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AILEEN WUORNOS: The Final Interview Before the Needle — Transcript

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0:14Okay. I cannot go in the execution
0:16chamber and die in the execution chamber
0:19as a liar. And I cannot go in the
0:22execution chamber and be executed
0:23[music]
0:24under the devil. I have to come clean
0:27and cle cleanse my spirit in the [music]
0:28name of Jesus Christ.
0:31Um, so I have to come clean and tell the
0:33world the lies that [music] went on
0:36through my mouth. I mean, now
0:38prosecutors and
0:39>> I love you and that you killed seven
0:41men,
0:42>> huh?
0:42>> That you killed those men in cold blood.
0:44>> Yeah. I got to come clean that killed
0:47those seven men
0:49in firstdegree murder and robbery. As
0:52they [music] said, they had it right.
0:54serial killer. Not so much like thrill
0:56kill. I was into [music] the robbing
0:58biz. I mean, you know, serial killers
1:01are in this thrill killing jazz. I
1:02[music] was into the robbing just and
1:04eliminate a witness. But still, then
1:07again, I got a number. So, it's serial
1:08killer, but I'm coming clean before I go
1:11in that execution [music] chamber and be
1:13executed.
1:18What if I told you that between 1989 and
1:211990, a woman was hunting men along the
1:24highways of Florida, [music] not for
1:26money, not for thrills, but because in
1:30her mind, she believed she had no other
1:32choice. Her name was Ailen Warnos.
1:36[music] And before you think you know
1:37this story, you don't. Because what
1:40happened on those dark Florida roads
1:42wasn't just about murder. It was about a
1:45lifetime of pain [music] that finally
1:47exploded into violence. It was about a
1:50child nobody wanted who became the woman
1:52everyone feared. Seven men, seven lives
1:56ended. And one question that still
1:58haunts investigators today. Was she a
2:01cold-blooded serial killer or the victim
2:04of a system that failed her at every
2:05turn? Stay with me because what you're
2:08about to discover will challenge
2:10everything you think you know about
2:12good, evil, and the thin line between
2:14[music] survival and murder.
2:21[music]
2:24February 29th, 1956,
2:27a leapyear baby is born in [music]
2:29Rochester, Michigan. But despite the
2:31rare date, there was little about alien
2:34Carol Pitman's arrival that could be
2:35called fortunate.
2:38From the very beginning, her life was
2:40marked by hardship. Her father, Leo Dale
2:43Pitman, [music] was a deeply troubled
2:45man with a history of serious offenses
2:47and severe mental health struggles.
2:49[music] Diagnosed with schizophrenia and
2:51repeatedly in conflict with the law, he
2:54died while [music] incarcerated. Ailen
2:56never met him. He left her mother before
2:58she was born. Yet the legacy of his
3:01instability and violence hung over her
3:03life even in his absence. Her mother
3:06Diane Warnos [music]
3:07was only 16, still a child herself.
3:10Trying to raise two kids, Ailene and her
3:13older brother Keith [music] overwhelmed.
3:15And without the support she needed,
3:17Diane eventually reached a [music]
3:19breaking point. When Ailen was four, she
3:22left both children in the care of their
3:23grandparents, Lorie and Britta Waros.
3:26[music] Here's something crucial. Ailen
3:29never knew they were her grandparents.
3:31They legally adopted her and her
3:33brother, and she grew up [music]
3:34believing they were her parents.
3:37That misunderstanding shaped her sense
3:39of identity from her earliest memories.
3:42But the home she was raised in [music]
3:44was not a stable one. Lorie struggled
3:46with alcohol misuse and had a harsh,
3:49unpredictable temper. What should have
3:51been a place of safety often became
3:53[music] a place of fear. Ailien endured
3:55strict discipline and very little
3:57affection. Later accounts would suggest
4:00that the environment may have included
4:02boundary crossing behavior and emotional
4:04neglect. By age 11, Ailen was already
4:07interacting with older boys in ways
4:09[music] no child should have to
4:10navigate. Not out of understanding or
4:13genuine choice, but because it was the
4:16only form of attention she knew how to
4:18seek. trading brief moments of
4:20acknowledgement for cigarettes, food, or
4:23the feeling of being noticed. [music] At
4:2414, her life took another devastating
4:27turn. She was taken advantage [music] of
4:29by someone connected to her grandfather,
4:31resulting in a pregnancy. The baby, a
4:34boy, was placed for adoption [music]
4:36immediately after birth. Ailen never met
4:39him. He simply vanished from her story.
