Kriti Mehrotra
Netflix’s ‘Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers’ is a documentary that explores the life and crimes of the world’s first female serial killer, Aileen Wuornos. It carefully incorporates archival audio-video footage to really shine a light upon not only her offenses but also her alleged childhood abuse and mental health issues. Thus, the focus does briefly shift to her parents, whom she never really got to know, as both she and her elder brother were primarily raised by their maternal grandparents.
Aileen Wuornos’ Parents Weren’t Involved in Her Life From an Early Age
On August 12, 1939, in Detroit, Michigan, Diane Wuornos was born into a deeply religious family headed by homemaker Britta and army man Lauri Wuornos. According to records, since the environment she grew up in was rather “stringent,” she reportedly ended up developing a rebellious streak and even got married at the tender age of 14. She tied the knot with 18-year-old Leo Pittman on June 3, 1954, following which they chose the rather conventional path of settling down together and starting a family. Diane and Leo welcomed their first child into the world on March 14, 1955, whom they named Keith Wuornos Pittman. However, everything soon changed as the couple’s marriage began to crumble. In fact, Diane filed for divorce at age 16 when she was around 7 months pregnant with their second child.
Aileen Carol Wuornos Pittman was ultimately born on February 29, 1956. What followed was four hard years for the entire family, at the end of which the mother left her children in the care of her grandparents to essentially, hopefully, start a new life. So, Aileen and Keith were adopted by their maternal family in 1960, as Leo was already long out of the picture — he never met his biological daughter. As per reports, Diane subsequently chose not to be involved in her kids’ lives, whereas Leo could not be since he was sentenced to a life term in 1967 for abducting and raping a 7-year-old. The aftermath of all this was still not good or stable for the youngsters because both their grandparents were reportedly alcoholics, with Aileen alleging that Lauri assaulted and molested her.
While Aileen Wuornos’ Father Passed Away in 1969, Her Mother Died in 2002
According to official documents, Leo Arthur Pittman was living around Sedgwick County, Kansas, in the 1960s when he was arrested for his heinous sexual crimes against a minor, a 7-year-old girl. His initial defense was that he was not mentally competent. Diagnosed with sociopathy and schizophrenia, he was admitted to a few mental institutions. He allegedly spent some time in psychiatric hospitals in Michigan as well as Kansas, including the Larned State Hospital, before finally being deemed competent to face the charges against him.
In 1967, Leo was convicted and sentenced to life in state prison for first-degree kidnapping, with additional lesser yet morally significant terms on the charges of statutory rape and sodomy. He appealed the verdict on grounds of the proceedings surrounding his mental health issues and an alleged error by the trial court in admitting his oral confession into evidence, but it was denied. Then, on January 30, 1969, he was found dead in his cell at the mixed-security Kansas State Penitentiary (now Lansing Correctional Facility). As per reports, the cause of the death of the 32-year-old was determined to be suicide by hanging.
Coming to Diane Kathleen Wuornos, she had seemingly done her best to move in life by the late 1950s by tying the knot with a native of Dallas, Texas, named David Alvin Tuley. It’s unclear whether her second marriage worked out or not, since she preferred to remain away from the limelight after her daughter’s crimes came to light in 1991. However, we do know that while David passed away at the age of 68 on February 4, 2001 in San Diego County, California, Diane reportedly died of liver failure at the age of 63 in November 2002 in her home state of Michigan, According to a 2005 report by the Journal of Forensic Sciences, Aileen’s mother and father were also both alcoholics.
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