‘Monster’: Who Was Aileen Wuornos’ Girlfriend & Where Is She Now?
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story intertwines Lizzie Borden (Ella Beatty) and maid Bridget/Maggie‘s (Vicky Krieps) story with that of serial killer Aileen Wuornos (Sarah Paulson). The Netflix series depicts the beginning of Aileen’s killing spree before she becomes fascinated with the Borden murders. She even goes on an anniversary trip with her girlfriend, Shelby (Jessie Lee), to the Borden house. (Warning: Spoilers for Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story ahead.)
In the show, Shelby is well aware of her girlfriend’s murders. She reads a book about Lizzie to Aileen during their stay. After their trip, the show flashes forward to Aileen’s trial. Shelby doesn’t make an appearance at the trial, which wasn’t the case in real life. When Aileen was arrested in 1991, her then-girlfriend Tyria Moore, whose name is changed in the show, testified against her. Aileen killed seven men in Florida over the course of her relationship with Tyria.
How does Aileen and Tyria’s real-life story differ from Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story? Get all the details on their relationship below.
Who was Aileen Wuornos’ girlfriend?
In 1986, three years before Aileen’s first known killing, Aileen and Tyria met at a gay bar in South Daytona, Florida. They moved in together weeks later, so they were living under the same roof during the year that Aileen killed the seven men. When they met, Tyria was working as a motel maid and in her mid-20s. She had come to Florida from Pennsylvania to start a new life, according to documentarian Jackie Giroux, per Netflix doc Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers.
Tyria quit her job, and Aileen supported the two of them through sex work. “The only reason I hustled so hard all those years was to support her,” Aileen said, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I did what I had to do to pay the bills, because I didn’t have another choice.”
She added, “The problem was I wasn’t supporting her as richly as she wanted… I brought home about $300 every two weeks, but it wears you out, constantly talking to all those men, staying up.”
Aileen was caught in part because she crashed the car belonging to Peter Siems, one of her alleged victims, in July 1990. Tyria was also in the car. Police obtained sketches of the women based on a witness description. Aileen’s prints were also found on the car, and the victim’s stolen items that she had pawned off were traced to her. When the sketches circulated in the media, Tyria got suspicious of her girlfriend and broke up with her, according to interview footage in Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers.
After their split, Tyria moved to Ohio in December 1990. In January 1991, Aileen was arrested at a Florida bar, and in late 1991, Tyria helped investigators get a confession from Aileen in exchange for immunity. “She knows how to work around things. She could lie her way out of anything. And that’s mainly why I wanted her to confess to the murders,” Tyria explained in the Netflix doc. “It’s because I knew she could lie her way out of it.”
Suzanne Tenner/Netflix
Aileen confessed during a taped phone call with Tyria, saying, “I’m not gonna let you go to jail. Ty, I love you. If I have to confess everything just to keep you from getting in trouble, I will.”
In footage obtained by the documentary, Aileen tells investigators that Tyria didn’t participate in the crimes. “I loved her so bad,” Aileen said about Moore in the documentary. “[She’s the] only reason I carried that darn gun. I wanted to make sure that I got home alive — so I’d be another day breathing with her.”
Tyria also denied involvement in the crimes. “I didn’t believe it,” she said at the time of the trial, according to United Press International. “I know I didn’t like to hear about her work. So I’m sure I didn’t want to hear something like that.”
During the 1992 trial, during which Aileen was found guilty and sentenced to death, Tyria testified that Aileen confided in her about the murders. Her statements also contradicted Aileen’s original claim that she acted in self-defense.
Where is Aileen Wuornos’ girlfriend now?
After Aileen’s trial, Tyria largely disappeared from the public eye. There are some unconfirmed reports that she entered the witness protection program, while other outlets, like Radio Times, say Tyria currently lives in Pennsylvania. According to The Citizen’s Voice, a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-based newspaper, a woman named Tyria Moore married Joyce Karchner in 2016.
Tyria last spoke about Aileen, her crimes, and the trial in a Dateline special episode in August 1992. In Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers, Aileen said Tyria hadn’t contacted her since 1992. “I always miss her, and I’ll always love her. I’ll be thinking about her the day I’m executed. I loved her so bad,” the serial killer, who was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002, said.
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, Streaming Now, Netflix
