Deputy Sheriff
John Anthony Durm
Marion County Sheriff's Department
Monday, July 10, 2023

Age: 61
Served: 38 years
Badge #:
Panel 61E, Line 34 (2024)
Included (2023)

Incident Details

Cause of Death:
Assault
Date/Time of Incident:
Monday, July 10, 2023
11:20 am
Incident to Death Duration:
Same day
Incident Location:
675 Justice Way, Indianapolis
Incident County:
Marion
Incident Township:
Center
Weapon Used:
Person
Suspect Disposition:
Awaiting trial
(currently incarcerated)
Burial Place:
Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis

Share this Memorial
   

   Deputy Sheriff John Durm was strangled to death by a prisoner at the Adult Detention Center on the Marion County Community Justice Campus in Indianapolis.

   He was returning a 34-year-old male prisoner to the facility alone from Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis where he had been for medical treatment.

   Once inside the sally port, the prisoner was removed from the transport van when he strangled Deputy Durm from behind with the handcuff chain until he was unconscious.

   The prisoner then used Deputy Durm's handcuff key to remove them and attempted to escape by crashing the transport van through a gate and driving out of the complex.

   A short distance away, he crashed into a telephone pole in the 3000 block of Prospect Street where he was taken into custody by other officers.

   The prisoner has been charged with murder, robbery and escape. He was being held in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his 32-year-old ex-girlfriend while she was dropping off her children at a daycare center in 2022.

   Deputy Durm was transported to Eskenazi Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

   Deputy Sheriff Durm, from Indianapolis, was survived by his sons, John Jr. (Jordan), Cory (Sami), Robert and Bryce; mother, Joyce (née DeLong) Buckley; father, John (Deloris); brothers, Jeff (Amy) and Jim (Tammy); stepbrothers, Bob (Danielle Kohler) Buckley and Greg (Janet Sickles) Buckley; and former wife, Ramona who serves as a deputy with the agency. One of his sons is currently in training with the department as a detention deputy.

Memorial Tribute

• In 2024, a Memorial Mile was designated on Interstate 74 southeast of the Acton Road exit, in his honor.

Historical Notes

• Deputy Sheriff Durm is the sixth of seven Indiana line of duty deaths in 2023.
• He is the 11th line of duty death of the Marion County Sheriff's Department.
• His line of duty death is the 95th that has originated from Marion County.
• Deputy Sheriff Durm is the second-longest serving known officer killed in the line of duty in Indiana.

All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.


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Deputy Sheriff John Anthony Durm - Marion County Sheriff's Department - INLEM.org