The Case of David Spears

David Spears, a 43-year-old construction worker, disappeared in Florida in May 1990 while travelling to a job near Orlando. His nude body was discovered beside a remote road in Citrus County on 1 June. He had been shot six times with a .22-calibre firearm and was later identified as the second known victim of Aileen Wuornos.

David Andrew Spears was a 43-year-old construction worker from Winter Garden, Florida. On 19 May 1990, he left home intending to travel to a construction job in the Orlando area. Spears never arrived at his destination and did not return home. During his journey, Spears encountered Aileen Wuornos. Exactly where and under what circumstances the two met remains unclear, but Wuornos was supporting herself through sex work and frequently approached motorists along Florida's highways. Wuornos later admitted killing Spears, although her accounts of the killings changed considerably over time. She initially maintained that the men she killed had sexually assaulted, threatened or attempted to attack her. Prosecutors argued that Wuornos was deliberately targeting motorists before killing them and stealing their vehicles and possessions. After killing Spears, Wuornos left his body in an isolated area and took his vehicle.

On 1 June 1990, Spears's nude body was discovered beside a remote road in Citrus County, approximately two weeks after he disappeared. Forensic examination determined that he had been shot six times with a .22-calibre firearm. His clothing and personal belongings were missing from the scene, while his vehicle had also been taken. The circumstances bore important similarities to the murder of Richard Mallory several months earlier, although investigators had not yet established that the two killings were connected.

Spears's murder became part of a growing series of unexplained killings and disappearances involving male motorists across Florida during 1990. As additional victims were discovered, investigators noticed recurring features. Several victims had been shot with a .22-calibre firearm, their bodies had been abandoned in isolated locations, and their vehicles and personal possessions were missing. The cases began to converge after police investigated property belonging to the victims that had been sold or pawned. Aileen Wuornos and her girlfriend, Tyria Moore, eventually emerged as persons of interest following an accident involving the stolen vehicle of another victim. Witness descriptions and subsequent investigative work allowed authorities to identify the two women. Police discovered that Wuornos had pawned property belonging to some of the victims and had provided identification and fingerprints during the transactions. Wuornos was arrested in January 1991. With Moore cooperating with investigators, police recorded telephone conversations between the women. Wuornos eventually confessed to killing seven men, including David Spears. She claimed the killings occurred after the men attacked, sexually assaulted or threatened her. Authorities rejected her broader self-defence claims and pursued multiple murder prosecutions.

Wuornos was not separately tried before a jury for David Spears's murder. After being convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Richard Mallory, she entered pleas resolving several of the remaining homicide cases. In March 1992, Wuornos pleaded no contest to the murders of David Spears, Charles Carskaddon and Troy Burress. She received additional death sentences for the killings. Further pleas followed in other cases, eventually leaving Wuornos with six death sentences for the murders attributed to her. She remained on Florida's death row for more than a decade before abandoning further efforts to prevent her execution. Aileen Wuornos was executed by lethal injection at Florida State Prison on 9 October 2002.