When she wasn’t. It even states that she was in the Editorial Reviews section of [here.](http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:oAZVNpuRxmkJ:www.amazon.com/Aileen-Wuornos-Selling-Serial-Killer/dp/B0001KNHM2+Why+was+Aileen+Wuornos+the+first+serial+killer&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a#Editorial Reviews)
Who was?
Because she was? She also has that designation by the Guinness Book of World Records.
It is believed that Genene Jones was responsible for the deaths of many infants while she worked as a nurse, but she was only convicted of one murder, and I’m guessing Guinness goes by a similar definition to the ones below for what constitutes a serial killer.
someone who murders more than three victims one at a time in a relatively short interval
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were generally unknown to them beforehand. Their crimes are committed as a result of a compulsion that, in many but not all cases, has roots in the killer’s (often dysfunctional) youth, as opposed to those who are motivated by financial gain (e.g. contract killers) or ideological/political motivations (e.g. terrorists). Many times, this compulsion is linked to the individual’s sexual drive.
www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&defl=en&q=define:serial+killer&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title
I’ve heard it said that Locusta is the first documented female serial killer.
This page says that she was the first (and only) female sexual predator serial killer. There have been other types of female serial killer previously, however. Such as:
Other women had killed multiple victims. But people kill for different motives. Wuornos was the first woman to fit the psychological profile of a serial killer.
I dunno. It seems as though Elizabeth Bathory should be able to get a claim in here, somewhere.
Because people have no sense of history and rarely do research. This site has more than a few female serial killers on it way predating Aileen Wuornos.
The OP should have said “America’s first female serial killer”, as that’s what the claim is from the Editorial Reviews section he mentioned. I don’t think anyone’s on Eve’s list can take the title from her. They either aren’t American or don’t fit the requirement of killing those who are generally unknown to them.
Well, there’s Belle Gunness :
“Belle Gunness (1896-1908) aka “Lady Bluebeard” was the first 20th Century Black Widow. She was never brought to justice. On a farm outside of Chicago, she killed 49 people, including multiple husbands, ranch workers, and children who were put up with her thru adoption agencies. Most of the people died from poisoning, diagnosed as acute colitis, although many others met with freak accidents on the farm. Toward the end, she collaborated in an arson cover-up with one of the ranch workers who was also set up as the patsy while she faked her own death. The patsy died in prison, innocent of any crime other than the arson he participated in.”
If she doesn’t qualify as a serial killer then there’s something very wrong with the definition.
I like the definition having the caveat that those who have killed for political and monetary gain, etc. not be deemed serial killers. Otherwise Hitler and old west outlaws like Jessie James would make the serial killer list. According to the wikipedia article on Belle Gunness, her apparent motives involved collecting life insurance benefits.
That would also disqualify Aileen Wuornos, who was robbing her victims.
It would if robbery were the motive, but I think it’s believed that “man hating” or at least hating men who pick up prostitutes was her motive.
Sorry, Hitler doesn’t make the list. He did NOT kill anybody personally [unless he did it when he was in the army. I can’t remember ever reading that he ever killed anybody in WW1.]
Ordering deaths doesn’t count, and I am not certain that ‘driving’ somone to commit suicide counts either.
I know Hollywood would never lie to me, and in Monster, Wuornos was killing men to get their money so she could support herself and her lesbian lover.
Agreed!
Yep, that’s a lot of predators.
/me ducks