Casey White Charged With Murder For Suicide Of Vicky White After He Escaped Prison

Florence, AL – Former escaped Alabama inmate Casey White was indicted for the death of 56-year-old former Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) Assistant Director of Corrections Vicky White, the jail official who helped him escape in April.

Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound as police were closing in on the pair in Evansville, Indiana on May 9, WHNT reported.

The indictment alleged that 38-year-old Casey White caused Vicky White’s death in furtherance of his escape.

Prosecutors said the Whites – who were not related – had a suicide pact in the event they were captured, WHNT reported.

The plan was for Vicky White to shoot herself and for Casey White to die in a shootout with law enforcement officers.

Authorities say Vicky White shot herself just before she would have been captured and Casey White surrendered to authorities without incident, WHNT reported.

Casey White, who was already facing murder charges when he escaped from jail with the assistance of Vicky White, has been charged with escape and the former correctional officer’s murder.

Alabama law allows a charge of felony murder when somebody dies while the defendant is committing a crime, according to WHNT.

Authorities believe Casey White and Vicky White swapped the sheriff’s patrol vehicle that they left the jail in on April 29 for the Ford SUV at a shopping plaza located about eight minutes away before fleeing the area.

Vicky White was supposedly transporting the capital murder defendant to the courthouse for a hearing when they both disappeared, the sheriff’s office said in a press release on the afternoon of April 29.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton released a statement that said Vicky White had been in contact with Casey White for two years while he was incarcerated in a state prison in Donaldson, WVTM reported.

“He was here in 2020 for an arraignment and preliminary hearing, and when he finished that, he went back to state prison,” Sheriff Singleton said. “We do know they remained in touch while he was in state prison.”

The sheriff said prison records revealed Vicky White regularly spoke to Casey White on the phone while he was incarcerated, NBC News reported.

Casey White was serving a sentence of 75 years for violent crime convictions.

Authorities said that police in Evansville were acting on a tip on May 9 when they spotted Vicky White leaving a hotel, CNN reported.

U.S. Marshal Matt Keely said Vicky White was wearing a wig and she got into a dark grey Cadillac sedan with Casey White and the pair drove away.

Authorities followed the fugitive couple and a chase ensued, CNN reported.

The 11-day manhunt came to an end when a U.S. marshal crashed his car into the suspects’ Cadillac, causing it to flip over and land in a ditch.

Casey White surrendered to authorities when he was removed from the crashed vehicle, CNN reported.

“Please help my wife. She just shot herself in the head, and I didn’t do it,” Casey White said, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Authorities have said they do not believe Vicky White and Casey White were ever married, CNN reported.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly told ABC News that investigators had determined that Vicky White withdrew about $90,000 in cash from area banks prior to helping Casey White escape.

Vicky White had filed her retirement papers with the sheriff’s department a day before she disappeared with Casey White.

Court records showed she sold her house far below market value on April 18, NBC News reported.

Vicky White was initially charged with first-degree permitting or facilitating an escape.

But on the day she died, Sheriff Singleton had just announced that the now-former jail official had also been charged with identity theft and second-degree forgery.