'Damsel of death' Aileen Wuornos executed
By Paul Pinkham Times-Union staff writer

STARKE -- Aileen Wuornos, America's first female serial killer, was executed by lethal injection yesterday morning, nearly 13 years after she began picking up men to kill along the highways of North and Central Florida.

Two doctors pronounced Wuornos dead at 9:47 a.m., 17 minutes after she appeared to mouth a prayer, took a deep breath and lapsed into unconsciousness in the death chamber at Florida State Prison.

Wuornos told the nearly 30 witnesses to her execution: "I'd 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."

The so-called "damsel of death" was convicted of fatally shooting six men in 1989 and 1990. A lifelong prostitute, she hitchhiked along the Interstate 75 corridor near Ocala to pick up her victims. She claimed a seventh victim, but his body wasn't found.

Her spree spawned books, movies and an opera.

"Aileen Wuornos is finally dead," said DeeDee Floyd, niece of Troy Burress, Wuornos' fourth victim. "Whether she's at peace or not, nobody knows ... but at least maybe the families can get on with their lives."

State Attorney John Tanner, who prosecuted Wuornos in Daytona Beach, closed his eyes as the execution began. It was Tanner's first visit to Death Row since Ted Bundy's execution in 1989.

"I said a prayer for her and for the victims and for all of us," Tanner said. "This is a tough business, but I think it's necessary."

Wuornos granted one media interview in her final days, with a British TV crew that first spoke with her shortly after her arrest in 1991. Reporter Nick Broomfield described a rambling 35-minute session Tuesday in which Wuornos, 46, accused prison officials of controlling her thoughts with sonic waves and police of enabling her to become a serial killer so they could profit from her.

"My overall impression of her ... was that she was completely insane," Broomfield said. "She was angry and obsessed with conspiracy theories."

Broomfield's description contrasted sharply with the composed and alert Wuornos who waited to die yesterday. As she lay on a gurney, an intravenous tube already in her veins, she smiled in surprise when she saw the witnesses outside the death chamber. Prison spokesman Sterling Ivey said she was well-behaved and complimentary and didn't request any sedatives.

Her final hours Tuesday were spent with friend Dawn Botkins, who said she plans to scatter Wuornos' ashes near their childhood home in Michigan.

''She was looking forward to being home with God and getting off this Earth,'' Botkins said. ''She prayed that the guys she killed are saved and that by her dying they will be saved. She was more than willing to go. It was what she wanted."

After Botkins left the prison about midnight, Wuornos drank a cup of coffee and slept. She refused a final meal. She awoke about 5:30 a.m. and asked for a towel and wash cloth to freshen up. She then changed into a prison-issued outfit of black slacks and a white, short-sleeved blouse.

Ivey said she was less talkative than she had been since arriving at Florida State Prison last week. She spent most of her time reading the Bible and listening to a Jacksonville oldies station. Except for Broomfield, she turned down all visitors, including lawyers and ministers.

After the injection began, Wuornos appeared to take sporadic shallow breaths and her skin turned ashen as she died.

"It took a long time," said Terri Griffith, whose father, former police chief Dick Humphreys, was Wuornos' fifth victim. "She should have suffered a little bit more, but I'm thankful that it's over and justice has been served. ... I think about my father every day. I mourn for him."

Wuornos, the second woman to be executed since Florida reinstated the death penalty in 1976, is the second Florida killer executed in a week after a nearly two-year hiatus. Both she and Rigoberto Sanchez-Velasco dropped all appeals.

The executions came as the Florida Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of Florida's death penalty in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that only juries can decide whether to sentence inmates to death. In Florida, judges make the decision after a recommendation from the trial jury.

A handful of protesters stood across the street from the prison yesterday and accused Gov. Jeb Bush of scheduling the execution for political gain.

"What we just had here was an assisted suicide at a time when we don't know if the death penalty is constitutional," said Abe Bonowitz of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "It's a shameful day for the law in this state."

Bush said the timing of the executions a month before his re-election bid was coincidental. He said he signed the death warrant as soon as he knew no automatic stays would be forthcoming.

The governor said Wuornos deserved Florida's ultimate penalty.

"This woman murdered brutally more than one person," he said.

Times-Union staff writer Jim Saunders contributed to this report, which contains material from The Associated Press.

Staff writer Paul Pinkham can be reached at (904) 359-4107 or ppinkhamjacksonville.com.