A Lake County Jail inmate already accused of murder was charged with attempted first-degree murder after he reportedly stabbed another inmate last weekend.
Security video at the jail clearly showed 27-year-old Dustin Travis Perdue attacking the victim while they were in the dayroom of their assigned housing unit on Sunday. The victim suffered multiple stab wounds on his back, neck, and face, according to the arrest report from the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
Perdue has been in jail since last August when he was arrested in Clermont for an armed robbery at a gas station. Further investigation tied Perdue to five other armed robberies in Lake County, including one that left a Mount Dora store owner dead. In February, Tavares Police connected Perdue to the April 2022 murder of a man at an apartment complex. He was charged with first-degree murder in that case.
In the latest incident at the jail, the victim is seen on video sitting on one of the benches inside the unit and conversing with another inmate. Perdue quickly walked across the dayroom towards the benches, coming up from behind the victim and striking him multiple times on his upper back and neck area. Perdue then went up the stairs and entered the first cell at the top, the arrest report said.
A deputy interviewed the victim, who confirmed the events seen in the video and went on to recount what followed. The victim said he followed Perdue up the stairs to confront him about what happened. He was unaware he had been stabbed until he saw blood on his jumpsuit. As a result, the victim walked back downstairs to the door of the unit to hit the call button for assistance from detention staff, according to the report.
Perdue came downstairs and attacked the victim a second time as he tried to get the detention staff’s attention by banging on the unit door. During this, Perdue punched and stabbed the victim in the face. Guards arrived on scene and opened the door to the unit, causing the victim to fall out into the hallway, the report said.
The victim described the weapon Perdue used to stab him as a flat metal object that came to sharp point that was about the size of his pinkie finger. The handle was a T-shirt, according to the report.
The victim said he believed the reason for the attack was due to his recent arrest, as the victim of that incident had been friends with many people and a lot of people looked up to him. That case and his arrest had been all over the news, and he had been moved to that housing unit shortly before the attack. In addition, Perdue told the victim that no matter where he went, this would keep happening to him, the report said.
The deputy observed the victim’s injuries, with the report noting that he had puncture type wounds to his right upper back, the back of his neck, to his left temple, at the juncture of his jaw and neck on the left side and to his left lower jaw area that went through his mouth, according to the report.
Perdue refused to speak with the deputy without an attorney present, but his clothes and swabs of his hands were collected as evidence. The deputy and crime scene investigators then responded to the housing unit, where the deputy observed what appeared to be about a 12-inch blood smear on the wall outside the unit. Multiple blood drops on the floor in front of the benches and on the stairs were found inside, the report said.
On Monday, investigators returned to the housing unit to interview additional inmates and locate the object Perdue used to stab the victim. They were able to find a flat metallic object about two inches in length in the general area of the door into the unit. It was on the floor near the door frame between two units, according to the report.
In addition, jail call records were reviewed and noted a 13-minute phone call Perdue made to a female just prior to the attack, the report said. During the call, he said he was about to go to the box, or disciplinary confinement. He told the woman, “You know I’m not just fixing to fight this dude (the victim). So, I’m going to get 30 days in the box.”
Perdue in scheduled to appear in Lake County Court on the latest charge on Aug. 28.
