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13th Juror Podcast
The Prosecution of Aileen Wournos
00:29:39
Seven men are dead, their bodies scattered along Florida’s highways, and one woman stands at the center of it all. The prosecution paints Aileen Wuornos not as a victim but as a predator driven by greed and control. As their case unfolds, the line between self-defense and cold-blooded murder begins to blur in the most unsettling way.
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Brandi Randy Churchwell
Florida's highways stretch for miles, surrounded by thick pine forests and palmetto scrub, long empty stretches of road where headlights are often the only sign of life for miles. In the winter of 1989, on those dimly lit and winding roads, a darkness was beginning to unfold. From late 1989 through the fall of 1990, the bodies of seven middle aged men would be discovered scattered across several Florida counties. Each crime told a similar story. The victims had been shot multiple times at close range, their wallets were gone and their cars were missing. Investigators quickly determined whoever was responsible for these murders wasn't just killing men, they were robbing them and then driving off with their cars. For months, law enforcement across central Florida chased what looked like a highway predator, someone targeting men traveling alone. But the identity of this killer didn't match what anyone was expecting. She was a drifter, a sex worker, and would claim that every action was done out of self defense. Often described as America's most notorious female serial killer, she ultimately confessed to the murders of seven men along Florida's highways. But one question would dominate her trial, a question that still sparks debate decades later. Was she a cold blooded serial killer or a woman who believed she was fighting for her life? The prosecution says she is a calculating murderer who targeted her victims. The defense says she was a traumatized woman who was pushed beyond her breaking point. But it's the jurors who have the final say. This is the 13th juror podcast where we break down real court cases and put you in the juror's seat. Two sides, the same evidence. You decide what to believe. I'm your host, Brenda Randy Churchwell. Today's episode is Florida vs. Eileen Wuornos, Part 1 the prosecution. On November 30, 1989, Eileen Wuornos was making her way across Florida. She had been on the state's southwest coast in Fort Myers and was trying to get back home to Daytona beach on the eastern coast. It had been a long day of hitchhiking and by nightfall it had started to rain. Eileen stood beneath an overpass along the highway trying to stay dry when headlights slowed beside her and a car pulled onto the shoulder. Behind the wheel was 52 year old Richard Mallory. Eileen walked up to the window and leaned down toward the driver. Richard asked where she was headed. She told him she was trying to get to Daytona. Mallory smiled and said, well, this is your lucky day. I'm going all the way to Daytona, too. Eileen got into the car and the two of them drove off together into the rainy Florida night. As they traveled across central Florida, Richard had been drinking and offered Eileen a drink from a bottle of vodka, which she accepted. The two talked while they drove, and at some point during the trip, Eileen told Richard that she was a sex worker and explained her rates. Richard agreed. Eventually, the pair pulled off the road to find some privacy. What happened next would later become the central question of this entire case. The following day, deputies in Volusia county discovered an abandoned 1977 Cadillac. They found several items scattered around the vehicle, including a partially consumed bottle of vodka, two drinking tumblers, and other personal belongings that appeared to have been partially buried nearby. The vehicle was towed to a secure impound lot so investigators could process it for evidence. At that point, however, they had not found a body. That would change 12 days later, several miles away in a wooded area north of Interstate 95. Richard Mallory's body was discovered, he had been covered with a piece of carpet. The medical examiner determined that Richard had been shot multiple times at close range. At first, investigators treated the case as a robbery, but no arrests were made. Then, over the course of the next year, a disturbing pattern began to emerge across central Florida. More men began turning up dead and their bodies were being dumped in wooded areas. They had been shot with a.22 caliber handgun with hollow point bullets, and in nearly every case, their vehicles had been stolen. What initially appeared to be separate robberies now pointed toward a single offender looking for specific targets along Florida's highways. Eventually, a major break in the case came. Through pawn shop records, investigators discovered that items belonging to several of the victims had been pawned at local pawn shops. Luckily for investigators, pawn shops in Florida are required to collect identification and a thumbprint from anyone pawning items. When detectives reviewed those records, several tickets traced back to the same name, Eileen Warnes. Eileen was later arrested in January of 1991. Eventually, Eileen gave a videotaped confession to police. In that confession, she made a claim that would dramatically shape the legal battle that followed. She insisted that every single killing, including the death of Richard Mallory, had been self defense. According to Eileen, Richard had violently assaulted her and tortured her and threatened to kill her. She claimed that she shot him because she believed her life was in danger. Once a defendant claims