4:42Soon after, [music] her grandmother
4:43Britta passed away. Her grandfather then
4:46forced her to leave the house. At just
4:4815, with no family support [music] and
4:51nowhere to go, Ailen found herself
4:53completely on her own. This is the point
4:56in her story that should give us pause.
4:58[music] Because right here, intervention
5:00could still have changed everything. But
5:03no help arrived. Instead, she learned to
5:05survive however [music] she could. She
5:07began hitchhiking. She found work on the
5:10margins of society. She lived [music] in
5:12cars, wooded areas, and motel across
5:15Michigan and eventually Florida. The
5:17highway became her home and brief
5:19encounters with strangers [music] became
5:21her means of getting through each day.
5:24And this is vital to understand. During
5:27those years filled with instability,
5:29danger, and constant [music] survival,
5:32something was building inside Ailen. Not
5:35malice, not cruelty, but anger. Deep
5:39unresolved anger [music] at every person
5:41and every system that had failed her.
5:44That pressure [music] increased year
5:46after year and eventually it would
5:49erupt.
5:52[music]
5:571986 [music] Daytona Beach, Florida. And
6:01here's where the story takes a turn you
6:03might not expect. Enter Tyr Moore. Tai
6:07as everyone called her. a hotel maid
6:10from Ohio, living a quiet life, trying
6:12to make ends meet. She walked into
6:15[music] a gay bar one night and there
6:17was Ailen, weathered by life, rough
6:20around the edges, but desperate for
6:22connection. [music]
6:23They fell in love. Or at least Ailen
6:26did. For the first time in her life,
6:29Ailen had [music] something to protect,
6:31someone who made her feel like she
6:33mattered. Tai became her entire world.
6:36And Ailen, she would do anything. and I
6:38mean anything to keep Tai by her side.
6:42But here's the complication. Ailen
6:44[music] was still working the highways,
6:45still trading sex for money because
6:48that's how she supported them both. And
6:51Tai, the evidence suggests she knew. She
6:54knew where the money came from. [music]
6:56She knew what Ailen had to endure and
6:59she accepted it. This codependent,
7:01[music]
7:02intense, all-consuming relationship
7:05became the foundation for everything
7:06that was about to happen. Because Ailen
7:09wasn't just working anymore. [music]
7:11She was providing. She was playing the
7:13role of protector, of provider. And the
7:16pressure of [music] that role was
7:17crushing her. Now, keep this
7:20relationship in the back of your mind.
7:22Because when the murders begin, you'll
7:24need to ask yourself a question. How
7:26much did Tai [music] know? And when did
7:28she know it?
7:32>> [music]
7:36>> November 30th, 1989.
7:40Route 75 in northern Florida. The night
7:43is warm, humid. Alien Waros is standing
7:47on the side of the highway with her
7:48[music] thumb out, wearing tight jeans
7:51and a revealing top. Just another night
7:53of work. [music] A car pulls over.
7:56Inside is Richard Mallalerie, 51 years
7:59old, [music] an electronic store owner
8:01from Clearwater. To anyone watching,
8:03this [music] looks like every other
8:05transaction Alien has done a thousand
8:07times before. But something [music] is
8:09different tonight. Something has
8:11shifted. They drive to a secluded area
8:14off the highway. Wooded, [music] dark,
8:17the kind of place where no one can hear
8:19you scream. And here's where the stories
8:21[music] diverge, where truth gets murky.
