The Case of Charles “Dick” Humphreys

Charles “Dick” Humphreys, a 56-year-old retired Air Force major and former police chief, disappeared in Florida on 11 September 1990. His body was discovered the following day in Marion County with multiple gunshot wounds. Aileen Wuornos later confessed to killing Humphreys and pleaded guilty to his murder, receiving another death sentence.

Charles Richard “Dick” Humphreys was 56 years old and had spent much of his adult life in public service. He was a retired major in the United States Air Force and had previously worked in law enforcement, including serving as a police chief. At the time of his death, he was working in the field of child abuse investigations. On 11 September 1990, Humphreys encountered Aileen Wuornos while travelling in Florida. By this point, Wuornos had already killed several men during a series of murders stretching across central and northern Florida. She was living a transient lifestyle with her girlfriend, Tyria Moore, and supporting herself primarily through sex work. The exact circumstances of Humphreys's encounter with Wuornos are not completely known. Wuornos later admitted shooting him, while continuing to give varying accounts of why she killed the men she encountered. Wuornos maintained at different stages that her victims had assaulted, threatened or attempted to sexually assault her. Prosecutors rejected her broader claims of self-defence and argued that she killed the men before stealing their vehicles and possessions. After Humphreys was killed, his vehicle and property were taken.

Humphreys's body was discovered on 12 September 1990 in an isolated area of Marion County. He had been shot multiple times with a .22-calibre firearm. The location and condition of his body bore significant similarities to the other killings subsequently attributed to Wuornos. Several victims had been shot repeatedly with the same calibre of firearm before their bodies were abandoned in secluded areas. Humphreys's vehicle and personal possessions were also missing, reinforcing the pattern investigators were beginning to recognise across several Florida jurisdictions.

By the time Humphreys was murdered, authorities were dealing with a growing number of cases involving middle-aged male motorists who had disappeared or been found shot to death. Because the killings occurred across different counties, they were initially handled by separate law enforcement agencies. As investigators began sharing information, similarities between the cases became increasingly apparent. The discovery of Peter Siems's crashed vehicle had already produced descriptions of two women seen leaving the car. A palm print recovered from the vehicle was eventually identified as belonging to Aileen Wuornos. Investigators also traced possessions belonging to other victims through pawn shops and discovered transactions connected directly to Wuornos. After another victim's stolen vehicle was located following an accident involving Wuornos and Moore, investigators were able to strengthen the connection between the women and the murdered men. Wuornos was arrested on 9 January 1991. Tyria Moore subsequently cooperated with investigators and participated in recorded telephone conversations with Wuornos. Fearing that Moore could be implicated in the murders, Wuornos began admitting responsibility for the killings. She confessed to killing Charles Humphreys along with six other men.

Wuornos's first trial concerned the murder of Richard Mallory, for which she was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death in January 1992. After that conviction, she began resolving the remaining cases through guilty or no-contest pleas. Wuornos subsequently pleaded guilty to the murder of Charles Humphreys and received an additional death sentence. She ultimately received six death sentences for six of the seven known killings attributed to her. No murder prosecution was brought for Peter Siems because his body was never recovered. After spending more than a decade on Florida's death row, Wuornos abandoned further legal efforts to prevent her execution. Aileen Wuornos was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on 9 October 2002.