# Why was Aileen Wuornos called the "first female serial killer"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597 "2006-11-24T01:01:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![diggleblop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@diggleblop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggleblop)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/1 "2006-11-24T01:01:37Z")
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](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) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/2 "2006-11-24T01:05:37Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] When she wasn’t. [/QUOTE] Who was? ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/3 "2006-11-24T01:54:48Z")
[QUOTE=diggleblop] 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](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) [/QUOTE] 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. > **[Serial killer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_killer)** > > Note: Varies by jurisdiction Note: Varies by jurisdiction A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is an individual who murders three or more people, with the killings taking place over a period of more than one month in three or more separate events, and the killings having a perverse psychological motive. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include psychotic delusions, thrill-seeking, and attention seeking. The victims tend to have th... > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&defl=en&q=define:serial+killer&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title)** ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/4 "2006-11-24T02:02:35Z")
I’ve heard it said that [Locusta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locusta) is the first documented female serial killer. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/5 "2006-11-24T02:07:01Z")
[This page](http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/428/428lect11.htm) 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: > [@](#): > > **Genene Jones** (1978-1982) a 27-year old vocational nurse who loved to work with terminally ill children, was convicted to life imprisonment in San Antonio, Texas for 11 murders in 1984. Because she was mobile, moving around Texas to work in different clinics, authorities expect she may be responsible for as many as 46 deaths. Her pattern involved injecting heart medication (digoxin) into ailing infants in order to gain recognition as a heroine when she was able to miraculously bring them back from the brink of death, or more commonly, appear as a heroine by taking extraordinary measures to resuscitate the doomed infant. She brazenly continued her pattern even while she was under a CDC investigation, and her medical supervisors defended her. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/6 "2006-11-24T03:28:15Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/7 "2006-11-24T03:34:12Z")
I dunno. It seems as though [Elizabeth Bathory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory) should be able to get a claim in here, somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/8 "2006-11-24T03:56:33Z")
Because people have no sense of history and rarely do research. [This site](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/index.html) has more than a few female serial killers on it way predating Aileen Wuornos. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/9 "2006-11-24T12:15:24Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] I dunno. It seems as though [Elizabeth Bathory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory) should be able to get a claim in here, somewhere. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/10 "2006-11-24T16:27:01Z")
Well, there’s [Belle Gunness](http://faculty.ncwc.edu/toconnor/428/428lect11.htm) : “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. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/11 "2006-11-24T17:20:11Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] If she doesn’t qualify as a serial killer then there’s something very wrong with the definition. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/12 "2006-11-24T18:02:31Z")
[QUOTE=x-ray vision] 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. [/QUOTE] That would also disqualify Aileen Wuornos, who was robbing her victims. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/13 "2006-11-24T18:23:04Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] That would also disqualify Aileen Wuornos, who was robbing her victims. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/14 "2006-11-24T21:54:32Z")
[QUOTE=x-ray vision] 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. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/15 "2006-11-24T22:53:00Z")
[QUOTE=x-ray vision] 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. [/QUOTE] I know Hollywood would never lie to me, and in [Monster](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340855/), Wuornos was killing men to get their money so she could support herself and her lesbian lover. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/16 "2006-11-24T23:06:58Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] I dunno. It seems as though [Elizabeth Bathory](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory) should be able to get a claim in here, somewhere. [/QUOTE] Agreed! ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-aileen-wuornos-called-the-first-female-serial-killer/381597/17 "2006-11-24T23:25:47Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] [This site](http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/index.html) has more than a few female serial killers on it way predating Aileen Wuornos. [/QUOTE] Yep, that’s a lot of predators. /me ducks