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DNA Test Could Find If Trucker Killed Missing Indy Woman
Police: Man Confessed To Killing 6 Women
POSTED: 6:24 am EDT October 10,
2007
UPDATED: 7:22 am EDT October 10,
2007
INDIANAPOLIS -- A DNA test could determine if a missing Indianapolis woman was the victim of a man who has confessed to killing six women in four states.Bruce Mendenhall, 56, of Albion, Ill., was arrested at a truck stop in Tennessee on July 12, one day after Carma Purpura, 31, was last seen at a truck stop on Indianapolis' south side.Mendenhall told police that he killed a woman he picked up at the truck stop and confessed to killing five other women in Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, authorities said.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Detective Tom Tudor said 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.Mendenhall, who has been charged in killings in Nashville and Birmingham, Ala., told police he killed a woman he picked up at the Indianapolis truck stop and dumped her body in a trash bin near a fast food restaurant off Indiana 37 just south of Interstate 465. Police searched that bin and others at nearby truck stops but found nothing."At this point, we're proceeding as if the body will not be recovered," Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Denise Robinson said.
Previous Stories:
- August 9, 2007: Indy Police Seek DNA From Serial-Slayings Suspect
Copyright 2007 by TheIndyChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.








