If a California movie producer wants to sell the life story of suspected serial killer Aileen Wuornos, only the state will see any profits, the Florida attorney general warned Tuesday.
Wuornos, suspected in the deaths of at least seven men along Florida’s highways, has been charged in two of the cases – one in Volusia County and another in Marion County.
After reading newspaper accounts about the producer’s plans, Attorney General Robert Butterworth wrote Wuornos’ public defender, Ray Cass, reminding him that the state can confiscate all proceeds from any sale of Wuornos’ life story if the 34-year-old transient is convicted.
But the producer – Jackelyn Giroux, head of JAG Productions in Studio City, Calif. – said she is concerned now about telling Wuornos’ story, not about where the profits will go. No sale has been made, she added.
“What (Wuornos) would profit from this is a story told about her through her own ears, from her own mouth,” said Giroux, who also is a screenwriter. Wuornos has called Giroux to talk about her life.
“When and if there is a deal and she’s convicted, I’ll cross that bridge (conflict over proceeds) when I come to it,” she said. “If I’m not paid, I’m not paid.”
Giroux said she plans to write about Wuornos’ troubled past from the hitchhiker’s childhood to age 30 and probably will not mention the slayings or the trial.
If convicted, Wuornos could profit from a sale if Giroux avoids mentioning the crimes, Deputy Attorney General Peter Antonacci said. But if there is any reference to the killings, the state could sue for the proceeds, he added.
Giroux said she heard about Wuornos in December, when she visited her mother, who lives in Ocala. Her mother said she had seen a woman who resembled the police composite drawings of two women suspected of killing middle-age men along highways. Giroux visited local supermarkets, bars and stores, handing out her business cards.
“I said, ‘If you every see these girls, would you give them my card?’ ” she said.
After Giroux’s mother called her about Wuornos’ arrest, Giroux wrote to Cass, asking to write his client’s story. Daytona Beach attorney Russell Armstrong, who represented Wuornos during an armed-robbery case in 1981, later contacted Giroux and negotiated a deal.
No money has exchanged hands, but Wuornos has given Giroux the right to write her story, Armstrong said.
Wuornos was charged Jan. 16 with fatally shooting Richard Mallory, 52, Clearwater, and hiding his body under a carpet in a remote area of northeast Volusia. Marion County deputies charged her Friday with slaying Dick Humphreys, 56, Crystal River, and dumping his body in a remote area of southern Marion.
She confessed to both killings and has made a number of admissions in all seven cases, Volusia sheriff’s Sgt. Jake Ehrhart said.
