Police link suspected serial killer to missing woman
Police have linked suspected serial killer Bruce Mendenhall to a Nashville woman who was reported missing in June 2007.
A sample of Latisha Yvonne Milliken's DNA was matched to blood found in Mendenhall's truck, said Don Aaron, a Metro police spokesman.
Milliken was 28 when she was reported missing on June 26, 2007, two months after her family had last heard from her.
The family reported her missing the same day Sara Hulbert's body was found at a North First Street truck stop, Aaron said. Mendenhall, an Illinois truck driver, is charged in Hulbert's death.
Milliken was last known to be homeless and living in the vicinity of Tent City, a makeshift camp off Hermitage Avenue for Nashville's homeless. She had a history of prostitution offenses in Metro, Aaron said.
Over the past few months, Metro police Sgt. Pat Postiglione and his team have been working with the Milliken family to find out what happened to her, Aaron said.
The family gave police an item that contained Milliken's DNA and a positive match with blood found in the truck was made, he said.
Milliken is still considered a missing person but the investigation continues. She would be the seventh dead or missing woman linked to Mendenhall, Aaron said.
The trucker has been charged with murder in Tennessee, Alabama and Indiana. He is also a suspect in a homicide in Georgia, Aaron said.
Mendenhall, 57, is also charged with five counts of soliciting help in an alleged plot to kill homicide detectives Postiglione and Lee Freeman as well as three witnesses in the murder case.