8:24According to Ailen's later testimony,
8:26Mallerie became violent. She claimed he
8:29raped her, beat her, tortured her with
8:31sexual assault. [music] She said she saw
8:33her life flashing before her eyes. And
8:36so she fought back. She pulled [music]
8:38out a 22 caliber pistol. And she shot
8:42him, not once, not twice, four times, in
8:47the chest and [music] torso. Richard
8:49Mallalerie died in that car, bleeding
8:51out in the Florida wilderness. But
8:54here's what makes this case so
8:55controversial, so debated even today.
8:58Was it self-defense like she claimed? Or
9:01was it something darker? After the
9:03shooting, Ailen didn't call the police.
9:06She didn't seek help. Instead, she
9:09robbed him, took his money, [music] his
9:11car, his personal belongings. She drove
9:14his Cadillac back to the motel where Tai
9:16was waiting. And here's the detail that
9:18should make you pause. She cleaned the
9:21car methodically. Then she and Tai
9:23crashed it, staging an [music] accident
9:25to explain the damage. Later, they
9:28abandoned it. Richard Mallalerie's body
9:30was found on December 13th, 1989. 2
9:34weeks later, in a wooded area in
9:36Valuchia County decomposed, stripped of
9:39identification. Just another unsolved
9:42murder on a Florida highway. But it
9:44wasn't going to stay unsolved [music]
9:46for long because Alien Waros had just
9:48discovered something terrifying.
9:51Killing a man was easier than she
9:53thought, and it solved her problems, at
9:56least temporarily. The bomb had
9:58exploded, and now there was no stopping
10:01it. What happened next was
10:03unprecedented. Between December 1989 and
10:07November 1990, six more men would die
10:10along Florida's highways. [music] Six
10:13more bodies, six more families
10:15destroyed, and one woman who couldn't
10:17stop. [music] Let me walk you through
10:19each one. Because every victim tells us
10:22something about what was happening
10:23inside [music] Ailen's mind. Victim two,
10:27David Spears, June 1st, 1990, 6 months
10:31after Mallerie. [music] David Spears, 43
10:34years old, a construction worker from
10:36Winter [music] Garden, Florida. He was
10:38driving to Orlando to see his ex-wife
10:40and their daughter when he [music]
10:41picked up Ailen on the highway. His body
10:44was discovered on June 6th. Shot six
10:47times with a 222 [music] caliber weapon.
10:50six times. Found in a wooded area off
10:52Highway 19 near Citrus County. His truck
10:56was missing. His [music] belongings
10:58gone. Here's what's chilling. The method
11:01was nearly identical to Mallalerie's
11:02[music] murder. Secluded location,
11:05multiple gunshots, robbery, abandonment.
11:09Ailien was developing a pattern a
11:11ritual. But why did she kill him?
11:14According to her later confessions,
11:15[music] he propositioned her for sex.
11:18When they got to the secluded area, she
11:20shot him. She claimed self-defense
11:23again, but investigators found something
11:25troubling. No evidence of assault, no
11:28signs of a struggle before the shooting.
11:31The truth, Ailen had learned that dead
11:33men don't fight back, and dead men carry
11:37cash, credit cards, vehicles, everything
11:40she needed to survive. Victim three,
11:44Charles Carcatten, June 6th, [music]
11:461990. The same day, David Spears's body
11:49was discovered. Charles Carcatten, 40
11:53years old, a part-time rodeo worker from
11:55Missouri. He was found in Pasco County,
11:58shot nine times. Nine times. Think about
12:02that. That's defense. That's rage.
12:05That's overkill. That's someone emptying
12:08a gun into another human being because
12:10they can't [music] stop themselves.
12:12Charles's body was found partially
12:14clothed. His car, a 1975 Cadillac, was
12:18missing. His personal effects had been
12:20stolen. The pattern was solidifying.
12:24But here's what investigators would
12:25later realize. [music] Ailen was
12:27accelerating. The gap between Mallalerie
12:30and Spears was 6 [music] months. The gap
12:32between Spears and Carcatten, less than
12:35a week. She was spiraling, losing
12:38control, killing more frequently. Victim
12:41four, Peter Smes. [music] June 7th,
12:441990. Just one day after Carcadon Peter
12:47Smes, [music] 65 years old, a retired
12:50merchant seaman from Jupiter, Florida.
