Orlando Mitchell: Inmate Already Serving Time for Killing Girlfriend, Faces Death Penalty for Strangling Deputy During Escape Attempt
The death penalty trial for the man accused of killing a Marion County deputy during an escape attempt has been delayed until early 2027, pushing the case further into the future for a department that has already spent years reckoning with what happened that day.
On July 10, 2023, 34-year-old Orlando Mitchell, was being returned to the Criminal Justice Center from a medical appointment when he fatally attacked Deputy John Durm inside the jail's sally port.
According to the security footage from that day, Deputy Durm, 61, picked up Mitchell from the jailhouse just after 9 a.m. in the morning.
The inmate was handcuffed, shackled, and loaded into a transport van, before the two left for Eskenazi Hospital, where Mitchell's appointment wrapped up before 11 a.m.
He was then placed back in the van with a belly chain secured over his restraints, and the two arrived at the sally port around 11:15 a.m.
Somehow during the ride back, Mitchell managed to slip the handcuff chain free, so when the deputy opened rear door, Mitchell went behind the deputy, and wrapped the chain around Durm's neck. The deputy struggled with the inmate for nearly two minutes before the deputy's neck was broken.
Mitchell then got behind the wheel of the van and drove away, but a Cumberland police officer noticed the vehicle leaving and called for help. The escape attempt ended almost immediately when Mitchell crashed the van into a utility pole on Prospect Street and was taken back into custody.
Before this crime, Mitchell was already in jail at the time after he was accused of fatally shooting Krystal Walton, the mother of his son, outside an Indianapolis day care in September 2022.
According to police reports, Walton's history with him stretched back years and was filled with violence. In March 2021, when she was four months pregnant, she told police Mitchell had choked her and she lived in fear that he would find her.
That same month, while she was styling their daughter's hair, he grabbed her by the hair, threatened to kill her, and forced her onto a bed. She said their young daughter then jumped onto his back and screamed for him to get off her mother, before he let her go.
Mitchell was arrested and charged with multiple felonies, including the strangulation of a pregnant victim, but in June 2022 he was permitted to plead guilty only to domestic battery in the presence of a child. He received probation, and the remaining charges were dropped.
Months later, in August 2022, Mitchell showed up at the home where Walton was staying and pushed his way inside after she tried to block the door with a couch. He told her that calling the police would be the last thing she did.
A warrant was later issued that day for residential entry, invasion of privacy, and intimidation, but it was not served before Walton's murder.
On September 16, 2022, witnesses saw Mitchell approach her outside Charity Church Child Care Center and shoot her. After the crime he tried to flee but police found him three hours later at a bus stop, holding a rifle. He evenntully admitted to the shooting and was ultimately sentenced to 66 years in prison for that killing.
After Deputy Durm's death, the sheriff's office acknowledged that internal policy requiring two deputies for the transport of murder suspects had not been followed on the day of the attack.
Two deputies were terminated for their job performance in connection with the transport, and two supervisors were demoted. Sheriff Kerry Forestal placed the ultimate blame on Mitchell while also pointing to chronic understaffing that had placed additional risk on deputies.
Mitchell's death penalty trial in the killing of Deputy Durm was originally scheduled for August 2026, but during a court hearing in February 2026, the date was pushed back to February 2027. He remains in custody as that court date approaches.
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