her may have contributed to her involvement in the murder of Richard Charles Mallory. Mallory brutally beat and sodomized her after taking her to an abandoned region for sexual appeal.
The differential association process may have impacted Wuornos’ definition of what is acceptable and unacceptable, or evil and good. It can be assumed that the above-mentioned procedure influenced the development of Wuornos’ definitions that favor deviance. This triggered a mindset that made Wuornos more dedicated to committing criminal acts, such as repeated murders, theft, DUI, firing guns, and bearing ammunitions when an opportunity presented itself.
As indicated earlier, Wuornos’ history was typified by repeated sexual assaults, battery, and powerlessness. This can lead to the presumption that Wuornos often desired to be in control, and to achieve this consequence, she continuously engaged in crimes. This argument is based on the differential reinforcement conception, established on the notion that individuals encounter and anticipate the consequence or rewards of their behaviors. Her constant involvement in crimes such as murder and theft may be related to the perception that the differential reinforcement degree is linked to the probability, frequency, and magnitude of its occurrence.
Imitation is based on the idea that people participate in behaviors that they have initially witnessed other people doing. Being adopted and living with her alcoholic grandparents may account for her apprehension for drank driving and DUI.
References
- Argun, U., & Daglar, M. (2016). Examination of routine activities theory by the property crime. Journal of Human Sciences, 13(1),1188–1198. Web.
- Diamond, S. (2019). “A flower in a hard rain”: Melodramatic storytelling by, and about, Aileen Wuornos. Anthurium,15(2), 1–14. Web.
- Nodeland, B., & Morris, R. (2018). A test of social learning theory and self-control on cyber offending. Deviant Behavior, 41(1), 41–56. Web.
- Sarteschi, C. M. (2016). Mass and serial murder in America. Springer International Publishing.
- Tang, C. M. (2019). Children and crime. Rowman & Littlefield.