12:53He was driving to visit relatives in
12:55Arkansas [music] when he vanished.
12:56Here's where this case gets interesting
12:58and frustrating for investigators. Peter
13:01Seams's body has never been found.
13:04Never. Not a trace. But his car that
13:08told a story on July 4th, 1990, a month
13:11later, witnesses in Orange [music]
13:13Springs, Florida, saw two women crash
13:16seams 1988 Pontiac Sunbird, and flee the
13:19scene [music] on foot. They were
13:21described as a blonde woman and a
13:23brunette woman. The blonde was injured,
13:26bleeding from her arm after the crash.
13:28Police ran the plates. The car belonged
13:30to Peter Seams. [music]
13:32And suddenly, investigators had a major
13:34break. Witnesses, descriptions, evidence
13:38that the killer [music] might be a woman
13:40or women. A composite sketch was created
13:43based on the witness's [music]
13:44descriptions. It would be circulated
13:47throughout Florida, and it would
13:48eventually lead police right to Ailen's
13:51door. Victim 5, Troy Buress. July 30th,
13:551990. Troy Buress, 50 years old, a
13:59sausage salesman from Ocala, Florida. He
14:02left his [music] home for work that
14:03morning and never came back. His body
14:06was discovered on August 4th in a wooded
14:08area in Marian County. Shot twice with
14:11a22 caliber weapon. His delivery [music]
14:14van was found abandoned days later in
14:17Okala cleaned out. Empty. Troy left
14:20behind a wife and children who described
14:23him as a loving family man, a hard
14:25worker, someone who would help anyone in
14:28need. He probably [music] saw Ailen on
14:30the side of the road and thought he was
14:32doing a good deed by giving her a ride.
14:34It cost him his life. Victim six,
14:37Charles Dick, Humphre, September 11th,
14:411990. And here's where Ailen made
14:44perhaps her most shocking kill. Charles
14:46Humphre, 56 years old, a retired Air
14:49Force major and former [music] police
14:51chief of Crystal River, Florida. He was
14:53also a child welfare investigator,
14:56someone who dedicated his life to
14:57protecting vulnerable [music] children.
14:59The irony is almost too painful to
15:01contemplate. His body was found in
15:03Marian County. Shot seven [music] times.
15:06Seven times. His car and Chevrolet
15:09Caprice was found stripped of valuables.
15:12His badge, his police [music] radio, his
15:14clothes, all taken. Ailien later pawned
15:18his [music] belongings. But here's
15:19what's haunting. Did she know who he
15:21was? Did she know she was killing
15:23[music] someone who had spent his career
15:25trying to help people like the child she
15:27once was? [music]
15:28Victim 7. Walter Gino Antonio, November
15:3219th, 1990. The final murder. [music]
15:35Walter Gino Antonio, 62 years old, a
15:38truck driver and security [music] guard
15:40from Coco, Florida. He was found shot
15:43four times. His nearly [music] naked
15:45body discovered in a wooded area
15:47northwest of Cross City. His car was
15:49gone. His possessions [music] stolen. By
15:52now, Alien was operating purely on
15:54instinct. Hunt, kill, [music] steal,
15:58survive, repeat. The humanity had been
16:01completely drained from the act. These
16:03weren't people anymore in her mind. They
16:05were resources, means to an end, seven
16:09men, seven lives, seven families
16:12shattered, and one woman who had become
16:14exactly what the world always told her
16:17she was, a monster. But the question
16:19remains, and this is what you need to
16:22grapple with. Was Ailen Waros born a
16:25monster, or did we create her?
16:29[music]
16:34By late 1990, law enforcement agencies
16:37across Florida were connecting the dots.
16:39Same gun, same method, same type of
16:43victim. Middle-aged men traveling alone,
16:46same pattern of robbery and abandonment.
16:49They had a serial killer on their hands,
16:51but they didn't know who. Then came the
16:53break they needed. Those witnesses from
16:56the Peter Seams car crash. The composite
16:58sketches of the two women seen fleeing
17:00the scene were plastered across Florida,
17:03and someone recognized them. Here's
17:06where Alien's desperation betrayed her.