self defense, the issue at trial changes. The question is no longer simply whether the defendant caused the death. Instead, the prosecution must prove that the killing was not justified in self defense. To do that, prosecutors planned to introduce evidence of other murders Eileen had confessed to. Their argument was simple. Aileen Wuornos was not a victim fighting for her life. According to the state, she was a predator who targeted men along Florida's highways for money, robbed them, and then killed them, according to the evidence and testimony they presented. This is the prosecution's story. On January 13, 1992, more than two years after the death of Richard Mallory, the trial of Eileen Wuornos finally began. Standing before the jury was State Attorney John Tanner, who would deliver the prosecution's opening statement. From the very beginning, Tanner made one thing clear. This case, he said, was not about whether Eileen Wuornos killed Richard Mallory. It was about whether or not she acted in self defense. And Tanner told the jury that by the time they heard the evidence, he was confident their answer would be no. Tanner also warned jurors that he believed the defense would attempt to portray Eileen Wuornos as a victim. A victim of abuse, a victim of sexual assault, a victim of a tragic and difficult life. But according to Tanner, that narrative was misleading. In his words, Aileen Wuornos was not a victim, not of circumstance, and not of Richard Mallory. Instead, Tanner argued that Eileen was a woman who had made a series of choices throughout her life that ultimately led her to the moment where she shot Richard Mallory. According to Eileen's own statements, she became a sex worker because she realized she could make far more money selling sex than working a traditional job. At the time, she said, she had been earning less than a dollar an hour doing other work. But sex work could bring in 60 to $100 at a time. Prosecutors argued this was not a desperate last resort forced on someone with no other options. Instead, they framed it as a lifestyle choice, one that Eileen continued for years. Tanner reminded the jury that Eileen was not a helpless child wandering the streets. She was an adult woman capable of earning an honest living. But according to the prosecution, she chose not to. Then Tanner introduced a theme that would run throughout the state's case. Power. He argued that Eileen enjoyed the power that came from controlling a situation. And sex work, he said, gave her the ability to manipulate and dominate the men she encountered. Men like Richard Mallory. When Richard turned east on the interstate heading toward Daytona beach, prosecutors said he had no idea that in less than 10 hours he would be robbed, shot to death, and left to rot in the woods.
- [10:59]
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- [11:29]
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- [12:03]
Brandi Randy Churchwell
The break investigators had been waiting for came in the summer of 1990, when a missing silver Pontiac suddenly reappeared. Not in a driveway, not in a parking lot, but wrecked along the side of a Florida highway. Witnesses who stopped to help had reported seeing two women near the crashed vehicle. According to their statements, the women Appeared to be trying to deal with the wreck before fleeing the scene. Investigators quickly ID'd the wrecked car as belonging to Peter Sims, A man who had been reported missing just weeks before. That discovery immediately caught detectives attention because now they weren't just looking for a missing man. They were looking for the two women who had been seen driving his car. Using the witness descriptions, police created composite sketches. Those sketches were soon broadcast across central Florida. And when those images began circulating publicly, One person in particular recognized the pair depicted in the sketches. Tyra Moore. Tyra had been living with Eileen Wuornos and traveling with her during much of this time. And when she saw their sketches on television, she immediately realized they were who the police were looking for. According to later testimony, Tyra was terrified. She began to worry that investigators were closing in and that she might be charged as an accomplice to the murders. Eventually, detectives located Tyra, and when they spoke with her, they offered her something powerful. Immunity from prosecution. In exchange, Tyra agreed to cooperate. Police wanted her to call Eileen and talk about what had happened. But these wouldn't be ordinary phone calls. They would be recorded. Investigators hoped that if Eileen believed she was speaking privately with the person she trusted most, she might reveal the truth about the killings. Over the course of several phone conversations, Tyra spoke with Eileen While detectives recorded the calls. During those calls, Tyra became emotional. She cried and pleaded with Eileen, Telling her that she was terrified she might go to prison for something she didn't do. She said the police were looking for Eileen and were beginning to pressure her and her family. Tyra told her she was scared and didn't know what to do. And then Eileen said what investigators had been waiting to hear. She told Tyra that she alone had killed the men, no one else. She promised that she would call the police and confess so they would know the truth, that Tyra had nothing to do with it. Those recordings would later become some of the most powerful evidence in the state's case as they captured Eileen wuornos. Acknowledging responsibility for the murders in her own words. Soon afterward, In January of 1991, Eileen was arrested outside of a bar in port orange, florida. During police interviews that