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

But prosecutors saw something different: a cold, calculating murderer who lured men in, killed them, and stole their belongings.

By the time her case went to trial, she was accused of killing seven men in just one year. The press called her “America’s first female serial killer.”

Her name has become infamous ever since, her story retold in books, documentaries, and even Hollywood films.

She was Aileen Wuornos — the “Damsel of Death.

A media circus

“Wuornos is a killer who robs, not a robber who kills. She indeed appears to be very much a serial killer,” said chief investigator Steve Binegar in 1991.

Wuornos’ trial quickly became a media circus. She maintained that every killing was an act of self-defense against men who had tried to harm her. But the jury didn’t believe her. In January 1992, she was found guilty and sentenced to death.

Having been handed six death sentences upon being found guilty, Wuornos said in court: “I am as guilty as can be. I want the world to know I killed these men, as cold as ice. I’ve hated humans for a long time. I am a serial killer. I killed them in cold blood, real nasty.”

Confined to death row at Broward Correctional Institution in Florida while she awaited her execution, she regularly complained about the decision to delay her fate.

“There is no point in sparing me,” Wuornos said in July 2001. “It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money. I killed those men, robbed them. And I’d do it again, too.

“There’s no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I’d kill again. I have hate crawling through my system.”

Last words

Wuornos’ execution was eventually carried out via lethal injection on October 9, 2002. Prior to the sentence being carried out, the 46-year-old muttered her final statement, which was as follows:

“I would just 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.”

While her crimes horrified the world, her tragic past still leaves one haunting question: Was Aileen born a monster — or made into one?