Aileen Wuornos's last words, spoken in the execution chamber at Florida State Prison on October 9, 2002, were: "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 mothership and all. I'll be back." She was pronounced dead at 9:47 a.m.
That is the wording the Associated Press filed that day. Below are the rest of her best-known quotes, each with the date she said it, where she said it, and the news report or record it comes from. We also list the popular "Wuornos quotes" we could not trace to any dated source.
Some background first. A jury convicted Wuornos in January 1992 of the first-degree murder of Richard Mallory. She then pleaded guilty or no contest to five more killings and received six death sentences. Some people online treat Aileen Wuornos as a cult hero. Her own words, in the records below, are angrier and less tidy than the quote graphics that get shared.
If you are here because of Investigation Discovery's Unmasking a Monster, which premieres September 30, 2026, or Netflix's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, the shop has an Aileen Wuornos collection of shirts, hoodies, socks, and a mug.
Aileen Wuornos's last words
CNN, in its October 9, 2002 report, called the statement "a mix of religion and science fiction." CNN's transcription is almost the same as the AP's, with "mother ship" written as two words. The AP added one line of explanation: "The Rock is a Biblical reference to Jesus." Independence Day is the 1996 science fiction film about an alien mothership. She named it herself: "like the movie."
Older versions of this page, and many quote sites, stop the quote after "with Jesus." Every report we found includes the rest of the sentence.
She declined the traditional last meal, which could have been anything she wanted for under $20, and was given a cup of coffee instead, according to the case summary kept by the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's office, which reproduces Florida Department of Corrections records.
Quotes from her confession and arrest (1991)
Wuornos was arrested on January 9, 1991. A week later she gave police a four-hour videotaped confession, which was made public in December 1991. The Los Angeles Times quoted it on December 17, 1991:
"I had to kill them. It's like I'm thinking, 'You bastards. You were gonna hurt me.' It was self-defense. It was, like, 'Hey, man, I gotta shoot you, 'cause I think you're gonna kill me.'"
Asked by a police officer why she killed, she said: "They crossed the line. They were gonna rape me, kill me, strangle me."
Before the confession, police recorded 10 phone calls between Wuornos and her former girlfriend, Tyria Moore, who was cooperating with them. In one call Wuornos told her: "I will not let you be involved in the picture. You're not the one. I am the one who did everything. I did it all myself." Our article on Moore covers how those calls were set up.
In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, quoted in the same Los Angeles Times story, she said: "I'm not a man-hater. (I am) so used to being treated like dirt that I guess it's become a way of life. I'm a decent person."
Quotes from court (1992)
On January 27, 1992, the jury in the Mallory trial found her guilty of first-degree murder. When the verdict came in, she shouted at the jury, according to the AP: "I'm innocent. I was raped! I hope you get raped! Scumbags of America!"
On March 31, 1992, she pleaded no contest to the murders of Dick Humphreys, Troy Burress, and David Spears. In a long statement to the court, she said: "I wanted to confess to you that Richard Mallory did violently rape me as I've told you. But these others did not. [They] only began to start to."
She finished by turning to Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgeway and saying: "I hope your wife and children get raped in the ass!" Quote sites often print this as "May your wife and children get raped, right in the ass" and say it was aimed at the jury. The case narrative kept by the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's office says she said it to the prosecutor, two months after the jury's verdict.
Quotes from her last appeals (2001 and 2002)
After about a decade on death row, Wuornos asked to drop her appeals and be executed. CNN reported her words when she asked to be put to death:
"I killed those men, robbed them as cold as ice. And I'd do it again, too. There's no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I'd kill again. I have hate crawling through my system."
In July 2001, she said: "There is no point in sparing me. It's a waste of taxpayers' money."
At a hearing in Daytona Beach, before the Florida Supreme Court agreed to let her fire her lawyers and stop her appeals, she testified: "I am a serial killer. I would kill again." In a letter to the same court she wrote: "I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again." Both quotes come from an AP story by Ron Word published October 5, 2002.
The AP story also quotes her explaining why she changed her story: "I wanted to clear all the lies and let the truth come out. I have hate crawling through my system."
When people questioned her sanity, she pushed back. CNN quoted her: "I am so sick of hearing this 'she's crazy' stuff. I've been evaluated so many times. I'm competent, sane, and I'm trying to tell the truth, and I'll take a polygraph on every single word on those pages."
A panel of three psychiatrists found her competent to be executed. When they asked her about the killings, she answered, according to State Attorney John Tanner: "I really got tired of it all. I was angry about the johns."
Her last interview, with Nick Broomfield (October 8, 2002)
The day before the execution, Wuornos gave her last media interview to the British filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who had made a documentary about her in 1993. She walked out after about 35 minutes, the AP reported. The footage is in his 2003 film Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer. The Scotsman's review of the film quotes her taking back the self-defense story:
"I pretty much had them selected that they were gonna die, there was no self-defence."
Then, looking into the camera: "Nick, this is the last time I'm gonna say it. You have to kill Aileen Wuornos cos she's gonna kill again."
The same review quotes her saying: "You sabotaged my ass, society, and the cops, and the system. A raped woman got executed, and was used for books and movies and shit."
Indy Week's review, published January 14, 2004, calls this one her "final words to any camera": "Thanks a lot, society, for railroading my ass." Older versions of this page said she said it in court. Indy Week places it in the Broomfield footage.
Outside the prison on the day of the execution, Broomfield said: "My conclusion from the interview is, today we are executing someone who is mad. Here is someone who has totally lost her mind."
What the people around the case said
Tanner, who watched the psychiatrists interview her for 30 minutes, told the AP: "She knew exactly what she was doing."
