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.

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