Inside Aileen Wuornos’ Harrowing Childhood: How the Serial Killer’s Allegedly Abusive Family Abandoned Her As a Teen

Aileen Carol Wuornos‘ early years were marked by instability.

Born in 1956 in Rochester, Mich., the convicted serial killer was abandoned by her mother, Diane Wuornos, when she was 4 years old, according to Britannica. She had no contact with her father, Leo Pittman, who was sentenced to life in prison for raping a 7-year-old girl.

Aileen and her older brother, Keith Wuornos, were raised by their maternal grandparents. In recorded interviews featured in the 2025 Netflix documentary Aileen: Queen of Serial Killers, she described her grandmother as a “really clean and decent” woman who didn’t drink or swear. Though she said her grandfather was “not nasty,” Aileen previously claimed he had sexually abused her.

After their grandmother’s death in 1972 — followed soon after by their grandfather’s — Keith and Aileen became wards of the state. She ran away at 15 and began living on the streets, turning to sex work.

Aileen, dubbed the “Damsel of Death,” was later convicted of murdering six men along a central Florida highway between 1989 and 1990. She was suspected of a seventh killing, though the body of the alleged victim was never found.

“I’m not a man-hater,” she told the Orlando Sentinel in March 1991. “I’ve been through so many traumatic experiences that either I’m walking in shock or I’m so used to being treated like dirt that I guess it’s become a way of life.”

After pleading self-defense, Aileen was sentenced to death for all six murders and executed in 2002.

Here’s what to know about Aileen Wuornos’ parents, Diane Wuornos and Leo Pittman, and the troubled childhood that shaped her life.

Diane and Leo had two children 

Diane eloped with Leo when she was only 14 years old, according to the 2012 autobiography, Dear Dawn: Aileen Wuornos in Her Own Words. They welcomed two children during their brief marriage: Keith and Aileen, who was born on Feb. 29, 1956, per Britannica. Diane was 16 at the time, while Leo was 19.

Leo, a handyman, enlisted in the military when Diane became pregnant with Aileen. They separated before she was born, and Aileen said she never had any contact with her father.

Leo was a convicted rapist who died in prison 

The Tampa Bay Times reported that, like his children, Leo’s parents abandoned him when he was an infant. He was later adopted and raised by his grandmother.

Leo went on to become a troubled teen. He married twice and drank heavily, according to the outlet.

In 1967, Leo was sentenced to life in prison for the rape of a 7-year-old girl. He died by suicide two years later while he was incarcerated, per Britannica.

Aileen and Keith were adopted by their grandparents 

One night in 1960, Diane called the sitter watching her two children to say she wasn’t coming home. After Aileen was arrested, she told police that she “just couldn’t cope.”

“The whole family came to me and, in turn, one at a time, begged me to give (Aileen and Keith) to my parents, which was probably the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life,” Diane reportedly told detectives, per the Tampa Bay Times.

She added, “I should have . . . adopted them to strangers. We, in our family, suffered a form of child abuse. My father was verbally abusive. My mother was verbally abusive, and we were always told we were no good.”

Keith and Aileen were sent to live with their maternal grandparents, who later adopted them.

Aileen claimed she was sexually abused as a child 

Aileen’s circumstances remained turbulent after being adopted by her grandparents. She claimed that her grandfather, Lauri Wuornos, was an alcoholic who physically and sexually abused her, and that she and Keith also had an incestuous relationship, per Britannica.

She became pregnant when she was 13 after a friend of her grandfather’s allegedly raped her. Family told the Tampa Bay Times that no one believed her, and a police report was never filed.

According to Britannica, Aileen was sent to a home for unwed mothers, where she gave birth to her child. That child was later placed for adoption.

Keith died in 1976

In 1972, Wuornos’ grandmother died of cirrhosis of the liver, according to Aileen: Queen of Serial Killers, and her grandfather died by suicide soon after. Following their deaths, Aileen and her brother, Keith, became wards of the state. She eventually dropped out of school and turned to sex work.

When Aileen was 20 years old, the same year her father died, her older brother died of cancer, per Britannica. Keith was 21, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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