Print Page - Bruce Mendenhall, 57 - Truck driver suspected of killing 6 in 4 states

I wasn't sure if I should put this here or in another thread.
Klaas, please feel free to put it in the appropriate place if I didn't.

This one struck a chord with me as I have grown up with a family full of truckdrivers that DON'T LOOK OR ACT LIKE THIS SLIMEBALL :twisted:

<snip>A long-distance truck driver gave statements implicating himself in six murders in four states after Detective Sgt. Pat Postiglione discovered apparent blood inside the cab of his rig, police said Thursday.

Bruce Mendenhall, 56, an independent truck driver from Albion, Illinois, is facing homicide charges in the shooting death of Sara Nicole Hulbert, 25. Her body was found June 26 in the parking lot of a Nashville, Tennessee, truck stop, authorities said in a statement.

Heading to the crime scene Thursday, Postiglione saw a tractor-trailer rig on the road that matched the description of a truck sought in the investigation. The rig pulled into the truck stop and stopped. Watch trucker's first court appearance »

Postiglione knocked on its door.

While talking with Mendenhall, Postiglione noticed what appeared to be blood on the inside of the driver's door. Mendenhall gave the detective permission to look inside the truck.

Postiglione found "some more evidence that I considered incriminating," he said.

Mendenhall was detained, police said, because he gave statements implicating himself in Hulbert's slaying. Knowing that the slaying was similar to other recent homicides in the South, Postiglione questioned Mendenhall about those as well, police said.

Mendenhall implicated himself in the death of Symantha Winters, 48, of Nashville, who was found shot to death June 6 in a trash container at a Lebanon, Tennessee, truck stop, police said.

Detective finds blood in truck that matched description of wanted vehicle

Also found was "more evidence" that detective considered incriminating

Police say driver gave statements implicating himself in 6 murders in 4 states
States are Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/12/serialkillings.suspect/index.html

:shock: :cry: I wonder how many of the people he killed have been listed as missing?

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/299859/3_61_071207_Mendenhall.jpg)

Truck Driver Charged in Third Slaying
Aug 23, 2007
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iSabSI85L6s5BNKujpHHTyWZS6Ng
EBANON, Tenn. (AP) — A truck driver who authorities say confessed to killing six women in several states has been charged with a third count of murder.

Bruce Mendenhall was taken to Wilson County on Tuesday to be arraigned on charges of first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the death of Symantha Winters, 48, of Nashville, police said. Her body was found June 6 stuffed in a trash can at a truck stop in Lebanon, 26 miles east of Nashville. She had been shot.

Last month Nashville police arrested Mendenhall, 56, of Albion, Ill., and charged him with criminal homicide in the death of Sara Nicole Hulbert, 25. She had been found dead with gunshot wounds on June 26 at a truck stop along Interstate 24 in Nashville.

Police in Birmingham, Ala., also have filed murder charges against Mendenhall in the death of 44-year-old Lucille "Gretna" Carter.

Investigators said she was shot with a .22-caliber weapon and dumped nude next to a trash bin on a service road. She was found July 1 with plastic bag over her head and duct tape around her neck.
(snipped)
Nashville police also have said Mendenhall implicated himself in a murder in Georgia and two in Indiana. He is being held without bond in Nashville.

Law enforcement agencies across the country have contacted Nashville investigators to learn if Mendenhall could be involved in unsolved murders in their areas. The FBI has been creating a timeline of Mendenhall's travels during his 20 years as a
trucker to determine other cases in which he could be a suspect

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Accused killer’s boss says Mendenhall’s arrest has hurt business
September 7, 2007
http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2007/Sep07/090307/090707-02.htm

Quote from: MuffyBee on September 18, 2007, 05:32:59 PM

Hi Muffy

Thanks for finding this and bringing it here. I am glad to hear they are still working on connections to other unsolved murders in the area where this sick man travelled. They've pinned him with 3, I'd say they have at least 3-4 more to pin him with.

