Wuornos claimed that her clients had either raped or attempted to rape her, and that the homicides of the men were committed in self-defense. Wuornos was sentenced to death for six of the murders. She was executed on October 9, , by lethal injection after spending more than 10 years on Florida's death row.
In the feature film Monster , Wuornos' story is described from her first murder until her execution; for her portrayal of Wuornos, Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Wuornos never met her father. By the age of 11, Wuornos began engaging in sexual activities in school in exchange for cigarettes, drugs, and food. Before beating her, he would force her to strip out of her clothes. Wuornos gave birth to a boy at a home for unwed mothers on March 23, , and the child was placed for adoption.
When Wuornos was 15, her grandfather threw her out of the house, and she began living in the woods near her old home and supported herself through prostitution. On May 27, , at age 18, Wuornos was arrested in Jefferson County, Colorado , for driving under the influence DUI , disorderly conduct , and firing a.
She was later charged with failure to appear. In , Wuornos hitchhiked to Florida , where she met year-old yacht club president Lewis Gratz Fell. They married quickly, and the announcement of their nuptials was printed in the local newspaper's society pages. Wuornos continually involved herself in confrontations at their local bar and went to jail briefly for assault. She also hit Fell with his own cane, leading him to gain a restraining order against her within weeks of the marriage. She returned to Michigan [ 23 ] [ 24 ] where, on July 14, , she was arrested at Bernie's Club [ 25 ] in Mancelona , Antrim County and charged with assault and disturbing the peace for throwing a cue ball at a bartender's head.
Wuornos and Fell annulled their marriage on July 21 after only nine weeks. She used the money inherited from her brother to pay the fine and spent the rest within two months buying luxuries including a new car, which she wrecked shortly afterwards. In , at the age of 22, she attempted suicide by shooting herself in the stomach.
