NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A retired police sergeant with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) has served as a key witness in a murder trial involving a suspect he caught over a decade ago.
Pat Postiglione has been a key witness in the murder trial of Bruce Mendenhall, who has been dubbed the “Truck Stop Serial Killer.” Mendenhall has been accused of murdering an Indianapolis woman, Carma Purpura. As of publication, he is serving a life sentence for the murder of two Tennessee women and has been accused of killing as many as 10 women.
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Postiglione is responsible for catching Mendenhall at a truck stop on North 1st Street 17 years ago. At the time, Postiglione was investigating the murder of 25-year-old Sara Hulbert on July 12, 2007. He told the court Tuesday the yellow color of one of the trucks caught his attention because he recognized it as the same color he saw two weeks prior while investigating a different murder.
Postiglione testified that he knocked on the semi-truck to get Mendenhall’s attention and convinced him to sign a consent form so the MNPD could conduct a search of the truck. Postiglione said he had no idea what he would find.
Officers with the MNPD recovered tape, a trash bag, women’s clothing and blue napkins covered in blood. Additionally, they found a debit card and a cell phone belonging to the victim.
Postiglione testified Mendenhall told him the blood came from a cut on his leg.
“He had no cut, no scar, no scab; he had nothing to indicate that he had been bleeding, so I knew that was not good information…Everything in that bag was covered in blood,” Postiglione testified.
The jury is expected to hear testimony from a retired special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and a Lebanon Police Department officer Wednesday. Mendenhall is expected to face another murder trial in Birmingham, Alabama.
