YPD reflects on sudden death of Detective Perdue

YOUNGSTOWN

At 39 years on the police department, it was no surprise that his colleagues called Detective Sgt. John Perdue “old school” today while reflecting on his sudden death.

Perdue, 65, who was a homicide detective, died Monday in St. Elizabeth Health Center in Boardman after becoming ill Saturday at his home. Chief Robin Lees said that Perdue had just told him last week that he planned to retire in February.

Lees and Perdue both started about the same time, in the fall of 1978, and worked a patrol car together for years on the South Side. Lees said he relied on Perdue’s uncanny memory and his knowledge of the streets because Perdue grew up on the South Side.

“I would always count on John to remember the people and their relationships,” Lees said.

He wasn’t the only one. Several of his colleagues said Perdue could remember crimes and homicides as far back as when he was a rookie patrol officer. He would know where the victims were, the investigators who were on call — everything — and would never have to look it up.

Chief of Detectives Capt. Brad Blackburn said if he needed to check an old file, he would often look for Perdue first and ask him about it. Perdue was always right, Blackburn said.

Perdue was a homicide detective in the 1990s when the city was setting record homicide rates year after year and was still a detective when he died.

Read more about him in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.