Latest news with #Purpura
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Daily Table Suddenly Closing All Locations
A popular healthy grocery chain started by a former Trader Joe's president suddenly closed all of its locations all of its locations. Ten years ago, a former Trader Joe's president founded Daily Table to make nutritious food affordable, but just a decade later the chain is closing all four of its locations after closing a fifth in 2024. 'It was not a decision we wanted to make,' Sasha Purpura, Daily Table's CEO, said in a statement to 'But we had no choice. It was an economic decision.' The chain that served over three million customers and returned over $16 million in savings to the community, issued a letter to its customers. 'We are deeply grateful to every person, and organization, who has supported our mission since 2015 — donors, suppliers, customers, volunteers, and community partners,' the Daily Table Board of Directors' letter said. 'Your belief in the power of dignity, health, and access has enabled us to impact hundreds of thousands of lives.' The chain plans to sell off its inventory over the next few days at a discounted price until they cease operations. Purpura revealed the grocery chain's economic woes began during the COVID-19 pandemic after customers started avoiding brick-and-mortar stores. The nonprofit's goal to provide food without passing the cost to the customers became more challenging following the rising cost of food. According to Daily Table lost its USDA aid last fall through the Double Up Food Bucks program, which provided SNAP customers a 50% discount on fresh produce purchases and half off nonfat and 1% milk. 'We have been trying to get through this challenging time, but in the end, we do not have the money,' Purpura said. 'It has been heart-wrenching for all of us.'Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Yahoo
How many Ohio OVI arrests involve repeat offenders?
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — St. Patrick's Day week often comes with reminders about not driving impaired, but numbers from the state show thousands of the same Ohio drivers are repeatedly making the wrong decision. Troopers with the Ohio State Ohio Patrol (OSHP) are preparing for St. Patrick's Day weekend when they'll be out on the roads, trying to keep those driving under the influence off them. 'Those are times for people to get together, enjoy themselves, enjoy their family, enjoy their friends,' OSHP Sgt. Ryan Purpura said. 'We don't want that decision to get behind the wheel impaired, have that memory be something tragic.' With cell phones and rideshare widely available, Purpura said there's no excuse to be driving drunk or on drugs. 'There is really no reason, it is 100% preventable, right,' he said. 'I mean, getting behind the wheel impaired is a choice.' But during one week in the beginning of March, three drivers with previous OVI's were arrested in central Ohio for similar actions again, according to the OSHP. For one driver, it was their sixth OVI offense in 10 years; for another, it was their fourth in five years; for the third, it was the fifth in less than 10 years. 'It's just uncalled for,' Purpura said. 'People need to realize that when they get behind the wheel impaired, they're not only putting themselves at risk, they're putting the people next to them on the roadways at risk.' Numbers from the OSHP's OVI dashboard showed 30% of the patrol's 82,565 OVI arrests since 2020 have been repeat offenders. Those numbers are just from that agency. Based on data from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, which includes numbers from all of the state's law enforcement agencies, the repeat offender percentage is about 38%. 'We're not saying not to go out and have a good time, but we are saying just do that safely,' Purpura said. Over the last five years, the state has averaged more than 1,100 deadly crashes a year; about half involve impaired driving, according to Purpura. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
05-03-2025
- USA Today
'Truck Stop Serial Killer' gets 65 years in prison for killing of Indianapolis woman
'Truck Stop Serial Killer' gets 65 years in prison for killing of Indianapolis woman A man dubbed the 'Truck Stop Serial Killer' has been sentenced for the 2007 killing of an Indianapolis woman. He is already serving life sentences for two other killings. Show Caption Hide Caption 'Closure becomes very sloppy' says family that's waited 17 years for justice Carma Purpura was abducted from the Flying J truck stop on the southside of Indianapolis and murdered. Her family's waited 17 years for justice. An Illinois trucker linked to the deaths of at least half a dozen women received a 65-year prison sentence for the killing of one of his victims, an Indianapolis woman. Bruce Mendenhall, a former long-haul trucker who prosecutors say used the cab of his 18-wheeler as a "killing chamber," was sentenced on Monday after being found guilty last month of murdering Carma Purpura. Her body was found alongside a Kentucky highway over four years after she was last seen at an Indianapolis truck stop. The sentence in Marion County Indiana for the killing of the 31-year-old mother is just the latest for Mendenhall, dubbed by