It is sad that what he did not only affected his family, the victims families, but others as well. I am sure this trucking business will get through it and move foreward.

Suspected serial killer could be linked to old Nashville murders
By Jared Allen, jallen@nashvillecitypaper.com
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=57115
Metro Police believe “several” of their unsolved murder cases — cases that date back to the 1980s and 1990s — could be linked to Bruce Mendenhall, the suspected serial killer already believed to be responsible for at least a half-dozen truck stop murders of women, including two that occurred in Middle Tennessee this year.

At a press conference Thursday, Metro Police Detective Sgt. Pat Postiglione said the department’s investigation is leading them back some 20 years, to when Mendenhall, 56, of Albion, Ill. first became a truck driver.

Postiglione also said they believe it possible that Mendenhall may have been behind dozens of unsolved murders all across the country, including “several” unsolved murder cases in Nashville.

“[Metro Nashville police] have several. More than two or three,” Postiglione said. “We have unsolved cases that somehow fit the criteria.”
(snipped)
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DNA test may determine if missing woman is victim of truck stop killer

Date created: 10/10/2007 10:56:55 AM
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=49967&provider=gnews
A DNA test may determine if a missing Indianapolis woman was the victim of a man who has confessed to killing six women in four states, including Tennessee.
Thirty-one-year-old Carma Purpura was last seen July 11th at a southside Indianapolis truck stop.

Authorities say 56-year-old Bruce Mendenhall was arrested the next day at a truck stop in Nashville and confessed to killing six women in Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia.

Indianapolis police found Purpura's identification card in Mendenhall's truck.

Police hope a DNA test on blood on clothing found in his truck will determine if the blood is Purpura's.

Accused serial killer charged in plot to kill detectives, witnesses
August 18, 2008
Accused serial killer Bruce Mendenhall was booked this morning on charges he tried to arrange the killing of two homicide detectives and three witnesses in his case.

Mendenhall, 57, a trucker from Illinois, has been in jail since last July.
He's been charged with four murders, including the June 2007 shooting death of Sara Hulbert, who was found at a North First Street truck stop.

Mendenhall also is charged in the deaths of Symantha Winters, 48, of Nashville, whose body was found shot and stuffed in a trash can at a truck stop in Lebanon; Lucille "Gretna" Carter, 44, who was shot with a .22-caliber weapon before her nude body was found July 1 by a trash bin along a road in Birmingham; and Carma Purpora, 31, an Indianapolis woman whose body has never been found.

He was arrested at the North First Street truck stop in July 2007 by Sgt. Pat Postiglione and homicide detective Lee Freeman.

According to the indictment, Mendenhall solicited help in killing Freeman, Postiglione and witnesses in his case while inside the Metro Jail awaiting trial. His first case is set to go to court in January 2009.

Mendenhall is also a suspect in two additional homicides in other states.

“Allegations of retaliation or planned retribution against police officers or witnesses are extremely serious and will be immediately and vigorously investigated,” Chief Ronal Serpas said in a statement. “Such conduct cannot and will not be tolerated by this police department.”
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080818/NEWS03/80818035/-1/RSS05

September 4, 2008

Bruce Mendenhall pleads not guilty to murder conspiracy

Serial killer suspect Bruce Mendenhall, already facing four murder charges, pleaded not guilty Wednesday, Sept. 3, to charges that he plotted to kill detectives and witnesses in his case from behind bars.

Mendenhall, a former truck driver from Illinois, was arrested last year after police found the blood of as many as 10 different people in the cab of his truck.

He has been accused of murdering four women at truck stops in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Indiana. He is currently in jail in Davidson County, TN, awaiting trial on a murder charge in the death of Sara Nicole Hulbert.

Nashville Police claim that, after his arrest, Mendenhall began asking around for help in killing Nashville officers Sgt. Pat Postiglione, homicide detective Lee Freeman and three unnamed witnesses.

Mendenhall’s murder case in Tennessee goes to trial on Jan. 26.