17:08She had been pawning the victim's
17:10belongings. In Florida, pawn shops are
17:12required to take fingerprints and
17:14identification. And Ailen had left a
17:17trail of evidence linking her directly
17:19to the murdered men's possessions. Her
17:21fingerprints were on file from previous
17:23arrests for assault, theft, and
17:26prostitution. It didn't take long for
17:28investigators to match them. They had
17:31their killer. On January 9th, 1991,
17:34Ailen Waros was arrested at a biker bar
17:37in Port Orange, Florida. She was charged
17:39with an outstanding warrant for
17:41possession of a firearm. But police knew
17:43they had something much bigger. And
17:46here's where the story takes its most
17:48controversial turn. Tyr. Police tracked
17:51down Tai and brought her in for
17:53questioning. and Tai, she cooperated
17:56fully. She agreed to wear a wire and
17:59call Ailen in jail. Over a series of
18:02recorded [music] phone conversations,
18:04Tai begged Ailen to confess, to tell the
18:06truth, to clear Tai's name. Listen to
18:09what happened. Ailen, desperate to
18:12protect the woman she loved, desperate
18:15to believe Tai was innocent [music] and
18:17clueless about the murders, confessed.
18:19She admitted to killing seven men. She
18:22claimed it was all self-defense, that
18:24every single man had either raped her or
18:27attempted to rape her, and she had no
18:29choice but to [music] fight back. But
18:31here's what haunts me about this. How
18:34much did Tai really know? She lived with
18:37Ailen. She benefited from the stolen
18:39money, the stolen property. She drove
18:42the stolen [music] cars, and yet she
18:45claimed total ignorance. Many people
18:48believe Tai manipulated Ailen into
18:50confessing to save herself. Others
18:52believe Tai was genuinely in the dark.
18:55The truth, we'll probably never know.
18:58What we do know is this. Tai was never
19:01charged with any crime. She testified
19:03against Ailen at trial and then she
19:06disappeared. Given a new identity
19:08protected by the state, she got to walk
19:11away. Ailen went to death row. January
19:151992. The trial of Ailen Waros for the
19:18murder of Richard Mallalerie, her first
19:20victim, begins in Valuchia County,
19:23Florida. The courtroom is packed. Media
19:26from around the world descended on this
19:28small Florida town to witness what many
19:30were calling the trial of America's
19:32first female serial killer, Ailen's
19:35Defense defense. She claimed Mallerie
19:38had raped and tortured her. And she shot
19:40him to save her own life. And here's
19:42where it gets complicated. There was
19:45evidence to support her claim about
19:46Mallalerie specifically. He had a
19:49criminal record. He had served time for
19:51violent rape in the past, a [music] fact
19:53the jury never heard because it was
19:55deemed inadmissible. The defense wasn't
19:58allowed to present it. Think about that.
20:01The jury never knew that Richard
20:03Mallerie was a convicted rapist. They
20:05never knew that Alien's claims about him
20:08being violent might have had merit. They
20:10only heard the prosecution's narrative.
20:12She was a cold-blooded killer who
20:15murdered a man in order to rob him. On
20:17January 27th, 1992, after deliberating
20:21for less than 2 hours, the jury found
20:24Ailen Warnos guilty of first-degree
20:26murder. 2 hours. They recommended death.
20:30The judge agreed. Ailen was sentenced to
20:32die in Florida's electric chair, but the
20:35state wasn't done. Over the next year,
20:37Ailen was tried for three more murders.
20:40David Spears, Charles Carscaden, and
20:43Troy Burus. She pleaded no contest to
20:46all three, hoping to speed up her
20:48execution. She was sentenced to death
20:50three more times for the murders of
20:52Peter [music] Seams, Dick Humphre, and
20:55Walter Antonio. She was never tried. The
20:58prosecutors didn't need to. They already
21:01had their death sentences. But here's
21:03what's important to understand about
21:04these trials. Ailen never stood a
21:07chance. She was representing everything
21:10society fears [music] and despises. A
21:12woman who killed men, a lesbian, a sex
21:15worker, someone who refused to play the
21:17role of victim. The media portrayed her
21:20as a monster. The prosecution painted
21:22her as evil [music] incarnate. And maybe
21:25she was. Maybe by that point, after
21:28seven murders, there was nothing left of
21:31the abused [music] child she once was.
