Aileen Wuornos' actual last words revealed compared to Netflix's Monster
Aileen Wuornos' final words were depicted in Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story – but was her statement factually accurate?
Wuornos was executed in 2002, ten years after she was convicted of murdering several men in America. The murders are thought to have happened over a 12-month period between 1989 and 1990.
Wuornos had claimed that she acted in self defense when killing the men after being sexually assaulted by them, but a jury found her guilty of murder and handed her the death penalty.
She spent 10 years on Florida State Prison’s death row and was eventually executed on October 9, 2002, by lethal injection.
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Prior to her death Wuornos was offered a final meal. While she could have requested food and drinks items costing as much as $20, the 46-year-old simply asked for a cup of coffee.
Her execution was depicted in Ryan Murphy's Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, where Wuornos is portrayed by Sarah Paulson.
As the IV is placed into her arm, she looks at those watching her death in the gallery and says: "I would like to say I'm sailing with the rock. And I'll be back, like Independence Day with Jesus. June 6, like the movie."
She adds: "Big mothership and all. I will be back. I'll be back."
She then goes on to request that 'Carnival' by Natalie Merchant is played as she died.
While some parts of Murphy's version of Wuornos and her connection to Lizzie Borden were fictional, the convicted criminal's final words were accurate.
Due to the nonsensical message she gave as her final statement, many have questioned whether Wuornos was of mentally competent to be executed. Similar questions were raised beforehand, but she was ruled to be fine to be killed.
Three psychiatrists were asked to examine Wuornos before her execution. They interviewed the death row inmate and went on to find she was mentally competent, the Herald-Tribute reported at the time.
Under Florida law, the standard for competency is understanding why the sentence is being imposed and that execution will result in death.
Women like Wuornos are said to only make up two percent of death row inmates in America. Someone who is part of that tiny percentage is Christa Pike, who is scheduled to be killed in the coming days.
Should her execution go ahead as planned she'll be the first woman in Texas to be put to death in over 200 years.
Her legal team have been making frantic appeals in the run up to the execution, but have so far failed to have her death penalty conviction thrown out or postponed.
If she does end up being put to death on September 30, Pike has asked that an all-female team do it.
Topics: True crime, Netflix, Death Row, Sarah Paulson, Florida
Niamh Shackleton