First ever female serial killer: Aileen Wournos | 60 Minutes Australia

[Music] the dark woods are Florida's highways it was down dirt roads like this that seven men met the madness of one angry woman Lee were nos murdered them robbed them and then drove home in their cars this men were shot just just shot in such that mu boom boom you know they weren't cut up they weren't sliced up no OJ jazz you know and he said I did the most horrendous crime in the whole wide world not true I guess not only word was shot and left it was a horrendous crime why didn't I shoot between the eyes cut their penis off stick it in their mouth you know do all kinds of gross stuff other word was shot left you know she's been called the damsel of death and the hooker from hell but embellishment aside the story of history's first female serial killer is macabre enough even without its supporting cast of characters first there's me were losses lawyers she's given him the job of getting her to the electric chair to plead out that's what then there's the serial killers new mother she first met Lee after her arrest and then legally adopted her Sheba you know we believe in the holy spirit and so we feel it was him prompting us that this person really needed help and she had nobody and just reach out to her so we did I met her in a bar and there's Lee's gay lover who betrayed her to the police we were sitting on the floor watching TV and she just come out and said I have something to tell you and I asked for what and she said that she had shot and killed a man that day Lee it sounds like you've been betrayed everyone that's right I was I was that's why I don't care if I'm executed and leave this planet if anyone was destined to end up here on death row it was probably luminous psychologists sketch a portrait of a damaged person with a lurid history of abuse that began in childhood abandoned by her teenage mother when she was just six months old Lee was raised by her alcoholic grandmother and a cruel grandfather who regularly beat her with his belt buckle when she was two her father committed suicide in jail where he was doing time for kidnapping and raping a child by 13 she'd been raped and was pregnant at 14 she quit school and when her grandfather kicked her out of home Lee Warner's life on the road began from age 15 Lee were nas worked prostitutions lowest and most dangerous trade a hitchhiking hooker turning tricks from exit to exit on Florida's interstate highways basically I'd say have five to six guys her name interested they could be interesting 30 they could be interested in 40 it could be interested for a hundred I wasn't too high-priced so I could keep the customers satisfied that all changed when she turned 33 after years of abuse and degradation at the hands of men Lee were nas started evening the score the killings all began like this a middle-aged man pulled over to pick up Lee were knows that's the first of just two facts on which everyone agrees the way Lee tells that she was just a hooker trying to turn a trick and the men knew it the state of Florida maintains she tricked her victims by posing as a damsel in distress the men thought they were helping her out either way the second fact on which everyone agrees is that Lee Wuornos shot them dead maybe you were just born bad no I wasn't born bad you guys got it sim trying to tell you me and they lie they lied so bad to you all but you've been convicted of killing seven men everybody's looking at the number does that not you you killed it seven men seven strangers does that not make you a serial kisser I didn't kill him every day you did I did I go out there every day as a man if I did there hello it took you 12 months yeah and that's a hell of a lot of men I went through before the next jerk came along and I used to protection like a condom so it was seeds it was self-defense yeah Lee the first one perhaps the second maybe but seven times li 1 oz began the last day of her miserable life on the road here or during her first beer at the 11:00 in the morning close to broke as usual it was Lee's style to hustle quarters for the jukebox so she could listen to her favorite song on this day that was made easier by two undercover cops they struck up a conversation with her doubles thought of some more beer and then convinced her to step outside [Music] leah was prepared for anything but the six florida police officers who arrested her it was from this point the story of the first female serial killer becomes truly perplexing first her videotaped confession go ahead and put the electric chair to me I should have never done it she told police but by the time of her trial Lee was pleading self-defense the case wasn't helped when tyria more now very much her ex-lover turned star witness in the prosecution but it gets worse tyria had another deal going with the arresting police they were trying to sell Hollywood the movie rights to Lee were Knossos life and crazy times because I wanted her to keep talking about the offenses so I would be cleared district attorney Rick Ridgeway is one of the only officials willing to talk about the were nos case anymore the police certainly won't out of sheer embarrassment there was a tremendous amount of almost frenzy about the case and everybody wanted to get a scoop on the next