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Sep08/090208/090408-09.htm

September 17, 2008

Suspected serial killer Mendenhall linked to another missing woman DNA now links a former trucker charged with killing four women – and trying to have five other people murdered – to a 28-year-old Nashville woman who vanished in June 2007.

The Associated Press quoted police as saying a sample of Latisha Yvonne Milliken’s DNA was found in Bruce Mendenhall’s truck. Mendenhall hasn’t been charged in connection with her disappearance.

Don Aaron, a Nashville police spokesman, told The Tennessean newspaper that Milliken is the seventh dead or missing woman linked to Mendenhall.

Mendenhall is charged in the deaths of four women whose bodies were recovered in three states and with trying to hire a hit man to kill police detectives and witnesses in the case.

http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Sep08/091508/091708-08.htm

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090623/NEWS03/906230333/1017/NEWS01/Defense+seeks+to+delay+first+of+Mendenhall+s+murder+trials
Defense seeks to delay first of Mendenhall's murder trials
Attorney expecting baby this fall
By Kate Howard • THE TENNESSEAN • June 23, 2009
Defense attorneys representing accused serial killer Bruce Mendenhall have asked for a delay in his Nashville murder trials, a postponement that could have a ripple effect on his other cases and the victims' families who believe Mendenhall killed their loved ones.
Mendenhall faces the death penalty in Nashville in the killing of Sara Hulbert, who was 25 when she was found shot to death at a North First Street truck stop. Investigators believe Mendenhall, a long haul trucker, preyed on prostitutes who frequented truck stops and may be responsible for the deaths of at least six women.

While in jail, Mendenhall was charged with five counts of solicitation of murder on allegations that he tried to have two Metro detectives and three potential witnesses killed.

Mendenhall's attorneys have asked that the two trials scheduled — for the solicitation charges in September and Hulbert's death in January — be postponed because one of his attorneys is expecting a baby the week the first trial is scheduled. A request to hold two separate trials for the solicitation could also slow down progress to the capital case, now scheduled for January 2010.

"Death penalty cases are extremely serious, and we need to spend as much time as we can preparing for the trial," said Dawn Deaner, Metro's public defender. One of the attorneys assisting Deaner with Mendenhall's cases is expecting the baby.

Victims' Loved Ones Wait

Since Mendenhall was arrested in Nashville in July 2007, he will be held here until his local charges are all satisfied. The delays probably will postpone trials in at least three states for families who believe Mendenhall is responsible for their loss. Though he's been charged in three other murders, only the Tennessee warrants have even been served.

Connie Dooley doesn't want to wait any longer for justice for her sister.

Lucille "Gretna'' Carter, 44, was shot in the head with a .22-caliber gun, her nude body left on a Birmingham roadside nearly two years ago. With every year that passes without a conviction for one of the victims, Dooley can't help but fear her sister's case will fall through the cracks.

"She was my baby sister," Dooley said. "It just has to be closed.''

The prosecutor on the Nashville case, Rachel Sobrero, could not be reached for comment.

Mendenhall also is charged in the deaths of Symantha Winters, 48, of Nashville, whose body was found shot and stuffed in a trash can at a truck stop in Lebanon; and Carma Purpora, 31, an Indianapolis woman whose body has never been found.

Charges have been filed against Mendenhall in Marion County, Ind., where police say Purpora went missing. Investigators say blood in his cab matched the woman's DNA. But until Mendenhall's Tennessee cases are resolved, they won't have a preliminary hearing or assign a prosecutor.

Time and distance make it harder to try the case as the years pass, said Mario Massillamany, spokesman for Marion County prosecutor's office.

"Keeping in touch with the witnesses, making sure their recollection of the events are fresh in their minds is difficult after several years," Massillamany said.

But regardless of how long it takes or if a jury gives Mendenhall the death penalty, Massillamany says they will pursue charges against him.

