Aileen Carol Wuornos, was born as Aileen Carol Pitman in Rochester, Michigan on February 29, 1956. She was the daughter of Diane Wuornos, whom incidentally abandoned her daughter at the age of four and Leo Dale Pitman to whom she never knew. She also had an older brother named Keith who was born one year prior to her. Aileen and her brother Keith were raised by their grandparents Lauri and Britta Wuornos in Troy, Michigan. Aileen suffered many hardships from a very young age. She claimed that her grandfather physically and sexually abused her as a child and her grandma was an abusive alcoholic. It is said that they would force her to strip naked as they whipped her bare buttocks with a belt. When her grandmother Britta Wuornos died in July 1971 of liver failure, which is common of alcoholics, Aileen and her brother Keith became wards of the court. At the young age of fourteen Wuornos became pregnant. She also claimed to have had many sexual partners by this time including her brother. She gave birth to her child at a Detroit maternity home on March 23, 1971 and her child was quickly put up for an adoption. While still in school, she began to work as a prostitute.
Aileen Wuornos went on to be arrested many times in the next several years. Some of her charges include drunk driving, disorderly conduct, firing a .22-caliber pistol from a moving vehicle and failing to appear in court. Other charges included assault, disturbing the peace, driving without a license, and drinking while in a motor vehicle. Years later, on May 20, 1981 Wuornos was arrested in Edgewater, Florida for armed robbery and was sentenced to prison one year later. Her next conviction came on May 1, 1984 when she was sentenced for attempting to pass forged checks at a bank in Key West. She went on to be arrested for grand theft auto, resisting arrest, and obstruction by false information. She was found with a .38 caliber and a box of ammunition in the stolen car. Shortly after...