Aileen Wuornos, touted as "America's first female serial killer", shot at least seven middle-aged men to death in Florida between December 1989 and September 1990. Their bodies were discovered along Florida's northern and central highways. A self-professed hater of humans, her troubled upbringing and difficult lifestyle contributed to her demise. She confessed to six murders, claiming that she killed her victims in self-defense after they attempted to sexually assault her while she worked as a highway prostitute; however, she later recanted five of her self-defense claims, instead pleading guilty to first-degree murder in order to "get right with God." Wuornos subsequently petitioned the Florida Supreme Court to stop all of her appeals so she could die. She asserted that she would definitely kill again and felt it better that her life was ended.