A man known as “The Truck Stop Serial Killer” was convicted Wednesday in the 2007 murder of an Indiananapolis woman. Bruce Mendenhall has now been found guilty of three murders, and he remains a suspect in several homicides nationwide, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said on social media.
Mendenhall, a former truck driver, is alleged to have carried out what the prosecutor’s office described as a “chilling murder spree,” finding victims at long-haul truck stops in Tennessee and Indiana. He has also been accused of murder in Birmingham, Alabama.
On Wednsday, the 73-year-old Mendenhall, 73, was convicted in the murder of Carma Purpura, an Indianapolis mother of two who met Mendenhall at a truck stop in Marion County in 2007, according to CBS affiliate WTTV. Her body was found in 2011, down a steep ravine off the side of a Kentucky highway, with indications of a fatal bullet wound to the head, WTTV reported.
WTTV
Mendenhall was found in Nashville the morning after he met Purpura, the station reported. Police were investigating the murder of a woman at a Nashville truck stop the month before and saw that his truck was “blood-spattered,” WTTV said. Mendenhall gave police permission to search the truck. An officer testified that he found a .22 rifle, a bag of bloody clothes, and identifications belonging to Purpura. Blood spatters in the truck were later linked to Purpura.
Mendenhall was arrested and charged in the murder of Sara Nicole Hulbert, local media reported. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2010. In 2018, Mendenhall was convicted in the 2007 killing of Nashville woman Symantha Winters and sentenced to life in prison a second time.
Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said in a statement that the conviction was made possible “due to a hard-working detective who was dedicated to working across state lines to ensure that justice was achieved for the victims and their families.”
WTTV reported that Mendenhall showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He will be sentenced on February 17 and faces up to 65 years in an Indiana prison.
Purpura’s family attended the trial, but had no comment after the verdict.
“It is my hope that today’s verdict brings resolution to Carma’s family and other who have waited years for answers and accountability after losing their loved ones,” Mears said.
