| Aileen "Lee" Wournos |
46 years old Aileen was strapped onto a gurney, with a needle leading to two intravenous tubes
poked into the fleshy bend of her right arm. Her mouth and lips were moving, but we could not
hear. The microphone dangling above her was off, our wall speakers mute. Her eyes were open,
darting to the side from her restrained head to quickly survey the witness room.
Aileen, a 5'4'' blonde was tucked beneath a white sheet, which was folded with military
precision under her feet and around her neck and shoulders. She looked like a made bed. The
only visible parts of her body: her head and her right arm. The digital clock on the wall above
her changed to 9:30 and the microphone was turned on.
"Do you have a final statement?" she was asked.
"Yes," she said. "I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock, and I'll be back. Like
Independence Day with Jesus, June 6, just like the movie, big mother ship and all. I'll be back."
She spoke in a barely audible voice, with speech that seemed slurred even though officials said
she did not request or receive a sedative in her final hours.
The executioner, who could not be seen behind a two-way mirror released the syringes, Aileen
now had a chemical cocktail coursing through her veins. Aileen's chest heaved once and her
eyes shut before reopening ever so slightly, in tiny slits, after the lethal mix of chemicals
pumped through her veins.
The next 17 minutes were agonizingly slow, and she didn't move a muscle, although her heart
fluttered a bit on the monitors until she completely flat-lined: She had stiffened and turned blue.
Two men with stethoscopes leaned over her body and officially pronounced her dead at 9:47
a.m.
A witness found it all so smooth, so clinical, so antiseptic, that it was disturbingly easy.
poked into the fleshy bend of her right arm. Her mouth and lips were moving, but we could not
hear. The microphone dangling above her was off, our wall speakers mute. Her eyes were open,
darting to the side from her restrained head to quickly survey the witness room.
Aileen, a 5'4'' blonde was tucked beneath a white sheet, which was folded with military
precision under her feet and around her neck and shoulders. She looked like a made bed. The
only visible parts of her body: her head and her right arm. The digital clock on the wall above
her changed to 9:30 and the microphone was turned on.
"Do you have a final statement?" she was asked.
"Yes," she said. "I'd just like to say I'm sailing with the Rock, and I'll be back. Like
Independence Day with Jesus, June 6, just like the movie, big mother ship and all. I'll be back."
She spoke in a barely audible voice, with speech that seemed slurred even though officials said
she did not request or receive a sedative in her final hours.
The executioner, who could not be seen behind a two-way mirror released the syringes, Aileen
now had a chemical cocktail coursing through her veins. Aileen's chest heaved once and her
eyes shut before reopening ever so slightly, in tiny slits, after the lethal mix of chemicals
pumped through her veins.
The next 17 minutes were agonizingly slow, and she didn't move a muscle, although her heart
fluttered a bit on the monitors until she completely flat-lined: She had stiffened and turned blue.
Two men with stethoscopes leaned over her body and officially pronounced her dead at 9:47
a.m.
A witness found it all so smooth, so clinical, so antiseptic, that it was disturbingly easy.
Aileen Wournos was
convicted of murdering
six men. She initially
claimed the killings
were in self-defense
after she was assaulted
by customers while
working as a prostitute.
Later Aileen admitted
she had intended to rob
and kill the men.
After 12 years, shortly
after Florida had
switched from the
electric chair to lethal
injection Aileen
dropped her appeals,
and thus "volonteered"
to be executed.
Aileen was executed by
lethal injection at a
Florida State Prison on
October 9, 2002:
convicted of murdering
six men. She initially
claimed the killings
were in self-defense
after she was assaulted
by customers while
working as a prostitute.
Later Aileen admitted
she had intended to rob
and kill the men.
After 12 years, shortly
after Florida had
switched from the
electric chair to lethal
injection Aileen
dropped her appeals,
and thus "volonteered"
to be executed.
Aileen was executed by
lethal injection at a
Florida State Prison on
October 9, 2002:
Aileen preferred to be "turned blue" by a needle like this instead of Florida's reputed electric
chair "Old Sparky". She was then spared the indignity of smoke and flames.
chair "Old Sparky". She was then spared the indignity of smoke and flames.