Bruce Mendenhall, Serial killer

By Ruth Kanton

On June 26, 2007, at 12:49 a.m., a guard patrolling Nashville's main layby truck stop on Interstate 24 stumbled upon a gruesome scene. He immediately called authorities, and Detective Sergeant Pat Postiglione arrived first at the scene. Making his way to the back of the truck stop, the detective did not miss the naked body of a young woman lying on the ground. The body was displayed with the legs spread wide, the soles pushed together. The arms were positioned upward, and the bullet hole on the woman's head quickly provided detectives with a likely cause of death. As his eyes took in the details of the scene, Postiglione quickly realized that the killer was no amateur...One that would repeat the same crime, over and over and over again....

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201709112

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BRUCE MENDENHALL, SERIAL KILLER

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RUTH CANTON

TABLE OF CONTENTS

BRUCE MENDENHALL

DR HAROLD SHIPMAN

GRANNY KILLER

Born on April, 14, 1951, Bruce Mendenhall grew up in Crawford, Illinois. In 1981, the former Vietnam veteran married Linda Horton, and the two had two daughters. He later moved to Albion, Illinois, settling in with his family. Mendenhall kept to himself most of the time, and several neighbors found him to be a bit odd and cold. He made a living as a long-haul truck driver, often away from his family. Mendenhall spent his Sundays bowling at the Albion Bowling Center, and stayed for three hours with his daughters. His quiet nature meant that none of his colleagues actually knew him well, but his neighbors had a number of stories to tell. His yard would be littered with junk, but he absolutely refused to remove them, and got into a number of shouting matches with neighbors. He was also familiar to the local police, since he always insisted that anyone who argued with his daughters be arrested. Despite his less than friendly demeanor, he had his eye on a political office, which many believed stemmed from his personal disagreements with the city. Some people believed that his civil dispute with police about the rusty cars in his front yard was the catalyst. In 1997, he ran for the mayor’s seat and got 49 votes out of 911. He came in last, losing to a preacher whose agenda was to keep the town alcohol-free. His dreams dashed, Mendenhall kept to himself and continued working.

Sara Nicole Hulbert

On June 26, 2007, at 12:49 a.m., a guard patrolling Nashville’s main layby truck stop on Interstate 24 stumbled upon a gruesome scene. He immediately called authorities, and Detective Sergeant Pat Postiglione arrived first at the scene. Making his way to the back of the truck stop, the detective did not miss the naked body of a young woman lying on the ground. The body was displayed with the legs spread wide, the soles pushed together. The arms were positioned upward, and the bullet hole on the woman’s head quickly provided detectives with a likely cause of death. As his eyes took in the details of the scene, Postiglione quickly realized that the killer was no amateur. There was little evidence at the scene, and the small amount of blood meant that the victim had not been killed there. The truck stop was a high traffic area, making it difficult for the crime scene technicians to collect evidence. However, they cataloged the distinctive boot print found near the body, which belonged to certain types of work boots. The detectives interviewed the guard, who revealed that when he made his rounds at 12:20 a.m., the body was not there. This gave police a clue about the time period that the killer had dumped the body. Since the truck stop bordered a high crime area, it was constantly monitored by CCTV and patrolled by guards. Knowing that the killer had been at the scene sometime between 12:20 and 12:50 a.m., the detectives began reviewing the surveillance footage from that window of time. At 12:24:17 a.m., Postiglione noticed a truck heading towards the back of the truck stop, where the body was found. 16 minutes later, at 12:40:20 a.m., the truck drove out of the compound, heading in the same direction it originally came from. The truck had a yellow cab, and was pulling a regular box-type trailer. Since the driver had not purchased anything while in the truck stop, detectives had no receipts to track down.

The victim’s body was sent to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The results showed that the victim had died from a single .22 caliber gunshot to the head at close range. The body had cuts and abrasions, suggesting a violent struggle had ensued. The examiner also found evidence of torture, with wounds to the buttocks suggesting that she had been cut with a knife. The semen present in the body was swabbed and sent to the forensics lab for DNA analysis. When her fingerprints were entered into the database, the victim was identified as 25-year-old Sara Nicole Hulbert from Nashville.

Born in Memorial Hospital in Nashville, Hulbert was the last born in her family. Her mother passed away when she was 3 years old, and she was taken in and raised by an aunt and uncle in Elmo, Washington. She came back to Nashville after her 18th birthday, got married