Suspected truck stop serial killer in court today
Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 11:51pm

An Illinois truck driver police suspect is a serial killer will be in Davidson County Criminal Court today facing charges he tried to have five people murdered from jail.

Metro Police arrested Bruce Mendenhall, 58, of Albion, Ill., in June 2007 while they were investigating the death of Sara Nicole Hulbert, 25, of Ashland City. Her lifeless body was found at an East Nashville truck stop.

While incarcerated on criminal homicide charges in that case, police claim Mendenhall hatched a murder-for-hire plot to have five individuals killed, including the Metro investigators responsible for his arrest. He faces five counts of solicitation of first-degree murder.

He has a hearing scheduled in Judge Steve Dozier’s court, but details of the hearing were not clear.

Prosecutors have decided to put Mendenhall on trial for the solicitation charges before he goes on trial in the Hulbert murder case in 2010.

Mendenhall, who is suspected in five additional killings in four states, is often referred to as the “truck stop serial killer” in news reports because many of his alleged victims were highway prostitutes or young women hanging around interstate exits.

In one close-to-home case, he is charged in neighboring Wilson County in the 2007 murder of Samantha Winters, 48, of Nashville. Her body was discovered stuffed in a trashcan at a truck stop off Interstate 40.

Other cases also are pending in Indiana, Georgia and Alabama.

Check back later today for updates from the hearing.
http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/suspected-truck-stop-serial-killer-court-today

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091110/NEWS03/911100332/Mendenhall+trial+jurors+will+not+be+sequestered
Mendenhall trial jurors will not be sequestered

By Kate Howard • THE TENNESSEAN • November 10, 2009
The jury hearing the case against accused serial killer Bruce Mendenhall next week will not be sequestered, a judge ruled Monday.

Attorneys for Mendenhall, facing trial next week on five counts of solicitation to commit murder for allegedly trying to have witnesses and detectives from his murder case killed, asked in court filings Monday to keep the jury sequestered for the duration of the trial because of the publicity it will receive.

Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier said the request was too late for him to make arrangements.

"If I grant that motion we couldn't have a trial Monday," Dozier said. "I've got to find a hotel block of 20-plus rooms, make security aware, arrange for meals and call a sufficient jury pool."
Faces other charges

The judge did agree to individual questioning of each potential jury member, to ensure that someone who is familiar with the case doesn't taint the jury pool, and said his direction to jury members to avoid news coverage will suffice.

Mendenhall, a long-haul truck driver from Albion, Ill., faces the death penalty in the June 2007 killing of Sara Hulbert. He also faces charges in three states in the slayings of four women. Investigators believe Mendenhall preyed on prostitutes who frequented truck stops and may be responsible for the deaths of at least six women. He has not been tried in any of the cases.

Prosecutors allege that the plot to have five people killed took place in Nashville's jail after his July 2007 arrest, and have elected to try that case first.

The judge has not yet ruled whether to let the jury hear statements Mendenhall allegedly made on wire taps and in the police interview tapes.

Public Defender Dawn Deaner argued that hearing how many murders Mendenhall is accused of would be extremely prejudicial.

Accused Killer Defends Self In Tape
Bruce Mendenhall Describes Plot Against Him
Reported By Deanna Lambert

UPDATED: 6:18 pm CST November 10, 2009
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Bruce Mendenhall's name is known by the families of missing women and to police in at least a half dozen states because a police officer, acting on a hunch, pulled him over in Nashville.

Video: Mendenhall Defends Self In Released Tape

Now Mendenhall is suspected in the killings of women in at least four states because of what he told the officer who arrested him.

Mendenhall is going to be tried on charges he plotted to kill five detectives and witnesses after his arrest. A 50-minute police interview conducted the day Mendenhall was arrested in 2007 gives a glimpse at what the accused serial killer was saying the day of that arrest.

"(I) went into the TA, got me something to eat, come back out and this lady was sprawled out in the back. I said, 'You guys, what the hell?' They go, 'It's your problem, not ours,'" said Mendenhall, hours after his arrest in one killing.