followed, she would eventually give a videotaped confession. In that confession, Eileen admitted to killing seven men. But she continued to insist that every single one of those killings had been in self defense. And that is where Tyra Moore would become one of the most important witnesses in the entire trial. Not only did she help investigators obtain the recorded phone calls, she also took the stand in court during the trial. Tyra testified about her relationship with Eileen and about what Eileen had told her regarding the killings. Her testimony helped prosecutors establish the timeline of events and connect Eileen to the victims and their vehicles. But most importantly, Tyra's testimony gave the jury insight into Eileen's own words and behavior after the murders occurred. Tyra testified that on the morning of December 1, 1989, Eileen suddenly showed up at the motel where they were living and told her they needed to leave immediately. She said she had borrowed a car, and the two quickly packed their belongings and moved to a new location. According to Tyra, Eileen appeared to have been drinking, but she didn't mention anything unusual or traumatic happening that night. Later that evening, Tyra said, they were sitting together watching TV when Eileen told her that she had shot and killed a man and left his body in the woods under a piece of carpet. But she didn't say anything about being attacked, raped, or acting in self defense. In fact, Tyra testified that the two remained together for nearly a year after that, and at no point during that time did Eileen ever claim that Richard Mallory had assaulted her. For prosecutors trying to prove that Richard Mallory's killing was not self defense, that testimony was crucial because according to the state, it showed that Eileen was not describing a desperate act of survival. She was describing a pattern. The prosecution attacked Eileen's credibility. They argued that her version of events could not be trusted because she admitted to the killing, but only claimed self defense after she had been caught. And according to the state, her behavior after Richard's murder made that claim even harder to believe. She did not go to police or immediately report that she had been attacked. Instead, prosecutors said, she kept moving, she kept using stolen property, and she kept repeating the same pattern with other men. To the state, that behavior spoke volumes because self defense requires jurors to believe that the defendant reasonably feared death or great bodily harm in that moment. And prosecutors argued that everything Eileen did after Richard Mallory was killed suggested something very different. Not fear, but calculation. So in the prosecution's telling, the story of Richard Mallory was not the story of a woman who barely survived an attack. It was the story of a woman who met a man on the highway, agreed to sex for money, shot him, stole from him, took his car, and left his body behind in the woods. And once the state laid out that theory, they believed they had shown the jury a clear pattern. Aileen Wuornos met men along Florida's highways, she gained access to their vehicles, she robbed them, and then she shot them. According to the state, Richard Mallory was not an attacker. He was the first victim.
- [18:16]
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- [18:45]
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- [19:20]
Brandi Randy Churchwell
According to the prosecution, what happened inside Richard Mallory's car was not a woman's fight for survival. It was a robbery that ended in murder. The state told jurors that when Aileen wuornos got into Richard's car that rainy night in November of 1989, nothing about the encounter initially stood out as unusual. Richard had picked her up along the interstate. They talked. They drank vodka as they drove, and at some point during the trip they agreed to exchange money for sex. That part the prosecution did not dispute. What they disputed was everything that Eileen claimed happened after they pulled off the road. Eileen said Richard suddenly became violent and she fired her gun because she believed it was the only way to save her own life. But prosecutors told the jury that the physical evidence did not support that story. First, they pointed jurors toward the trajectory of the bullets. According to the medical examiner's findings, one of the shots entered the back row right shoulder of Richard's shirt and traveled through his armpit into his chest. Prosecutors argued that trajectory did not match the image of a man leaning over and attacking a woman inside the car. Instead, they suggested, it was more consistent with Richard sitting behind the wheel with his hands forward, possibly on the steering wheel, and being shot by someone sitting in the passenger seat. Investigators could not determine the precise order of every shot, but they compared the medical evidence with Eileen's own statements. one point, she told detectives that she believed she may have fired the first shot from inside the vehicle toward Richard's side. The trajectory evidence, prosecutors said, was consistent with that possibility. Another bullet traveled horizontally through Richard's body, not upward or backward as might be expected in a chaotic struggle. Then prosecutors turned to Eileen's own description of what happened next. In her statements to investigators, Eileen said Richard tried to crawl out of the car and escape. She told detectives that she ran around the front of the vehicle and when Richard got up, she shot him again, causing him to fall. Then she fired another shot, and afterward, she said, she went back and opened the car door. To the prosecution, that detail was critical. If