At first glance, Aileen Wuornos appeared to be an ordinary little girl\u2014bright-eyed, blonde, and shy. But beneath that fragile surface lay a life marked by neglect, violence, and trauma that would one day make her one of America\u2019s most infamous figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born in 1956 in Michigan, Aileen\u2019s early years were chaotic. Her 20-year-old mother abandoned her and her brother at age four, later calling it \u201cthe biggest mistake\u201d of her life. Their father, imprisoned for assaulting a child, took his own life behind bars. The siblings went to live with their grandparents, but the home offered no safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her grandmother battled alcoholism, while her grandfather was reportedly abusive. \u201cWe suffered a form of child abuse,\u201d Aileen\u2019s mother would later admit. \u201cWe were always told we were no good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At just 13, Aileen became pregnant after being assaulted. Rumors about the father circulated, but no one believed her, and no report was filed. She gave the baby up for adoption, hoping he\u2019d have a better life. Soon after, her grandmother died, and her grandfather also took his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aileen and her brother became wards of the state. By 11, she was trading sexual favors for food and cigarettes. She dropped out of school, drifted onto the streets, and survived through petty crime and prostitution. Arrests for theft and assault followed her into adulthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By her mid-20s, she had settled in Florida. In 1989, police discovered a man\u2019s body near Daytona Beach\u2014shot several times. Within weeks, Aileen confessed to killing several men, claiming she acted in self-defense against those who tried to assault her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At first glance, Aileen Wuornos appeared to be an ordinary little girl\u2014bright-eyed, blonde, and shy. But beneath that fragile surface lay a life marked by neglect, violence,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}