"She didn't have clothes on," Mendenhall said. "It was just like here and there and on the floor, blood everywhere."

Mendenhall said two men he knows shot Sara Hulbert, found dead at a Nashville truck stop, with his .22-caliber rifle and left her body for him to clean up.

"I dumped her body in behind the trucks, trailers, right out in plain view," he said.

Mendenhall said he did that to help police find the real killers -- those same two men, he said, have followed him around the country leaving a trail of dead bodies.

Mendenhall said the men are David Powell and Richie Kien, acquaintances from southern Illinois.

"His mom rented my rental property until I found out she was a whore, then I spent a year trying to get her out of my house," he said. "Couldn't do it until she beat on my daughter."

That woman is Lori Young, whose son is Kien.

Powell is a convicted sex offender who used to date Mendenhall's daughter.

Mendenhall said he never told police because the men had threatened him and his family.

In July 2007, Birmingham, Ala., police charged Mendenhall with the murder of a woman found naked in a trash bin with a plastic bag taped around her head. She was shot with a .22-caliber rifle.

And then Mendenhall said another woman was killed in Indianapolis. He said he went inside a truck stop and when he came out, those two men were in his truck again.

"OK, so they are in the cab of your truck," Sgt. Pat Postiglione said in the video. "What is going on inside the truck?"

"Dead girl," Mendenhall said.

"Describe that," said Postiglione.

"Naked," said Mendenhall. "Blood all over the place."

Mendenhall told police about other possible victims, such as in Indiana and Atlanta.

The interviewing and the questions continue for 57 minutes until Postiglione gives Mendenhall an opportunity to confess.

"We're not going to treat you any different now than if you tell us that you were the one who actually did it," Postiglione said. "And these guys, even though they were mean and nasty to your family, they really had nothing to do with the homicide. If you're the guy that did these killings …"

"Get me a lawyer," said Mendenhall.

Mendenhall's story also implicated him in the shooting death of Symantha Winters, whose body was found June 6, 2007, in a trash can at a truck stop in Lebanon.

He was indicted on murder charges in connection with Winters' death in August of that year.

Mendenhall is set to stand trial next week for trying to kill the two investigators who interviewed him and the three other people he says are really behind the murders.
http://www.wsmv.com/news/21576411/detail.html

'America's Most Wanted' will air Mendenhall segment Saturday

ALBION, Ill. — A segment about suspected serial killer Bruce D. Mendenhall of Albion is tentatively scheduled to air Saturday on Fox’s “America’s Most Wanted.”

“America’s Most Wanted” producer Jenna Griffiths says a segment about how over-the-road truckers could be linked to unsolved homicides is in production. Mendenhall was arrested in July 2007 at a truck stop in Nashville, Tenn., in the shooting death of Sarah Nicole Hulbert. He was driving a semitrailer for Quality Oak Products Inc. of Noble, Ill., at the time of his arrest.

in Nashville, Mendenhall has been formally charged in the slayings of three other women; one in Lebanon, Tenn., one in Indianapolis and one in Birmingham, Ala. He remains a suspect in at least two other homicide cases, one in Lake Station, Ind., and one in Sewanee, Ga.

“America’s Most Wanted” producers plan to use excerpts of a videotaped police interview of Mendenhall in the hours after his arrest in Nashville. In the 57-minute interview, Nashville Homicide Detective Pat Postiglione questions Mendenhall about allegations he may have been involved in the killing of as many as seven women.

In the interrogation video, Mendenhall denies he killed anyone, blaming instead two men who he says followed his truck around wherever he went, leaving a trail of dead bodies.

Mendenhall is scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 11, on charges of trying to hire two fellow inmates as hit men to kill two Nashville homicide detectives and three witnesses in his upcoming murder trial.

His trial for the shooting death of Hulbert, whose body was found June 26, 2007, in the parking lot of a Truck Stops of America in Nashville, is scheduled to begin May 10. Mendenhall remains in the Davidson County jail at Nashville without bond pending trial.