Eileen had already escaped a deadly attack, they argued, there would be no reason to return to the vehicle. Instead, they suggested she returned because, in their words, she had not yet finished killing him. Under the law, self defense allows the use of deadly force only when someone reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm. The prosecution argued that the trajectory evidence, combined with Eileen's own description of chasing Richard around the car and firing additional shots after he tried to escape, told a very different story. They said the evidence suggested Richard was trying to get away, not attack. And if Richard was attempting to flee when those later shots were fired, then the threat to Eileen had already ended. At that point, they told jurors, the shooting was no longer self defense. It was murder. Prosecutors then shifted their focus from what happened during the shooting to what happened afterward. Their argument was simple. If this had truly been self defense, the evidence should have reflected a desperate act of survival. Instead, they said, the evidence reflected robbery. Richard Mallory was dead. His car was gone, and his personal belongings were missing. Investigators were eventually able to trace several of those belongings back to Eileen through the pawn shop records. When detectives reviewed those records, they discovered that property belonging to Richard had been pawned under Eileen's name, creating a documented trail linking her directly to items taken from the victim after his death. Prosecutors argued that someone who kills in true self defense does not then steal the victim's car, take his belongings, and profit from them afterward. That, they said, was not the behavior of someone escaping danger. It was the behavior of someone taking the spoils of a robbery. Investigators also discovered additional property belonging to Richard among items connected to Eileen, including belongings that had been stored with the other property she kept after the crime. For prosecutors, the presence of the victim's possessions in locations tied directly to Eileen foundation strengthened their argument that she had acted out of greed. Finally, the state pointed to how Richard Mallory's body was discovered 12 days after his abandoned Cadillac was found. His body turned up several miles away in a wooded area covered with a piece of carpet. To prosecutors, concealment of the body is evidence of a murder that needs to be hidden. If Eileen had truly killed Richard to save her own life, they told jurors she had every reason to report what happened. Instead, she disappeared. Richard was left dead in the woods. His car was abandoned elsewhere and his belongings were scattered, buried and pawned. That sequence of events, prosecutors argued, showed consciousness of guilt, not justification. If the killing of Richard Mallory was not self defense, then the obvious question becomes why? What motive would Aileen Wuornos have to kill a man she had just met on the side of the highway? According to prosecutors, the answer was simple greed. Prosecutors told jurors that Richard Mallory was the first known victim in what would become a pattern. And while State Attorney John Tanner reminded the jury that this case was only about Richard Mallory, the state still wanted them to understand that his death did not happen in isolation. His murder marked the start of a killing spree that would stretch across multiple Florida counties and leave seven men dead. Six months after Richard's death in June of 1990, three more men disappeared in Florida. 43 year old construction worker David Spears was later found nude along a Florida highway about 112 miles from Daytona. He had been shot six times with a 22 caliber handgun. 40 year old Charles Carskadin was discovered roughly 94 miles away, nude and decomposing. He had been shot eight, eight times with the same type of weapon. And 65 year old Peter Sims was never found. Eileen later told investigators she had left his body somewhere in Georgia before returning to Florida. Two months later, in August of 1990, 50 year old traveling sausage salesman Troy Burris was found in the Ocala National Forest about 64 miles outside of Daytona with two gunshot wounds. The following month, 56 year old retired Air Force major and former police chief Charles Humphries was discovered along a Marion County Road roughly 68 miles away, shot seven times with a 22 caliber firearm. And in November of 1990, Eileen Wuornos, final victim, 61 year old security guard and reserve deputy Walter Gino Antonio, was found wearing only socks along a remote Dixie county road, shot four times. According to the state, the similarities between the killings were too strong to ignore. The victims were middle aged men traveling alone. They were shot at close range with a.22 caliber handgun. All shot in the torso, sometimes also in the head. The bullets were hollow point rounds. The bodies were dumped in remote wooded areas. Their vehicles were stolen and their personal property disappeared. To the prosecution, that pattern destroyed the idea that Richard Mallory's killing was some isolated act of self defense. Instead, they argued, it revealed an mo Eileen would meet men along the highway, gain access to their vehicles and lure them to isolated areas where there would be no witnesses. Once There, prosecutors said, she would brandish her weapon and then shoot her victims. Afterward, Eileen would take anything of value she could find. Money, watches, credit cards, personal items, anything she could later convert into cash, sometimes storing the stolen property in a storage unit rented under her name. Other items began appearing in pawn shops across Central Florida. Time