Aileen Wournos, one of the first female serial killers, endured many different types of abuse throughout her childhood which created her attachment disorders and psychopathy. Aileen was accused of killing seven men with a 0.22 caliber gun. She did this by hitchhiking and prostituting herself along many highways in central Florida.
Aileen’s family was not ideal. She was born on February 29, 1956 and is said to be one of five children. Her grandparents (who she thought were her parents) are named Lauri and Britta. Lauri was the adult figure that verbally and physically abused Aileen. Her brother Barry was her father’s favorite child; he was also 12 years older than Aileen and moved out when she was around the age of 2 years old. One of her
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She said that she can recall many times where she was forced to lay down on her face naked and in a spread eagle position to receive whippings. Lauri would often call Aileen “evil, wicked, worthless, and that she should have never been born”(Arrigo and Griffin 384). Aileen and Britta also did not have a mother daughter type relationship; Aileen idealized Britta. This type of relationship wasn’t uncommon in their household; Lauri and Britta did not show much affection whether it was physical or verbal; they only showed affection during their once annual family vacation. During her early childhood she was told that her siblings were actually her aunt and uncle and her oldest sister was her mother which alienated Aileen and her brother from their grandparents. When she was 15 years old she had a baby it is unknown who the fathers was but it was rumored that it was her brother Keith’s. Her grandfather immediately put the baby up for adoption and soon after Aileen dropped out of school. Around the time Aileen dropped out of school her grandmother Britta died of liver failure which her grandfather Lauri blamed her for, and her brother died of throat cancer this time she blamed herself for his