21:33Maybe she had become the very thing
21:35everyone always said she [music] would
21:37be. Or maybe, and this is what should
21:40keep you up at night, maybe we never
21:42gave her a chance to be anything else.
21:44So, let's stop and ask the question
21:46we've been circling this entire time.
21:49What was going on inside Ailen Warnos's
21:51mind? Multiple psychological evaluations
21:54were conducted before and during her
21:56trials, and here's what they found.
21:59borderline personality disorder,
22:02antisocial personality disorder,
22:04possible bipolar disorder,
22:06post-traumatic stress disorder from
22:08years of sexual and physical abuse. In
22:11layman's terms, her brain was wired for
22:14survival at all costs. Years of trauma
22:17had fundamentally changed how she
22:19perceived threats, how she processed
22:21emotions, how she related to other human
22:24beings. Here's what happens to a child's
22:26brain when they experience chronic
22:28abuse. The amygdala, the fear center,
22:32becomes hyperactive. The prefrontal
22:34cortex, the part that controls
22:36decision-m and impulse control, becomes
22:39underdeveloped. The result is someone
22:41who sees danger everywhere, who reacts
22:43violently to perceived threats, who
22:46can't regulate their emotions [music] or
22:48think through consequences. Ailen Waros
22:50lived her entire life in survival mode.
22:53Fight or flight was her default setting.
22:55And by 1989, after decades of abuse,
22:59exploitation, and violence against her,
23:02fight had become her only option. But
23:05here's where it gets murky. Does
23:07understanding why someone kills excuse
23:09the killing? Does trauma justify murder?
23:12The answer, ethically and legally, is
23:15no. But it should inform how we think
23:18about cases like this because Ailen
23:20Voros didn't appear out of nowhere. She
23:23was created by a father who molested
23:26children, by a grandfather who beat her.
23:29By a society that discarded her at 15
23:31years old, by men who raped her, used
23:34her, threw money at her like she was
23:37garbage. Every person who failed her,
23:40every person who hurt her, every system
23:42that rejected her, they all contributed
23:45to the woman who stood on that highway
23:47with a gun. They all played a role in
23:49those seven deaths. Does that make them
23:52responsible? No. The only person who
23:55pulled the trigger was Ailen. But it
23:57should make us think about what we could
23:59have done differently, what we should do
24:01differently for the next [music] child
24:02who's being abused, the next teenager
24:05who's homeless and selling their body to
24:07survive. Because there's always a next
24:09one, and we keep failing them. For 12
24:12years, Ailen Waros sat on death row at
24:15Florida State Prison. And during those
24:18years, something disturbing happened.
24:20She deteriorated. [music]
24:22the woman who had fought so hard to
24:24survive, who had claimed self-defense,
24:26who had shown some connection to
24:28reality. She began to unravel
24:30completely. In later interviews, Ailen
24:33made bizarre claims. She said she was
24:36being tortured through the walls by
24:38prison officials using radio waves. She
24:41claimed police had planted evidence. She
24:44became paranoid, erratic, disconnected
24:46from reality. Mental health experts who
24:49evaluated her during this [music] time
24:51believed she had developed psychotic
24:53symptoms, possibly schizophrenia, the
24:56same mental illness her father had. The
24:59genetic curse had come full circle. But
25:01here's what's controversial. Was she
25:03mentally competent to be executed?
25:06That's the question lawyers and
25:07advocates debated. If someone is
25:09psychotic, if they can't understand
25:12reality, can the state ethically kill
25:14them? Florida said yes. The courts
25:17agreed. Ailen Warnos was competent
25:20enough to die. In her final days, Ailen
25:23fired her attorneys. She stopped
25:25fighting. She told the courts she was
25:28ready to die. She said she didn't want
25:30to spend another day in prison being
25:32tortured. She wanted it to end.
25:34>> I was just wondering how you're going to
25:36be, you know, at 9:30 tomorrow morning.
