Aileen Wuornos Has Been Called a Monster — How Did the Infamous Serial Killer Earn That Title?

According to the Statesman Journal, as the jury began filing out of a Florida courtroom in January 1992, the defendant whispered something under her breath. "I am innocent," said Aileen Wuornos, whose fine blond hair hung messily around her shoulders. Wuornos's posture changed as she suddenly shouted, "I was raped." She was guilty, and that's what the jury believed.

A decade after Wuornos's conviction, she was executed at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Fla. She refused a final meal and chose only to drink a cup of coffee. Her last words made little sense to the witnesses. Wuornos said she'd be sailing, like the Rock, and promised to come back like "Independence Day, with Jesus." What did she do to end up in a death chamber? Here's what we know.

Wuornos confessed to seven murders but was only convicted of one. She pleaded guilty or no contest to the other six, but since police never found the body of one of her victims, she was never tried for that death. She was subsequently sentenced to death six times.

The killings occurred in 1989 and 1990, reported the Associated Press. Wuornos's first victim, and the man whose murder she stood trial for, was 51-year-old Richard Mallory. The body of the Clearwater electronics shop owner was found Dec. 13, 1989, nearly two weeks after he was killed on Nov. 30. Mallory had been shot multiple times, per Wuornos's appeal. His vehicle had been located several miles away.

There were similarities in the other killings. David Spears, 47, was reported missing on May 19, 1990. Police discovered his body on June 1. Spears had been shot six times in the torso. On May 31, 1990, Wuornos took the life of 40-year-old Charles Edmund Carskaddon. The medical examiner pulled nine bullets out of his lower chest and abdomen. The body of Peter Abraham Siems, 65, was never found.

On July 31, 1990, 50-year-old Troy Eugen Burress was reported missing. His body was found four days later. Burress had been shot twice. Charles Richard "Dick" Humphreys, age 56, was shot seven times on Sept. 11, 1990. Police found his body the following day. Wuornos's final victim, that we know of, was 61-year-old Walter Gino Antonio. She shot him four times in the head sometime in November 1990.

Wuornos was a sex worker in Florida who met many of her clients while walking up and down the state's highways. A week after her arrest, Wuornos claimed the murders were committed in self-defense, per The Palm Beach Post.

"Most of the time I was drunk as h--l and I was a professional hooker and these guys would take my offer," said Wuornos while confessing. "When they started gettin' rough with me ... I just like opened up and fired at 'em."

Wuornos later recanted her story, telling Florida's Supreme Court that she "seriously hates human life and would kill again," per the AP. Her last interview was with documentarian Nick Broomfield. "My conclusion from the interview is, today we are executing someone who is mad," he said. "Here is someone who has totally lost her mind."