Who Is Aileen Wuornos? Serial Killer's Chilling Legacy Reframed In 'Monster The Lizzie Borden Story'

Netflix's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is Season 4 of Ryan Murphy's true-crime anthology, which was released on September 17, 2026. Starring Ella Beatty as Lizzie Borden, it revisits the infamous 1892 Fall River axe murders. The season also breaks its linear narrative in Episode 4, introducing Sarah Paulson as notorious serial killer Aileen Wuornos.

Set in Florida in 1988, Episode 4 opens with Wuornos killing a client before connecting her story to Lizzie's through a shared theme of female rage. Amid this, Aileen’s life has also come into focus.

Aileen Wuornos's troubled life and the seven murders

Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer whose crimes and eventual execution made her one of the most notorious female murderers in US history. Born on February 29, 1956, in Rochester, Michigan, Wuornos had a deeply troubled childhood. 

Her father died by suicide before she was born, and her mother abandoned her as an infant. She was raised by her grandparents in a household marked by abuse and instability, and left home as a teenager. For years, she lived a transient life, hitchhiking across Florida and supporting herself through sex work.

Between 1989 and 1990, Aileen Wuornos killed seven men in central and northern Florida. All of her victims were middle-aged male motorists who had picked her up along highways. She later claimed each man had attempted to rape or assault her and that she killed in self-defense. Prosecutors argued the motive was robbery, as the belongings and cars of the victims were taken.

She was arrested in January 1991 after police linked evidence from the crime scenes and a car accident. Her girlfriend at the time, Tyria Moore, cooperated with investigators and helped obtain a taped confession. Wuornos was first tried for the murder of Richard Mallory in 1992 and convicted. She then pleaded no contest to three more murders and later pleaded guilty to two others. In total, she received six death sentences.

During her decade on death row, her mental health significantly declined. Aileen Wuornos was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and made numerous conflicting statements about her crimes. She was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on October 9, 2002, at age 46. Her case remains widely discussed because it challenges traditional perceptions of serial killing, female violence, and the role of self-defense, trauma, and poverty in violent crime.

How is Aileen Wuornos portrayed in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story?

The fourth episode of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story takes a sharp detour from Lizzie Borden’s timeline to focus on Aileen Wuornos. It starts in 1988 on a Florida highway, where a man picks her up in his car. After negotiating sex work, they drive to a remote spot. What begins as a consensual exchange escalates, ending with Wuornos fatally shooting the driver. 

Shortly after, the narrative moves to a motel where Wuornos is staying with her partner. The two are going through a book on Lizzie Borden. Wuornos is shown to be deeply captivated by Lizzie’s story, remarking that Lizzie was delivering deserved retribution and had sent a message that women should no longer tolerate such abuse.

She draws a direct line between the way men treated Lizzie and her own experiences. Her storyline returns in episode six, which cuts between two time periods. One track follows Wuornos and her girlfriend touring and staying overnight at the former Borden home. The other depicts the immediate fallout of the deaths of Andrew and Abby Borden, including the discovery of the bodies, the police questioning Lizzie, and the growing public suspicion toward her.

While inside the house, Aileen Wuornos begins to imagine she is actually seeing fragments of that 1892 aftermath and even pictures herself talking to Lizzie’s spirit. In her final moments, Wuornos is shown visualizing Lizzie calling her over.

Ian Brennan, the co-creator of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, explained to Tudum that while Lizzie was given a kind of resolution, Aileen never received one and never escaped consequences, which is why the creative team wanted to close her arc with something that felt fulfilling, if not exactly happy.

Overall, the series frames both women as figures who were hurt and marginalized and chose to retaliate. The show presents Aileen Wuornos as someone who finds motivation in Lizzie’s alleged crimes before starting her own murders, though how convincing that link feels is left for the audience to judge.

All eight episodes of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story are now streaming on Netflix.

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