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Truck Stop Homicide
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Teen Speaks About Alleged Serial Killer
Daughter Of Alleged Victim Calls Bruce Mendenhall A 'Monster'
POSTED: 7:33 pm CDT April 29,
2009
UPDATED: 8:58 am CDT April 30,
2009
LEBANON, Tenn. -- The daughter of one of trucker Bruce Mendenhall's alleged victims breaks her silence after nearly two years.
Video: Victim's Daughter Speaks About Bruce MendenhallSymantha Winters was killed at a truck stop in Lebanon June 6, 2007. She was the second known victim in a crime spree.Her daughter, 18-year-old Miranda O'Neal, is just now able to talk publicly about her loss and about the accused killer, whom she calls a monster.Winters' last years were troubled: A drug addiction lead her to prostitution, but O'Neal remembers better times."Every night before we went to bed, she always sang 'Silent Night' to us," said O'Neal. "I mean, she was the best ever."Winters' body was found June 6 in a trash can at a Lebanon truck stop.O'Neal said she plans to attend the trial and is anxious for Mendenhall to receive the death penalty."He is a monster for what he has done, and he deserves to be put behind bars or put to death as soon as possible. He's not a human in my eyes," O'Neal said of Mendenhall. "He's a thing that needs to be destroyed."O'Neal lost her father when she was 15 and her mother at 16.
Video: Victim's Daughter Speaks About Bruce MendenhallSymantha Winters was killed at a truck stop in Lebanon June 6, 2007. She was the second known victim in a crime spree.Her daughter, 18-year-old Miranda O'Neal, is just now able to talk publicly about her loss and about the accused killer, whom she calls a monster.Winters' last years were troubled: A drug addiction lead her to prostitution, but O'Neal remembers better times."Every night before we went to bed, she always sang 'Silent Night' to us," said O'Neal. "I mean, she was the best ever."Winters' body was found June 6 in a trash can at a Lebanon truck stop.O'Neal said she plans to attend the trial and is anxious for Mendenhall to receive the death penalty."He is a monster for what he has done, and he deserves to be put behind bars or put to death as soon as possible. He's not a human in my eyes," O'Neal said of Mendenhall. "He's a thing that needs to be destroyed."O'Neal lost her father when she was 15 and her mother at 16.
Previous Stories:
- October 9, 2008: Accused Serial Killer's Hit List Revealed
- September 17, 2008: Accused Killer Linked To Missing Woman
- September 3, 2008: Mendenhall Charged In Murder-For-Hire Plot
- August 18, 2008: Accused Serial Killer Faces More Charges
- May 29, 2008: Wife Of Accused Serial Killer Dies
- May 1, 2008: DA To Seek Death Penalty In Accused Killer's Case
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