guy about the case and there were so many people who were willing to pander to that him in order to be the one who gets quoted or who gets the movie made about it people from your own Sheriff's Office well unfortunately yes they did as the prosecutor were you dismayed by that well to put it mildly we went through the roof when we found out about it in the end it was only the producers of this American TV movie who were able to cash in on Lee's story Tyria and the police's conspiracy to get rich quick came to nothing once they were caught but that hasn't stopped Lee were not suspecting someone somewhere wants to exploit pen-name it's making me get bitter evil angry I've never been before in my life worse than even out there with those men this is evil what those people have done to me do you feel anger or even hatred towards men I never hated men but now I do I mean now all I have a category I hate those male male cops real bad cuz they're dirt balls the cops the judges lawyers they're all male I have made peace with my Lord and I have asked forgiveness the final twist and this already mad tale was when Lee Wuornos decided to plead no contest to the remaining six murder charges sentence you in case number 91 next 463 to death for the murder of Troy Burris her lawyer Steve Glazer found himself in the bizarre position of helping his client take the express route to the electric chair in any case number I sentence you to death for the murder of David Spears thank you table C I'll be up in heaven why y'all rotting in half in effect though weren't you trying to kill your client it's not what I was trying to do okay it's what she wanted to have done to her she was tired of being in the spotlight she was tired of reporters and police and lawyers everyone making a career off of her she did not like the man hating killer label she didn't like the lesbian killer angle she didn't like what people were saying about her and she knows if she gots to go to trial five more times she's gonna be in the for the next ten years do you still believe she was competent to make that decision without a doubt okay there will be an automatic appeal you have the right to an appeal mr. glazier is that going to be handled by you okay Oh our point the public defender's office to handle the appeal there's one other thing that I wanted to say that I think needs to be said there for these proceedings do still want the chair there's no sense in having me tormented for the rest of my life when I don't deserve to be tormented I did what anybody else would do and so there's all my clemency or the chair you make your pick people because that's the only way it's gonna be why did you adopt lay Willis for one reason and one reason only we want to hurt it know it felt like to be part of a family born-again Christian Elaine prolly has a fondness for adopting stray animals when she adopted Lee she planned a life together on her farm now she'd be happy just to keep her alive tell me this how did you counsel thee I I told her to go for the life in prison I told her that that would be the best I told her that God could use her within the prison to help other girls that were hurting maybe didn't have a relationship with Jesus and that she could really be used mightily there and we fought bitterly over it she said that no human being had the right to tell another human being what to do with their life stop the murders dieter the not much phases the singing lawyer Steve Glazer not the three heart attacks is suffered since taking on this case nor the criticism has endured for seeking Lee were losses execution has this case been good for your career no but that's life you know you take the Ovidio blood doll life goes on you try something else is there anyone in this cast of characters who isn't a little bit crazy a little bit eccentric I think he got to be a little while to be in this business if Steve blazer has done his job leeward Oz could be executed in this chair within three years she's waived her right to appeal here's no last-minute stays from the governor's office the electrode then is placed on top of the inmates head it's an actual cap with an electrode inside it's secured onto his head one of these electrodes here is then fastened on to the top of the head piece alone and lost in her own nightmare Lee warned us is an American Horror Story she could escape death row but her bitterness and hate will see Leigh become the first woman in over a century to be executed in Florida aren't you afraid no I know where I'm going I'm gonna be with the Lord thank you do you want to die you wanna oh man if I if I was to leave this planet wouldn't be no big deal to me cuz this is a wicked wicked world wicked world hello I'm Allison Langdon thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our Channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 6,173,281

Rating: 4.6756206 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Ellen Fanning, Peter Overton, Ray Martin, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Peter Harvey, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Sarah Abo, Aileen Wournos, serial killer, murderer, Monster, crime, female killer, Charlize Theron

Id: 6_NzXdJWCco

Length: 14min 10sec (850 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 04 2019