Indy Police Seek Body After Trucker's Alleged Confession

INDIANAPOLIS -- Police on Friday looked near an Indianapolis truck stop for a woman's body after Tennessee authorities said a trucker confessed to killing six people in four states, including two in Indiana.

Bruce Mendenhall, 56, of Albion, Ill., told Tennessee investigators that he killed a woman Wednesday night on Indianapolis' southwest side, and also killed a woman at a truck stop in Lake Station in northwestern Indiana, authorities said.

Mendenhall was arrested Thursday in Nashville, Tenn., in connection with the death of a Tennessee woman whose body was found at a Nashville truck stop two weeks ago.

Police said he was charged in that death and confessed to killing five other people -- two in Indiana; another Tennessee woman; one woman in Suwanee, Ga.; and a person in Birmingham, Ala.

Based on the confession, Indianapolis police searched the areas around a Flying J truck stop and a Hardee's restaurant on the city's southwest side for a woman's body on Thursday and Friday, 6News' Ben Morriston reported.

"(Mendenhall) indicated to (investigators) that he had picked up a prostitute at the Flying J on Wednesday ... around 9 p.m., and that he took her out and killed her and disposed of her body behind the Hardee's located on South Harding Street," Indianapolis police Lt. Kevin Kelly said.

The truck stop is near Interstate 465 and Indiana 37. No body was found as of 6 p.m. Friday.

Police said they had not found any missing person cases that would match Mendenhall's Indianapolis claim, but they said they had no reason to believe he was lying.

Police in Lake Station said they are investigating whether Mendenhall was responsible for the February shooting death of Sherry Drinkard, 43, at a truck stop. Her snow-covered body was found Feb. 22 in a grassy area near a parking lot. The Lake County coroner said she had been shot in the head.