One of Nashville's top cops is about to call it a career.  Veteran murder squad and cold case detective Sergeant Pat Postiglione will retire next week ending a 30-plus year career.
  During his tenure Postilglione has had a hand in closing some of the mid-state's most notorious murder cases.  His credits include putting away Nashville attorney Perry March for killing his wife and plotting to murder his in-laws Lawrence and Caroline Levine.  Postiglione made the collar in perhaps Nashville's most infamous murder case, the kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Marcia Trimble.  Trimble left her Green Hills home to deliver girl scout cookies and was found dead days later in a neighbor's garage.  DNA evidence connected Jerome Barrett to the case.  Postiglione also arrested Paul Dennis Reid, Tennessee's most notorious serial killer.  Reid is currently on death row awaiting execution for murdering seven fast food workers in Nashville and Clarksville.  More recently Postiglione cracked the so-called truck stop serial killer Bruce Mendenhall.  He also led the investigation into the murder of former Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair and the suicide of McNair's mistress. 
Postiglione's longtime partner Bill Pridemore, now a metro councilman, says Postiglione has a unique ability to separate the important details in a case from those which can cloud an officer's understanding of a crime scene.  Verna Wyatt, executive director of Tennessee Voices for Victims says "he's like a bull dog and he has these great instincts.  And you want him on your case, especially if it's a cold case.:
  Postiglione has a reputation for being particularly sensitive to victims.  Connie Williams has known Postiglione since he was assigned to investigate the murder of her brother Carl in 1994.  Williams says she came to appreciate Postiglione in a new way after dropping in to check on the case unexpectedly.  Williams tells Fox 17 News she was surprised to find her brother's case within Postiglione's reach.  "It wasn't you knwo let me got get that out of the archive, it was right there in a drawer.  he had it close up.  I think that's why I felt like our case was, it meant something," Williams said.
  After he retires, Postiglione who is widely regarded by his peers as the city's top investigator may not go far.  Fox 17 has learned the detective has been offered a job in the Nashville district attorney's office.
Scott Couch, scouch@fox17.com Twitter:  @scott_couch 2-20-13One of Metro's Top Cops Calls it a Career - Scott Couch