Law enforcement agencies across the United States have contacted detectives in Nashville to learn if Mendenhall could be involved in unsolved murders in their areas. The FBI has been creating a timeline of Mendenhall’s travels during his 20-year career as an over-the-road trucker to determine if he could be a suspect in other cases.

“America’s Most Wanted” airs at 8 p.m. CST on Saturday.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/dec/14/americas-most-wanted-will-air-mendenhall-segment-s/

Nashville jury deliberates murder conspiracy case

Associated Press - January 15, 2010 6:04 PM ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Nashville jury is deliberating in the murder-for-hire trial of a truck driver who is also charged in four murders in three states.

The Criminal Court jury got the case Friday against Bruce Mendenhall of Albion, Ill.

Mendenhall is accused of trying to solicit the killings of 5 people, including two city police detectives and three witnesses, from his cell.

Earlier Friday during closing arguments, defense attorneys challenged the credibility of some prosecution witnesses who were inmates with Mendenhall.

Mendenhall was arrested in June 2007 in the murder of a woman whose body was found at a Nashville truck stop. He later was charged with killing three other women in Lebanon, Tenn.; Indianapolis; and Birmingham, Ala.

Mendenhall will be tried later on the murder charges.

http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=11831449

NEWS UPDATE: Truck driver convicted in murder-for-hire case
January 15, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Nashville jury has convicted an Illinois truck driver of three counts of soliciting murder while jailed on charges of four slayings in three states.

A Criminal Court jury Friday convicted Bruce Mendenhall of Albion, Ill. He was found not guilty of two counts after three hours of deliberation.

He was convicted of trying to arrange the murders of three witnesses in his case. He was found not guilty of trying to hire someone to kill two Nashville police detectives. Sentencing will be later.

Mendenhall was arrested in June 2007 in the murder of a woman whose body was found at a Nashville truck stop. He later was charged with killing three other women in Lebanon, Tenn.; Indianapolis; and Birmingham, Ala.

Mendenhall will be tried later on the murder charges.

http://www.pal-item.com/article/20100115/UPDATES/100115028/NEWS+UPDATE++Truck+driver+convicted+in+murder-for-hire+case

Associated Press - May 9, 2010 3:05 PM ET

Truck stop slayings set for trial in Nashville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The suspect in the death of a woman found at a Nashville truck stop is set to go on trial after having his day in court delayed by flooding.

Attorneys are set to pick jurors on Monday in the case of Bruce Mendenhall, an Illinois truck driver charged with murder in the June 2007 shooting death of 25-year-old Sarah Hulbert whose body was found at a truck stop in Nashville.

The Tennessean reports that Mendenhall could face life in prison if he is convicted.

Mendenhall has also been charged with killing women in Lebanon, Indianapolis and Birmingham, Ala. Authorities believe he targeted prostitutes who frequented truck stops.

Nashville police arrested Mendenhall in July 2007 after a police detective saw his truck parked at a truck stop and recognized it from video footage of a truck leaving the scene of Hulbert's slaying.

http://www.waaytv.com/Global/story.asp?S=12453068

May 12, 2010 6:04 pm US/Central
Truck Driver Says He Disposed Woman's Body
TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press Writer

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ― An Illinois truck driver charged in the death of a Nashville woman told police he found the 25-year-old's body in his truck after getting a sandwich at a truck stop.

Jurors in the first-degree murder trial of Bruce Mendenhall, of Albion, Ill., saw a video on Wednesday of a statement he made to police shortly after they picked him up as a suspect in the slaying of Sarah Hulbert in June 2007.

Mendenhall said shortly before Hulbert's death, some acquaintances got into his truck at a Pilot gas station and asked him where he was going.

"I said none of your business, and they said, 'We'll make it our business,'" he said in the recorded statement.

He said he drove them to a different Nashville truck stop and got out to get a sandwich. When he got back to the truck, "This lady was sprawled out in the back," he said. :roll:

Mendenhall said Hulbert had a bag over her head, secured by tape. He said he cleaned up the blood and took the body out of the truck.

