If you like following horror and gruesome stories of crime and serial killings, you may have heard of Aileen Wuornos. She was one of America’s prolific serial killers who engaged in street prostitution. Her modus operandi involved shooting her male clients and robbing them of their belongings. Though she often claimed that her clients had tried to rape her and her actions were for self-defense, the fact that she indeed killed several men is the unshakable truth.
After her mother left her at the age of two, she, along with her elder brother, who was eleven months elder to her, was legally adopted by her maternal grandparents, Lauri and Britta Wuornos. Read on to know more about her grandparents, especially her grandmother, Britta Wuornos.
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Spouse
There is not much information regarding the wedding date of Britta Wuornos and her husband Lauri Wuornos. Their children have often described Lauri Wuornos as a strict disciplinarian who would often resort to violence to punish his kids.
Children
Lauri and Britta Wuornos had three kids – Barry, Lori and Diane Wuornos. Diane felt that her father was too strict and tried to control her life in every possible way, so she left home at an early age and married then 18-year old Leo Dale Pittman in 1954. She was just 14 at that time. They had their first kid Keith when she was 16, and the second kid, Aileen just 11 months later. During Aileen’s birth, her father was incarcerated due to various illegal activities. When Aileen was barely 6 months old, her mother abandoned both kids and left them with their maternal grandparents.
Not much is known about Barry Wuornos, except the fact that Aileen looked up to him as a brother, despite the fact that he was her uncle. He felt that his father was strict, but not to the point of beating up a defenseless young Aileen. Further, he describes his mother as a quiet, studious and laid-back woman. He had served to join the US military when Aileen was young. Not much is known about Lori Wuornos.
Grandchildren
Though Britta Wuornos may have more grandchildren, only two of them are known to the world – Aileen and Keith Wuornos, who are blood-related siblings. However, Keith was diagnosed with cancer in the esophagus and died at a young age of 21 in 1976. There have been no indications of foul play, and his death was purely due to medical causes.
On the other hand, Aileen had started trading sexual favors in exchange for food, drugs and cigarettes by the age of 11. Some sources say that she had even engaged in sexual activities with her brother. In some testimonies she accused her grandfather of sexually abusing her and beating her as a child. In fact, she was also raped by a friend of her grandfather’s and became pregnant at a ripe age of 14.
Conclusion
If you think about it, Britta Wuornos was a civilian and not really a celebrity or a person with great achievements. She became known all around due to the misdeeds of her granddaughter. Many people, including her son have described her to be a sweet mother, who never punished him. Whether she knew of her husband’s misdeeds and supported him, or whether she did not know about them, it is not known. We do not really have any idea regarding how she really was as a person.