6 Disturbing Details Queen of the Serial Killers Left Out About Aileen Wuornos’ Life

Aileen Wuornos’ life was marked by hardship, violence, and controversy — from her turbulent childhood to the shocking murders that made her infamous.

The Netflix documentary Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers revisits her story through rare archival interviews, personal recordings, and reflections from friends and others who knew her. While her life has been portrayed before — most famously in the 2003 film Monster, which earned Charlize Theron an Oscar — this documentary provides a more intimate, unfiltered look at the woman behind the crimes.

Wuornos was a sex worker in Florida who killed seven male clients between 1989 and 1990. She confessed to the murders, claiming she acted in self-defense against men who had raped or attempted to rape her. “I’m not a serial killer … I didn’t plan these murders or anything like that,” she insisted in the film.

Though Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers explores her life, trial, and execution, several haunting details were left out.

She Was Abandoned by Her Mother and Estranged from Her Father

Wuornos’ parents were teenagers when she was born in February 1956 — her mother, Diane, was 16, and her father, Leo Pittman, was 19. The two separated before her birth, and when Wuornos was just 4, Diane left her and her brother, Keith, in the care of their grandparents, who legally adopted them.

“I just couldn’t cope,” Diane once told police. “The whole family came to me and begged me to give them to my parents, which was probably the biggest mistake I ever made.”

Wuornos never knew her father; he was convicted of raping a 7-year-old girl in 1967 and later died by suicide in prison. Childhood friend Dawn Botkins described Wuornos as having “the worst life of anyone I have ever met,” adding that her later crimes were tragic but unsurprising given her upbringing.

She Had a “Brief Sexual Relationship” with Her Brother

According to The Los Angeles Times, Wuornos admitted to a short-lived sexual relationship with her brother Keith, who was three years older. Court records also mention that a neighbor, Sidney Shovan, claimed to have overheard them together.

Botkins remembered Keith as a kind person whom Aileen “loved very, very much.” He died of cancer in 1976. Wuornos inherited $10,000 from his life insurance but quickly spent it on a luxury car, which she soon crashed.

She Claimed to Have Slept with Over 250,000 Men

Wuornos became a sex worker as a teenager, surviving on the streets of Florida. The New York Times reported that she estimated having sex with more than 250,000 men. In the documentary, she recounted being raped “30 times, maybe more” throughout her life.

She Found Solace in Music on Death Row

While awaiting execution, Wuornos listened repeatedly to Natalie Merchant’s 1995 album Tigerlily. Merchant later told The New Yorker that she initially refused to let filmmaker Nick Broomfield use her music in his 2003 documentary Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer.

“My answer was ‘No, under no circumstances,’ ” Merchant said. “But when I learned that Tigerlily was what Aileen listened to obsessively, I gave permission. It gave her comfort when she was on death row.”

Her Ashes Rest Beneath a Walnut Tree in Michigan

After a decade on death row, Wuornos was executed by lethal injection on Oct. 9, 2002. Her longtime friend Dawn Botkins — who had known her since they were 15 — received her ashes.

Although Wuornos wanted them scattered on Flagler Beach in Florida, Botkins convinced her to choose Michigan instead. “You’re coming home here,” Botkins wrote in a letter. “You pick out a walnut tree, and your ashes are coming home with your best friend.”

According to The Ledger, Botkins buried Wuornos’ ashes beneath a walnut tree on her property in Tuscola County, Michigan. “She loved walnut trees,” Botkins said. “I’ve been planting them for her for years.”

The Last Resort Bar Became a Dark Tourist Landmark

The Last Resort, the biker bar in Port Orange, Florida, where Wuornos spent much of her time — and where she was arrested in January 1991 — has since become a macabre tourist attraction.

“They come from all over the world,” owner Al Bulling told The Daytona Beach News-Journal in February 2025. “Everything’s the same — same pool table, same atmosphere.”

The bar’s walls are lined with articles, photos, and memorabilia about the so-called “Damsel of Death.” Once, it even sold Wuornos-themed merchandise like T-shirts and hot sauce. A sign on the side entrance now reads: “Home of ice cold beer and killer women.”