Bruce Delane Mendenhall was born on April 14, 1951, and raised in Crawford County, Illinois. He appeared to live a relatively normal life, working as a long-haul trucker and raising a family in Albion, Illinois, with his wife, two daughters, and a son. Described by neighbors and family as quiet and unremarkable, there was little in his background to indicate that he would eventually become one of America’s most prolific long-distance serial killers.

Driving cross-country routes for years, Mendenhall crisscrossed the United States and frequented truck stops in multiple states, including Tennessee, Indiana, Alabama, and Georgia. It was during these stretches on the road that authorities believe he began targeting vulnerable women—many of whom were sex workers or hitchhikers. His familiarity with highways, isolated truck stops, and transient living provided the perfect cover for crimes that, for a time, went unnoticed.

Though outwardly maintaining the appearance of a family man, evidence would later surface that Mendenhall had kept disturbing paraphernalia in his truck—handcuffs, sex toys, latex gloves, knives, and a rifle—suggesting a darker reality. Authorities would later describe the contents of his truck as a mobile crime scene, contaminated with bloodstains and DNA traces from multiple women.

Until his arrest in 2007, Mendenhall continued working and living freely, undetected and unsuspected by those closest to him.

Bruce Mendenhall, a truck driver from Albion, Illinois, was arrested on July 12, 2007, at a truck stop in Nashville, Tennessee. Detective Sergeant Pat Postiglione spotted Mendenhall’s truck, which matched surveillance footage from the night Sara Nicole Hulbert was murdered at the same truck stop. Upon inspecting the vehicle, the police found a large amount of bloody clothing and personal effects belonging to a missing Indianapolis woman. Blood spots were scattered inside the truck, including on the steering wheel and Mendenhall's hands. The police seized over 300 items from the truck, including weapons, handcuffs, latex gloves, and sex toys. DNA from these items linked Mendenhall to five different women. He was arrested and taken into custody, later waiving his right to a preliminary hearing.

Mendenhall’s victims were mostly young prostitutes, often found shot. He admitted to killing Sara Nicole Hulbert, whose body was discovered on June 26, 2007. He also confessed to the murder of Symantha Winters, whose body was found in a trash can at a Lebanon, Tennessee truck stop on June 6, 2007. Winters had a criminal record, including at least one charge of prostitution. A Wilson County grand jury indicted Mendenhall for Winters' murder, and he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Another victim, Carma Purpura, was found on July 11, 2007, at a truck stop in Indianapolis, Indiana. Her belongings and a large quantity of her blood were discovered in Mendenhall's truck. Her remains were found years later off Interstate 65 in Kentucky. Mendenhall was charged with her murder in April 2008. Additionally, he was charged with the murder of Lucille "Greta" Carter, found nude with a plastic bag taped around her head in Birmingham, Alabama on July 1. Investigators suspect Mendenhall in several other murders, including those of Deborah Ann Glover, Sherry Drinkard, Tammy Zywicki, Robin Bishop, and Belinda Cartwright. Although initially cooperative, Mendenhall eventually stopped confessing to further murders.