Vicki White is an Assistant Director of Corrections in Alabama who is missing with an inmate accused of capital murder named Casey Cole White. Local, state and federal authorities, including the FBI, ATF and U.S. Marshals Service are participating in the nationwide manhunt for the pair.
On May 9, 2022, authorities found the Whites in Evansville, Indiana, and took both into custody after a “short-lived police chase that resulted in a car crash and injuries to both fugitives,” Fox News reported. Vicky White suffered “very serious” injuries from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound,” according to Fox News.
It’s believed they were in a “jailhouse romance” before she helped him escape, Fox reported.
The two are not related, according to an alert from the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, which reported the Whites missing on Friday, April 29, 2022.
On Monday, May 2, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said at a press conference an arrest warrant has been issued for Vicki White charging her with first-degree permitting or facilitating escape. She is the assistant director of corrections for the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff previously said officials are “aggressively investigating trying to find out what happened and trying to locate Deputy White and inmate White.” They are investigating whether she tried to help him escape or was kidnapped, but they believe she is in danger either way, the sheriff said in a news conference.
Singleton added, “We’re in hopes that we’ll get some much needed breaks here in the next few hours, few days, that will help us locate them and get them back here to Lauderdale County and get Casey White, especially, back behind bars. Casey White, as you’ve heard me say over and over, is an extremely dangerous person and we need to get him located and get him off the street.”
Here’s what you need to know about the disappearance of Vicki White and Casey White:
1. The Sheriff’s Department Says Vicki White Left the Detention Center With the Inmate on the Way to the Courthouse
In an alert, the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s office wrote that a Lauderdale County Sheriff’s office employee, Assistant Director of Corrections Vicki White, and inmate Casey Cole White (no relation) “are missing.”
They wrote, “AD White left the detention center with the inmate at approximately 9:39 a.m. this morning on the way to the courthouse. They have not been seen since.” They added, “Casey White is being held on capital murder charges. If anyone should spot them contact 911 immediately and DO NOT APPROACH!”
MugshotCasey White
The vehicle “the two left the detention center in has been located in the parking lot of a local shopping center. Investigators are currently attempting to locate any video that may tell us more about what we’re dealing with.” They wrote, “The fact that the two are missing was not realized until approximately 3:30 p.m. this date”
Singleton, the Lauderdale County Sheriff, said at a press conference on Monday that surveillance video discovered by investigators shows Vicki White’s patrol car left the detention center and went straight to the parking lot where the vehicle was found, taking about eight minutes to arrive there.
Casey White was handcuffed and shackled in the back of the patrol car when they left the jail and Singleton said he believes he likely remained there until they got to the shopping center parking lot and possibly switched to a new vehicle. The U.S. Marshals Service says both Whites should be considered armed and dangerous.
2. Casey Cole White Is Accused of Murdering Connie Ridgeway
Casey White, who is 6’9″ tall, was accused of capital murder in the death of Connie Ridgeway, who was found dead in 2015 in an apartment building, according to WAFF.com.
Al.com reported that Ridgeway was found dead in her living room. She was 59. He was accused of being hired to commit the slaying.
The newspaper reported that White, 38, had confessed and added that he was also accused of “a home invasion, two carjackings and multiple shootings in North Alabama and South Tennessee that left a dog dead and a woman injured.” White is also serving a 75-year prison sentence on separate charges and had been taken to the jail while awaiting trial in the murder case.
3. There Was No Medical Evaluation Scheduled, According to the Sheriff
According to a news conference by Sheriff Rick Singleton, Vicki White is “a 25-year veteran at the department.”
He said that she left the detention center with the inmate at 9:41 a.m., after telling other officials that she was taking White to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation.
“She was escorting this inmate, Casey White, to an alleged mental health evaluation this morning at the courthouse,” the sheriff said. “They confirmed there was none.”
He said that someone spotted her patrol vehicle parked in a parking lot. It was there by at least 11 a.m. She was armed with a 9mm gun.
The sheriff also said that White informed the booking officer that she was going to drop the inmate off at the courthouse with other deputies and was then going to seek medical attention because she was not feeling well.
She never made that appointment. She was going to a local express med “kind of places and she never showed up there,” said the sheriff.
At 3:30 p.m., the booking officer reported to the other assistant director that they could not reach Vicki White and couldn’t get in touch with her. They became concerned because her phone went straight to voicemail, he said.
They then realized the inmate was not at the detention center either.
4. Leaving With the Inmate Alone Was a ‘Strict Violation,’ the Sheriff Says
Vicki White was alone with the inmate when she left the detention center, which was a “strict violation of policy” which held that two inmates should have escorted him, the sheriff said.
She is over the operations of the detention center. She coordinates all of the transport from the center to court “so I am sure her subordinates” didn’t question her, he added.
There no mental evaluation schedule or other court appearance, he noted.
Asked about the relationship, if any, between the two, the sheriff said officials are trying “to backtrack to see if something else was going on there that we weren’t aware of.”
5. The Sheriff Said Vicki White Was an ‘Exemplary Employee’
The sheriff said that Vicki White was an exemplary employee, adding, “I can tell you that every employee in this office is shocked.”
“We’re just in disbelieve,” he said, adding that she was a sergeant when he arrived at the department and was then promoted to assistant director. She was voted on by her peers several times as supervisor of the year, he said.
Asked whether the escape was planned, the sheriff said, “Obviously we are looking at all angles.”
He said it was a “possibility” that she assisted the inmate in escaping. They are also looking at whether she was kidnapped en route to the courthouse.
“Knowing the inmate, I think she’s in danger whatever the circumstances,” the sheriff said. At this point, they are assuming “she was taken against her will” unless it’s proven otherwise, he said.
He said that the department had precautions in place for dealing with the inmate. Officials want to know why White violated the policy because she “knew she was not to leave with him alone,” the sheriff added.
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