SOLO DEPUTY MURDERED DURING PRISONER TRANSPORT

 By Bob Walsh

 

Marion County Sheriff's Deputy John Durm

Orlando Mitchell

 

Orlando Mitchell, 34, is a murder suspect who had been on an off-grounds medical transport.  He was in the slammer awaiting trial on murder charges.  It seems he had anger issues and shot his girlfriend, Krystal Watson, 32, to death outside of the day care center where their one-year old went.  Mitchell's mother at the scene of this murder when the deputies showed up.  He had previously done 363 days in jail on domestic battery.

Yesterday, July 10, Deputy John Durm, 61, a 38-year veteran of the Marion County Indiana S. O., had just returned to the "jail campus" (?) with Mitchell in a transport van when Mitchell somehow attacked him and stole the van.  Mitchell crashed the van and was almost immediately taken back into custody just off the "jail campus" grounds.  Both Deputy Durm and prisoner Mitchell were transported to the hospital immediately  Durm was pronounced dead at the hospital.  

Durm's wife also works for the Sheriff's Office and one of his son's is undergoing training as a detention deputy.  He has two other sons in the military.

I confess I have a hard time understanding why they sent only one older Deputy to escort a young prisoner with a history of violence.  I am also having trouble figuring out how Mitchell got access to Durm in an area where he could reasonably believe he could get in a vehicle and drive away.  This "jail campus" thing is puzzling to me.  The jail currently has about 2,400 prisoners and is not a small-town Mayberry operation.  There are some important details missing from the story.