He said his acquaintances claimed they had sex with her, but he denied he did and said he had no idea how she got into the truck.

One of the men he identified, Terry Sanders, testified in court on Wednesday that he had been in New Mexico at the time of Hulbert's death. Mendenhall also said a man named Richard Keim was involved. Lorri Young, Keim's mother, testified that her son is autistic and schizophrenic. He can't drive and could not have come to Tennessee without her knowledge, she said.

Public defender Dawn Deaner has said Hulbert's body was in Mendenhall's truck, the gun found in the truck was used to shoot her and he disposed of her body. But she said all evidence against him is circumstantial and he did not kill Hulbert.

Jurors on Wednesday also saw autopsy photos showing bruises and cuts to her body as well as a gunshot wound that Feng Li, assistant state medical examiner, said was the cause of her death.

Mendenhall faces life in prison if convicted. He also has been charged with killing women in Lebanon, Tenn., Indianapolis and Birmingham, Ala.

http://cbs2chicago.com/wireapnewsil/Trucker.told.police.2.1690122.html

UPDATE: Mendenhall convicted of first-degree murder in Tennessee ::MonkeyGavel::
By The Associated Press
Posted May 14, 2010 at 12:24 p.m. , updated May 14, 2010 at 3:09 p.m.

UPDATE:

An Albion, Ill., truck driver was found guilty of first degree murder in the June 2007 death of a woman at a Nashville truck stop.

A jury of six men and six women deliberated for about 3 1/2 hours before finding Bruce Mendenhall guilty on Friday.

The 59-year-old has also been charged with killing women in Lebanon, Tenn., Indianapolis and Birmingham, Ala. Authorities have claimed he preyed on prostitutes at truck stops.

He faces a mandatory 51 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for June 18.

Earlier this year, Mendenhall was sentenced to 30 years in prison for soliciting the murder of witnesses from jail.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/may/14/jury-deliberating-murder-trial-albion-ill-trucker/

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/06/trucker_charged_in_birmingham_2.html
Trucker charged in Birmingham slaying will serve consecutive terms in Nashville convictions
Published: Friday, June 18, 2010, 12:15 PM Updated: Friday, June 18, 2010, 12:18 PM
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A Nashville judge ruled that Illinois truck driver Bruce Mendenhall's life sentence for a murder at a Nashville truck stop will be served consecutively to a 30-year sentence he is serving in a murder-for-hire case.

A Nashville jury last month convicted Mendenhall of murder in the death of 25-year-old Sara Hulbert. In January, another jury found him guilty of trying to arrange the murders of three witnesses.
According to a news release from the district attorney's office, Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier said Friday it would reduce the significance of both convictions if the sentences were not served consecutively.

The 59-year-old Mendenhall is also charged with killing women in Lebanon, Tenn., Indianapolis and Birmingham, Ala. Authorities believe he preyed on prostitutes at truck stops.

Unsealed records shed light on Mendenhall home search
By Len Wells
Evansville Courier & Press
Posted August 8, 2010 at 1:39 a.m.

ALBION, Ill. — It has been more than three years since Illinois State Police detectives and crime scene investigators armed with a search warrant descended upon the rural Albion home of suspected serial killer Bruce D. Mendenhall.

Not long after his arrest July 12, 2007, at a downtown Nashville, Tenn., truck stop for the shooting death of 26-year-old Sara Nicole Hulbert, police searched Mendenhall's home for clues in the deaths of as many as six women that he implicated himself in during police questioning.

Mendenhall, a truck driver, has since been found guilty by a Nashville jury of shooting to death Hulbert at a truck stop near downtown Nashville. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In a separate trial, he also was convicted of trying to hire a fellow inmate at Davidson County Jail in Nashville to kill three witnesses in the Hulbert murder case. That conviction resulted in an additional 30-year sentence.

