Decade later: Remembering the tortured soul that was executed serial killer Aileen Wuornos

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A decade has passed since the nation's foremost serial killer was put to death by the State of Florida through lethal injection for the shooting deaths of seven men who had the misfortune of picking up the hitchhiking prostitute along the region's criss-crossing interstates. 

While her outward demeanor was vile -- she had the look of a train wreck and a nasty tongue for anyone who stood between her and her stated desire to be executed -- I saw that anguished and tortured inner child in her eyes in court. Nearly 10 years after her trial, the courtroom gallery became far less crowded, to the point where I was sometimes the only person there with the exception of courtroom personnel. On the outside, though, to those in her line of fire, she was a viper.

A Michigan teen runaway exposed to drugs and alcohol at a young age, she was raised by ill-equipped grandparents after her mother abandoned her at the age of 4 (she never met her father, a rapist who died in prison), had sexual intercourse with her own brother at 11, and bore a child out of rape by one of her father's friends at 14. The child was taken by the authorities and given up for adoption.

And after her two-year killing spree in 1989-'90 and subsequent trial, including the killing of a victim named Richard Mallory in woods near Ormond Beach, she led a tormented existence on death row, often accusing staff of poisoning her food. Aileen wanted out. To her, life on death row was worse than death itself.

I distinctly remember her final court appearance. Her latest set of appeals were kicked back by the High Court for the sentencing judge to determine her competency in granting her wish to be put to death.

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Source: Henry Frederick's blog. Henry Frederick, an award-winning breaking news and investigative journalist, is editor/publisher of Headline Surfer, Florida's first 24/7 Internet newspaper in New Smyrna Beach, launched April 7, 2008, accessed via HeadlineSurfer.com, NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net; New Smyrna Beach News.