Ernest J. Vandergrift; Retired Police Captain

Ernest James Vandergrift, who worked for the Burbank Police Department for 30 years and retired as a captain, has died at his Burbank home. He was 78.

Vandergrift died Friday of a heart attack, said his son-in-law, Sandy Perkins.

Born in Camden, N.J., Vandergrift came to California as a child and graduated from Franklin High School in Highland Park.

He joined the Burbank Police Department as an officer in 1943, working as a narcotics investigator and a homicide detective. Among the notable cases he investigated was the 1953 murder of Mable Monohan, an affluent Burbank widow. The case ended with the 1955 execution of three people convicted of the murder. Vandergrift retired from the department in 1973.

He was a member of the Kiwanis Club of Burbank, Burbank Police Officers Assn. and had served on the Burbank Civil Service Board.

Vandergrift is survived by his wife of 57 years, Elaine Vandergrift of Burbank; son Mike Vandergrift of Glendale; daughters Ann Webster of Hacienda Heights, Carol Sue Pratt of Seaside, Ore., and Sharon Perkins of Carlsbad, Calif.; brother George Vandergrift of Fullerton; Emma Wilkinson of Glendale; 17 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

A funeral service was held Tuesday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Burbank, of which he was a member. Forest Lawn Mortuary, Glendale, handled the arrangements. Donations can be made in Vandergrift’s name to the Juvenile Diabetic Foundation International.