The search warrant — which recently was unsealed along with a list of findings — covered Mendenhall's home, outbuildings, a burn pile inside an old silo and his car parked at a gas station south of Grayville. Working around the clock, investigators brought in a mobile crime lab and portable lights to support the teams of detectives and crime scene specialists.

From inside Mendenhall's home, detectives retrieved guns, ammunition, possibly blood-stained knives, clothing and several rolls of black electrical tape, according to documents contained within a return of search warrant filed July 20, 2007. Investigators have said Mendenhall's victims had been shot and were found with a plastic bag secured around their neck with electrical tape.

Mendenhall's home was strewn with knives and shotgun shells, according to the documents.

Behind the door of the south bedroom of the home, police found a Winchester Model 370 20-gauge shotgun. In the kitchen, police found a black case containing a pistol and a .50-caliber black powder gun. Shotgun shells were found, in various sizes and numbers, in the living room and bedroom.

From the top of a dresser in the south bedroom, police recovered 13 miscellaneous knives, with some holding possible bloodstains.

A shirt with bloodstains was taken from the bedroom floor. A pair of tennis shoes with possible bloodstains was taken from Mendenhall's garage.

From Mendenhall's Buick parked at a service station at the intersection of Ill. 1 and I-64 south of Grayville, crime scene investigators recovered two pair of women's underwear with bloodstains that were stuffed beneath the trunk lid's metal supports.

Police initially thought they had found human remains in a burn pile behind Mendenhall's home, but later analysis revealed the bones were from animals.

"Disturbed soil" on the property was the result of dogs burying animal bones, the records stated.

The search warrant executed on Mendenhall's over-the-road semi by Nashville detectives yielded a wealth of evidence, police said. Prosecutors described the cab of Mendenhall's truck as a "killing chamber."

From the cab, police removed a rifle, two sets of handcuffs, several cartridges from a gun magazine, and two knives — one with a razor blade — black electrical tape, latex gloves, used condoms, a glass smoking pipe and a night stick.

Mendenhall is slated to go to trial on Feb. 8 in Wilson County, Tenn., on a murder charge for the shooting death of Symantha Winters. The 48-year-old victim's body was found June 6, 2007, in a trash bin at a truck stop near Lebanon, Tenn. Mendenhall also faces charges in connection with the death of a woman in Indianapolis.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/aug/08/unsealed-records-shed-light-on-mendenhall-home/

Judge denies Mendenhall request for new trial
By Len Wells
Evansville Courier & Press
Posted August 27, 2010
ALBION, Ill. — ALBION, Ill. — A Nashville, Tenn., judge on Thursday denied convicted killer Bruce D. Mendenhall a new trial in connection with the slaying of 25-year-old Sara Nicole Hulbert.

In June of this year, Judge Steve Dozier sentenced the Albion native to life in prison for the shooting death of Hulbert. Her body was found stuffed in a trash bin at a Lebanon, Tenn., truck stop in 2007.

The former over-the-road trucker and suspected serial killer’s next murder trial will be in Wilson County, Tenn., for the slaying of 48-year-old Symantha Winters of Lebanon, Tenn. Her body was found stuffed in a trash bin at a Pilot Travel Center in June of 2007.

Mendenhall has been formally charged with murders in Lebanon, Tenn., Birmingham, Alabama and Indianapolis. Mendenhall is expected to stand trial in Indianapolis for the slaying of Carma Purpura after the Symantha Winters trial.

In addition to serving a life sentence for the murder of Sara Hulbert, Mendenhall is also serving a concurrent 30 year sentence for trying to hire a fellow inmate to murder witnesses in his first murder trial.

Tennessee prison officials say Mendenhall must serve a minimum of 51 years of the life sentence before he is eligible for parole. He is now 59.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/aug/27/judge-denies-mendenhall-request-new-trial/

Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

Missing, Exploited and True Crime => Unsolved Crimes => Topic started by: MsVada on July 13, 2007, 10:08:21 AM