“Truck Stop Serial Killer” sentenced to an additional 65 years in prison

HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Bruce Mendenhall, also known as the “Truck Stop Serial Killer” was sentenced to an additional 65 years in prison for the July 2007 murder of Carma Purpura of Indianapolis.

Mendenhall is already serving two life sentences in Tennessee for a pair of murders, and he is still facing a trial for an Alabama murder. He is also under investigation for murders in Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Mendenhall met Purpura, a mother of two, at the Flying J truck stop on the southwest side of Marion County in 2007. Purpura’s body was discovered four years later down a 75-foot ravine off the side of a Kentucky highway with indications of a fatal bullet wound to the head.

Investigators say the morning after Purpura met Mendenhall, authorities searched his truck’s cab and discovered a .22 rifle, a bag of bloody clothes and identifications belonging to Purpura.

Mendenhall was found guilty in January, after less than 90 minutes of delibiration from a Marion Superior Court jury.

This is a developing story.