Vicky White, an Alabama prison officer, and Casey Cole White, an escaped capital murder suspect, were apprehended Monday following a 10-day manhunt, according to Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton. Casey White has been returned to custody after both were arrested in Indiana, according to Singleton.
Singleton announced during a press conference that Casey White surrendered without incident. Vicky is believed to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the US Marshals Service. She has been admitted to the hospital, and her condition is unknown.
A citizen tip led officials to Evansville, Indiana, more than 200 miles from where they first vanished, according to Singleton. Investigators had “acquired information” that they were perhaps driving an older model Cadillac not far from a car wash where a Ford F-150 had been abandoned, according to two law enforcement officials. The Ford F-150 had been reported stolen in Tennessee, where authorities discovered the car the couple had most recently been seen driving, according to the sources.
According to the sources, the US Marshals Service discovered the Cadillac at a motel and set up surveillance. They then saw the couple leave the hotel and get into the car, with Casey White driving and Vicky White riding shotgun. When they refused to pull over, a chase ensued, which ended when the automobile turned over into a ditch.
As investigators took Casey White into custody, one law enforcement source saids, “She shot herself. It was not my fault.”
The two will be extradited to Alabama and detained separately, according to Singleton, with Casey White being arraigned promptly in Lauderdale County before being transported to the Department of Corrections. Vicky White will not be held in the same institution where she previously worked, according to him.
Singleton stated, “We got a very dangerous man off the streets today.” “And he will never see the light of day again.”
The announcement comes more than a week after the pair went missing on April 29. According to authorities, Vicky White told her coworkers that morning that she was taking Casey White to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation. Her patrol vehicle, however, was discovered in a parking lot hours later, and officials recognized she and Casey White were both gone by 3:30 p.m.
Vicky White, who was slated to retire at the end of the day, drove her patrol car to the parking area where it was later recovered shortly after leaving the courthouse with Casey White, according to authorities.
Singleton claimed the two had a “special relationship” and spoke on the phone for months before Casey White’s disappearance. There is currently no proof that the relationship was physical or sexual, according to Singleton.
He also stated that the escape episode taught him that knowing who you can trust is difficult.
“Vicky White was someone in whom I had complete faith. She has been a fantastic employee “he stated “And I’m not sure what triggered or inspired her to do something like this. I’m not sure we’ll ever find out.”
Vicky White had been charged with permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree, but she was also charged Monday with forgery in the second degree and identity theft for allegedly using an alias to obtain a vehicle used in the escape — a Ford Edge that had been found “in the middle of nowhere” in Tennessee and towed by local authorities at around 2 p.m. the day the pair first ran off.
Investigators had traveled to Evansville, Indiana, after receiving a tip, the US Marshals Service said before they were captured on Monday.
According to the Marshals Service, a 2006 Ford F-150, the car the two was believed to be driving, was discovered at a car wash in Evansville. Surveillance camera photographs show a man wearing a hat, sunglasses, a pink shirt, and tan pants standing near the automobile, though the Marshals Service has not confirmed that the man is Casey White.
Casey White was first detained at the penitentiary on allegations of capital murder in the killing of Connie Ridgeway in 2015. When White is transferred to Lauderdale County for trial, Singleton said Monday that he will place him in a cell by himself with increased security.
“While he’s in that cell, he’ll be handcuffed and shackled,” Singleton said. “So be it if he wants to sue me for infringing on his civil rights. I can tell you that he will not be released from this prison.”