Because this is my last post on this topic, I wanted to do a wrap up. But because I’ve been doing some research on female serial killers, it wouldn’t be fair to only list the men and not include the women. So with that said, here is some information on female killers.
It’s not that female killers are rare, they are just harder to find. Their victims are usually people they know. These crimes are mostly emotionally connected, however, there are instances where these women have killed people they don’t know or have teamed up with a man to kill people but the majority of killings are committed through personal/emotional motive.
There are 2 main types of female serial killers:
Black Widows
Black Widows kill family members and partners for financial gain.
Angels of Death
Angels of Death target victims who are unable to protect or defend themselves. For example, children or the elderly.
Other categories women fall into are sexual predator killers or revenge killers.
Statistics
Women serial killers are said to kill by:
- Poison (The majority)
- Shootings (used by 20%),
- Suffocation (16%),
- Stabbing (11%),
- Drowning (5%)
***While researching, I found no evidence of women killing by sadistic rituals.
Because I’m a fan of movies and shows about serial killers, I did research on Aileen Wuornos, who was the inspiration for the movie Monster. I think Aileen Wuornos falls into the category of sexual predator and revenge killer.
Aileen Wuornos
Killed seven men between 1989-1990 but claimed self defense
Sentenced to lethal injection-October 9, 2002.
Aileen had a brother a little older than her. Aileen and her brother were abandoned by their mother when she was only 4 years old and so they were adopted by their grandparents. Her mother divorced her father but Wuornos never met him because he was in prison for raping and trying to murder a young boy just when she was born. Aileen’s father was a schizophrenic, who committed sex crimes against minors. He killed himself in prison when she was 13.
Wuornos started to engage in sexual activities at 12 years old. She would peform sexual acts for food and drugs. She also had sexual relations with her own brother.Wuornos claimed that she was sexually assaulted by her alchoholic grandfather. At age 14, she became pregnant after being raped by her grandfather’s friend. She gave the child up for adoption and she began prostituting at age 15 to financially support herself.
After committing crime after crime, she eventually started killing and shot most if not all her victims. She was put to death by lethal injection in 2002. She had no trust in people, society and in the media. She felt like she wasn’t being portrayed in a fair light. She said this in an interview: “A raped woman got executed, and was used for books and movies and shit…Thanks a lot, society, for railroading my ass.”
I think Aileen’s history explains ALL of why she killed men. She claimed self defense a lot because she lived in fear her whole life. Her body was never her own and her mind was never at ease. After all she’s been through, I don’t blame her for wanting to get even with men. Being raped can take everything from a woman; her pride, power,hope…She wanted to have control back and she tried to find that in prostitution and murder. It’s a shame that someone who has been through so much grief and pain was sentenced to die. I personally don’t think the death penalty was a reasonable sentence because she obviously wasn’t a cold hearted killer. She had a heart, it just was misplaced with vengeance which shouldn’t be punished by death. What she really needed was a caring family and friends and a whole lot of therapy.
To sum all of this up with past posts, what I’ve learned through researching serial killers is that serial killers are people too. They were born into the world and were guided through the direction of their parents. Parents play a HUGE role in what happens to these people in the future. Whether they grow up in abusive households, with alcoholic parents, confined with no social lives, rape victims, mommy and daddy issues, etc. Good direction starts in the home. If these children are victims of a bad upbringing, it raises their chances of becoming unstable adults. I find that the recorded # of serial killers has went down in today’s world maybe due to the options we have as far as technology and medicine. I strongly believe that If a child shows signs of strange social behavior, this should be addressed immediately, especially if there are problems at home. The schools need to be alert and responsive to these issues and make sure the child receives all the help he/she deserves. Not because all troubled children will become serial killers, but because all children deserve to have a stable, healthy life and a clean slate into adulthood.
Thank you, The End.
http://www.criminaljusticeusa.com/blog/2011/10-infamous-female-serial-killers/
http://l-pawlik-kienlen.suite101.com/facts-about-female-killers-a52936
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aileen_Wuornos