local media as the "Truck Stop Serial Killer." The 73-year-old is already serving two life sentences for the killing of two women in Tennessee. He is also charged with murdering a woman in Alabama. Investigators believe he's behind killings in Georgia and Indiana, according to reporting by the Indianapolis Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. Mendenhall also received a 30-year prison sentence for soliciting the murder of three witnesses in the case of the murder he was first arrested for, Sara Nicole Hulbert, a 25-year-old found in a Nashville parking lot, according to the Star. The convicted serial killer's murder spree took place in 2007. Nashville police arrested him just hours after he was last seen with Purpura early on July 12 of that year. He was convicted in 2010 of killing Hulbert and in 2018 for the killing of Symantha Winters, 48, of Lebanon, Tennessee. His sentencing Monday brings an end to the 17-year wait for justice for Purpura's family. Catching a killer Mendenhall may have never been caught if not for a chance encounter with an astute detective. On the morning of July 12, 2007, police spotted a yellow truck similar to one seen on surveillance footage near a parking lot in Nashville where a woman's body was found two weeks earlier. Veteran homicide investigator Pat Postiglione approached the 18-wheeler and spied blood on the thumb of the man behind the wheel— Mendenhall. He asked to look inside. More: Family of woman murdered by suspected serial killer has waited 17 years for justice The search uncovered blood throughout the truck's cab, on a .22 caliber rifle and inside a trash bag containing women's clothing and shoes. Police also found an ATM card, cellphone and other items belonging to Purpura. He asked Mendenhall if he was the man police were looking for in connection with the body found at the truck stop. Mendenhall stared back and shrugged. 'If you say so,' he said. The interaction at the Nashville truck stop gave police a lead that connected Mendenhall to the four killings for which he was ultimately charged. Trucker charged in 4 murders, suspect in others All four women Mendenhall was charged with killing in 2007 died similarly – left nude, heads covered in plastic bags secured with tape and shot in the back of the head. He kept souvenirs from at least some of his victims, records show, including hair and a tattoo cut from one victim. The body of Symantha Winters, 48, was found June 6 stuffed into a garbage can at the Pilot Travel Center in Lebanon, a community about 25 mile east of Nashville. Mendenhall received a life sentence for the killing in 2018. Sara Nicole Hulbert, 25, was last seen alive June 25 in Nashville. Her body was found in the same parking lot where police arrested Mendenhall. He was convicted in 2010 in her killing. Mendenhall next faces charges in Alabama for the the July 1, 2007, killing of Lucille "Greta" Carter. The 44-year-old woman's body was dumped next to a trash bin on a service road in Birmingham. Purpura was last seen in the early morning hours of July 12 talking to Mendenhall at a Flying J Travel Center in south Indianapolis. Her body was found alongside a Kentucky highway four years later. More: How an alert detective and a victim named Carma ended trucker's multi-state murder spree Police suspect Mendenhall is also behind the killings of Deborah Ann Glover, 43, and Sherry Drinkard, 43, in 2007, according to the Star. Glover's body was found January 29 in a motel parking lot in Suwanee, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta. Drinkard's body was found February 22 at a TravelCenters of America truck stop in Lake Station, outside Gary, Indiana. More: Chicago teen charged as serial murderer: 'Difficult to comprehend' six killings Who are some of the most notorious serial killers of the century? Stories of serial killers from Jack the Ripper to John Wayne Gacy can make their heinous crimes seem like a thing of the past. But cases like Mendenhall's show they are not a dying breed. Chicago authorities announced last week they caught a suspected teen serial killer. Antonio Reyes, now 21, is charged with six murders. Around the same time Mendenhall was on his killing spree in the U.S., authorities in Russia were prosecuting Alexander Pichushkin, the so-called "Chessboard Killer" because after his arrest police discovered a chessboard with dates in each square that corresponded with different killings. He was ultimately convicted of killing 48 people. Anthony Sowell, known as the Cleveland Strangler, was convicted of murdering 11 women between 2007 and his arrest in 2009. He died in prison in 2021. Police arrested and charged Rex Heuermann in 2023 in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial killings. The 61-year-old is charged with murdering seven women. Many of their remains were found on the Long Island beach in 2010 and 2011. Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant, pleaded guilty in 2020 to injecting eight veterans with lethal amounts of insulin, killing seven in 2017 and 2018. She was sentenced to multiple life sentences in prison. More: Chicago serial murder suspect charged with terrorizing guard, inmate behind bars Contributing by Tim Evans, Investigations Editor at the Indianapolis Star.
