Keith Wuornos was the brother of American serial killer Aileen Wuornos. He was born on March 14, 1955, to Diane Wuornos and Leo Dale Pittman. Keith’s mother was 15 when she gave birth to him, and then her younger sister Aileen Wuornos was born a year later. A year after Keith Wuornos was born, his parents divorced; his mother gave birth to Aileen while Leo was absent.
Early Life
Life was difficult for his mother after the divorce, as she raised them all by herself and was still a teen. Keith’s father was mentally ill and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Due to his mental status, starting committing crimes, including raping minors; he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
While in prison, Keith’s father committed suicide by hanging himself. Given Diane Wuornos’s difficulties raising Keith and his younger sister, she sent them to her parents, who raised them. Keith’s maternal grandparents were abusive, and it hurt Aileen Wuornos.
Relationship with His Sister
Keith Wuornos and his younger sister were very close; given how their grandparents were abusive, they found comfort with each other. Aileen even claimed that she had sexual relations with his brother Keith and they had sex multiple times. However, according to some of Keith’s friends, the sexual relations allegations might not have been true.
His Sister
Given Keith and his sister grew up together, their life was tough, but Aileen had a tough time. Her grandfather and his friends sexually abused her. Keith’s grandfather would beat Aileen and then rape her; she got pregnant when she was 14, and it was unclear who the child’s father was, given her grandfather and his friends had sexually abused her.
Keith’s brother gave birth to a child who was given up for adoption. Upon the death of Keith’s grandmother, Aileen was thrown out of the house, and she had to find a way of supporting herself. Keith’s sister started sexual relations with older men in exchange for money.
Keith’s sister started finding herself on the wrong side of the law; she was arrested for disorderly conduct and drunk driving. Aileen married Lewis Gratz Fell in 1976, but their marriage was short-lived as her husband obtained a restraining order against her for assault.
In the 1970s, Keith’s sister attempted suicide six times, including shooting herself in the stomach, but all these failed. She turned to crimes such as theft and murder. She started killing older men in the late 1980s and early 1990s; this would have been precipitated by how her grandfather abused her.
Keith’s sister was arrested in 1991; she confessed to having killed and robbed those men and even said she would kill them again without hesitation. She was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.
Death
Keith Wuornos had cancer and had struggled with it for some time. In his last days, he was taken to a hospice, where he died in 1976 of esophageal cancer, aged only 21 years old. Keith left his sister with ten thousand dollars of life insurance when he died.