after time, those pawn records led investigators back to the same name, Eileen Wuornos. As for the stolen cars, prosecutors presented evidence that the license plates had been removed from five of the seven vehicles and that the cars had been wiped down to remove fingerprints that might lead back to Eileen to the state. That demonstrated planning, a pattern, a method. As the trial came to a close, State Attorney John Tanner stood before the jury one final time. By that point, the prosecution believed the evidence had painted a clear picture of what happened to Richard Mallory. But Tanner told the jury that in the end, the case came down to something much simpler. Common sense. Because, according to the state, if Richard Mallory had truly raped and brutally attacked Eileen Wuornos, there would have been one person she would have told immediately. The person closest to her. Her girlfriend, Tyra Moore. Tanner reminded the jury that Tyra was not just a casual acquaintance. She was Eileen's roommate, her companion, and the person she spent nearly all of her time with. And yet, according to the prosecution, when Eileen first told Tyra about Richard Mallory's death, she didn't say anything about rape. Instead, Tanner argued, Eileen simply told her that she had killed a man. Not that she had to kill him, just that she did. To the prosecution, that distinction was important, because Tanner told the jury that if Eileen had truly been the victim of a horrific sexual assault, it would have been the most natural thing in the world for her to say so. In fact, Tanner suggested that story would have given Tyra a powerful reason not to report what happened. If Tyra believed Richard had brutally raped Eileen, she might have felt morally justified in staying silent. But according to the prosecution, that story never existed at the time. It only appeared later. Tanner also challenged Eileen's credibility directly. During her testimony, Eileen had suggested that nearly everyone involved in the case was lying. Police officers, investigators, witnesses, even people who had no connection to the case. But Tanner told the jury that could not possibly be true, because if Eileen's story were accurate, it would require the jury to believe that everyone else was lying. Everyone except her. And according to the state, the evidence simply did not support that conclusion. Tanner then pointed to the physical evidence. There was no rope, no electrical wire, no physical evidence showing that Eileen had been tied up inside the car. And during the recorded Interviews with investigators, Tanner reminded the jury that Eileen spoke for hours. Yet according to the prosecution, she never clearly described being tied to the steering wheel or restrained in the way defense later suggested to Tanner. That was crucial, because if the story of a violent sexual assault were true, he argued, that detail would have come out immediately. Finally, Tanner returned to the motive the state had laid out throughout the trial. Greed. He reminded jurors that Eileen had admitted she could make tens of thousands of dollars a year through sex work and spend it just as quickly. Over time, prosecutors argued, Eileen moved from simply selling sex to something darker. According to the state, she began exercising a level of domination over the men she encountered, domination that ultimately allowed her to take their money, their cars, and their lives. Tanner told the jury that under the evidence presented in court, there was only one reasonable conclusion they could reach. That Eileen Wuornos was guilty of first degree murder and armed robbery. And with that, the prosecution rested its case. But the defense had a very different story to tell, one that would take the jury deep into Eileen Wuornos past and into the trauma they say shaped everything that followed. When it came time for the defense to present their case, they took a very different approach. Instead of calling a long list of witnesses, experts and investigators, the defense called just one person to the stand, the woman at the center of it all, Eileen Wuornos herself. Over the course of hours on the witness stand, Eileen told the jury a story that looked nothing like the one prosecution had just laid out. In the next episode, we'll walk through the defense's case and hear Eileen's testimony in her own words. Then we'll follow the case all the way through to the verdict in the murder of Richard Mallory. But the story doesn't end there, because after that verdict, Eileen still faced trials for the other men she confessed to killing. And the outcomes of those cases would take some unexpected turns. And years later, in some of the final interviews she gave, Eileen claimed she was finally ready to tell the truth about what really happened. Thirteenth Juror is an audio Chuck production hosted by Brandi Churchwell. Ashley Flowers is executive producer. You can follow 13th Juror on Instagram @13jura podcast. I think Chuck would approve.
- [33:18]
Amica Insurance Announcer
At Amica Insurance, we know it's not just about where you're going, but who you go with. That's why we work even harder to protect what matters most. Visit amica.com and get a quote today
- [33:33]
Plan B Advertisement Narrator
with plan B. Emergency contraception. We're in control of our future. It's backup birth control. You take after unprotected sex that helps prevent pregnancy before it starts. It works by temporarily delaying ovulation, and it won't impact your future fertility. Plan B is available in all 50 US states at all major retailers near you, with no ID, prescription or age requirement needed. Together we got this. Follow Plan B on Insta at Plan B one step to learn more Use as directed.