Billy Nolas, who represented her at the 1992 trial, said she had borderline personality disorder as a result of neglect and sexual abuse as a child. He told the AP she was "the most disturbed individual I have represented."
CNN also reported that, in time, she apologized to her victims' families.
Famous Aileen Wuornos quotes we could not verify
These lines are shared widely as Wuornos quotes, and several were on an older version of this page. We could not find any of them in a dated news report, court record, or film review. That does not prove she never said them. It means no source we could check shows her saying them.
| Quote | What we found |
|---|---|
| "If you can't be a good example, at least be a horrible warning." | No dated source. Not in the news reports or case records we checked, or on Wikiquote. |
| "To me, this world is nothing but evil..." | No dated source found. |
| "People always look down their noses at hookers..." | No dated source found. The wording does not match any recorded interview. |
| "They say it's the number of people I killed. I say it's the principle." | No dated source found. |
| "Dead men don't rape." | Shared widely online. No dated source found. |
| "I robbed them, and I killed them as cold as ice, and I would do it again..." | A garbled version of her real words, which CNN quoted in 2002. The accurate wording is in the appeals section above. |
Aileen Wuornos quotes FAQ
What were Aileen Wuornos's last words?
"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 mothership and all. I'll be back." She said it in the execution chamber on October 9, 2002.
What did Aileen Wuornos mean by "sailing with the Rock"?
The AP explained that the Rock is a Biblical reference to Jesus. Independence Day is the 1996 film, which she named herself.
What did Aileen Wuornos say to the jury?
After the guilty verdict on January 27, 1992, she shouted: "I'm innocent. I was raped! I hope you get raped! Scumbags of America!"
Did Aileen Wuornos say "Dead men don't rape"?
We could not find a dated source for it. It does not appear in the news reports, court records, or film reviews we checked.
Did Aileen Wuornos say she would kill again?
Yes. At a hearing on dropping her appeals she testified, "I am a serial killer. I would kill again," and in a letter to the Florida Supreme Court she wrote that she "would kill again."
For the rest of her story, read about Tyria Moore, her girlfriend, and Aileen Wuornos's son, the baby she gave up for adoption in 1971.
Are you obsessed with serial killers as much as we are? Check out our limited edition horror and true crime t-shirts and the Aileen Wuornos collection, then read about the most famous female serial killers in history.
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Sources
- Word, Ron. "Fla. Executes Female Serial Killer." Associated Press, October 9, 2002. apnews.com.
- Zarrella, John. "Wuornos' last words: 'I'll be back.'" CNN, October 9, 2002. cnn.com.
- Word, Ron. "Female Serial Killer Featured in Movies, Opera Facing Execution." Associated Press, October 5, 2002, reproduced in the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's case summary number 805, with the case narrative and Florida Department of Corrections records. clarkprosecutor.org.
- Clary, Mike. "A Mother's Love." Los Angeles Times, December 17, 1991. latimes.com.
- The Scotsman. "Monstrous end to tragic story." Review of Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, May 2004. web.archive.org.
- Cheshire, Godfrey. Review of Monster and Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer. Indy Week, January 14, 2004. web.archive.org.
2 comments
Melissa Corcoran
how time changes all things. its like 2 different people’s opinion from then to now. a year of research and deep diving into sources i have lost sympathy for her. in as much as her having the will power and where with all to go through with it again and again. And that she did not break down herself from a sickening guilty conscience. like when a person cant eat sleep think walk talk get dressed showered shop work or settle down. and feels like something gargantuan weighing on you’re soul. but she clearly did not have a conscience for other living things.
Melissa Corcoran
i love and admire aileen woronose but all the items with her on it are illustrations not actual photos . i find the items very unappleaing id buy it if her real face was on it cuz shes my girl she did the world a huge favor and gave her life for it. she was an abused child and for all her life she was abused in my view when she had enough is when she protected her inner child and finally took action to protect herself. i see why she did those murders so clearly. shse is part of the me too movement before it existed. she deserves sympathy mercy and forgivness. i need real photos of her cuz the ones offered her are really terrible illustrations done by someone who cant illustrate very well at all. years ago i bought a tank top here with her photo on it but the tank top was very poor quiality no seams were sewn around the top or inner sideds of the fabric it was just cut fabric cheap that wasnt sewn only cut so its flimsey and cheap i cant wear it anymore cuz the sleeves dont even hold up the shirt itself cuz theres no seams sewn on it its just a piece of cut fabric so its poor quality id be happy as hell to buy a quality shirt or mask of aileen but i cant find any here that are any good quality or a good image you cant really tell that any of these drawings are aileen at all they dont look like her so id be spending all day explaining what is is suppose to be . i want real photos of her and i want a quality garment that has seams and stiches in it cuz just cut fabric doesnt make a good shirt cuz it dosent hold itself up . and it doesnt take well to the washing machnie. please please please get a quality shirt maker and mask maker and some real photos capturing her inner demons like she showed so boldly in court. thats my girl aileen woronose public servant keeping women and children safer by sacrificing her freedom and her life. she deserves a little more respect as far as serial killers go shes not even dangerous she was protecting her inner child and also believed she was protecting other girls and women from these pigs who pick up a human being to use and abuse those men are all slobs who wanted to get their perverted jollies out on her. well not today ya pigs not on her watch. if they had a heart theyd just give her the couple bucks out of their heart instead of making her do such aaweful things for it. just should have gave her some help without making her humilated herself over and over . these men are filthy sneaky slobs every last one of them. they are dirty sneaky filthy sneaks and snakes she did the world a gargantuian favor. who knows how many other women she saved? the world is a better place for having had aileen woronose here with us for a time.