25:38Are you prepared?
25:40>> I'm prepared.
25:42>> I'm all right. I'm all right with it.
25:46and how
25:48>> I'm all right with it. But like I said,
25:51remember tells let them know that I know
25:54that the cops knew who I was after
25:57Richard Mallerie died. I left prints
26:00everywhere and they covered it up and
26:03let me kill the rest of those guys to
26:05turn me into a serial killer. I know
26:07they did because I was no professional
26:12serial killer or anything.
26:14Was this acceptance, surrender, or was
26:17it a final act of control? Choosing her
26:20own death on her own terms. October 9th,
26:232002.
26:259:47 a.m. Florida State Prison Execution
26:28Chamber. Eileen Waros was strapped to a
26:31gurnie. The witnesses assembled,
26:33victims, families, media, state
26:36officials. Her final words, they were
26:39chilling in their benality. I'd just
26:41like to say I'm sailing with the rock
26:43and I'll be back like Independence Day
26:45with Jesus. June 6th like the movie Big
26:48Mothership and all I'll be back.
26:51Rambling, disconnected, the words of
26:53someone whose mind had fractured beyond
26:56repair. At 9:47 a.m. Lethal injection
26:59was administered. At 9:47 a.m., Ailen
27:03Carol Waros, child abuse victim, sex
27:06worker, serial killer, death row inmate,
27:09took her last breath. She was 46 years
27:12old, born on a leap year, died on a
27:15Wednesday morning in a Florida prison.
27:17Seven families finally had closure. The
27:20victims [music] could rest. The highway
27:22killer was dead. But the questions,
27:25those remained. Alien Waros's [music]
27:28story didn't end with her death. In many
27:31ways, it just began. Her case has been
27:33the [music] subject of documentaries,
27:35films, books, true crime podcasts.
27:38Chariss Thuron won an Academy Award for
27:41portraying her in the 2003 film Monster.
27:45Her face, her story, her crimes have
27:48become embedded in American culture. But
27:50here's what troubles me. We've turned
27:52her into entertainment. We've made her
27:54into a horror story, a cautionary tale,
27:58a character. And in doing so, we've lost
28:01sight of the human beings at the center
28:03of this tragedy. Seven men died. Let's
28:06remember them. Richard Mallalerie, 51,
28:09electronic store owner. Someone's son
28:12and brother. David Spears, 43,
28:15construction worker. Father, Charles
28:17Carcatten, 40, rodeo worker, dreamer.
28:22Peter Seams, 65, retired seaman on his
28:26way to see family. Troy Burus, 50,
28:29[music] sausage salesman, husband and
28:31father. Dick Humphre, 56, former police
28:35chief, child welfare investigator,
28:37protector. Walter Antonio and 62,
28:41[music] security guard working to make
28:43ends meet. These weren't just victims.
28:46They were human beings with lives,
28:48families, [music]
28:49dreams. They deserved to live. Their
28:53deaths were not justified. No matter
28:55what Ailen experienced, no matter what
28:57trauma she endured, but on the other
29:00side, there was a child. A little girl
29:03born into circumstances beyond her
29:05control. A teenager abandoned and
29:08homeless. A woman who survived by
29:10selling the only thing she had. And at
29:13some point, that survival mechanism
29:15turned into violence. Where was the
29:17intervention? Where was the help? Where
29:20were the people who could have stepped
29:21in and said, "We see you. will protect
29:24you. You don't have to do this alone.
29:26They weren't there. And seven people
29:29died because of it. The question isn't
29:31whether Eileen Waros was a monster. The
29:34question is, what kind of world creates
29:37[music] monsters? And more importantly,
29:40what are we going to do to stop creating
29:41them? You've just watched Downfall:
29:44Inside the Criminal Mind. If you've made
29:46it this far, don't forget to subscribe.
29:49Join our growing community and
29:51experience a different kind of true
29:53crime storytelling. Deeper, darker, and
29:57crafted to reveal the full story behind
29:59every case. Coming next, Richard
30:02Ramirez, [music]
30:03the Nightstalker.

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