Camilla Jessen
Aileen Wuornos’ haunting last words still shocks more than 20 years later.
Aileen Wuornos, once dubbed the “Damsel of Death” and “Queen of Serial Killers,” remains one of the most notorious figures in U.S. criminal history.
Before her execution by lethal injection on October 9, 2002, she delivered one final, haunting statement that continues to fascinate and disturb true-crime observers more than two decades later.
Wuornos, a sex worker-turned-serial killer, murdered seven men in Florida between 1989 and 1990, targeting motorists aged 40 to 65.
She robbed and shot her victims before stealing their cars.
Arrested in Port Orange in 1991, she later confessed, claiming she acted in self-defense against men who, she said, raped or tried to rape her.
In court, Wuornos made no attempt to deny her guilt.
“I am as guilty as can be,” she said. “I want the world to know I killed these men, as cold as ice. I’ve hated humans for a long time. I am a serial killer. I killed them in cold blood, real nasty.”
“I’ll be back, like Independence Day”
Sentenced to six death sentences, Wuornos spent over a decade on death row at Broward Correctional Institution.
During her final months, she openly demanded her execution, calling further delays “a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
“There’s no point in sparing me. I killed those men, robbed them — and I’d do it again.” she said in July 2001.
Moments before her death, Wuornos made her infamous final declaration:
“I would just like to say I’m sailing with the rock, and I’ll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I’ll be back, I’ll be back.”
Questions of mental health
Her strange words fueled debate about her mental state.
Defense attorney Raag Singhal told The Guardian he saw “clear evidence of mental illness” in Wuornos, while fellow lawyer Billy Nolas described her as “the most disturbed individual” he had ever represented.
Wuornos claimed she had endured severe physical and sexual abuse throughout her childhood, alleging she had been raped “about 30 times, maybe more” as a teenager.
This article is made and published by Camilla Jessen, who may have used AI in the preparation
