Alabama prison officer dead after fleeing with inmate

Danny Jones

Alabama Prison officer Vicky White dead as manhunt ends

The escape took place one day before her retirement

An Alabama prison officer has died after she and an inmate went on the run, sparking a manhunt for the employee and the murder suspect she freed.

Vicky White, 56, who worked as the Assistant Director of Corrections at Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Alabama, died in hospital on Monday from “very serious” injuries following a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Vanderburgh County sheriff’s office. She was said to be one day off retirement before the escape on April 29.

The corrections officer was apprehended along with the prisoner, Casey White – a 38-year-old six-foot-nine murder suspect jailed for a previous carjacking, home invasion and causing police chase – in the city of Evansville across-state in Indiana, bringing an end to a ten-day manhunt.

While the pair share the same last name, they are not currently thought to have been related, though Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said the two had a romantic and “special relationship”, dubbing it a “jailhouse romance.”

After being spotted at a nearby hotel, the on-the-run couple led a police chase that ended in a wreck. No one is thought to have been hurt during the pursuit or the crash; the details surrounding Chase’s gunshot wound are yet to be confirmed.

Vicky White was said to have been driving a Cadillac which replaced the Ford SUV truck they are thought to have used to flee after leaving the facility in a squad car. She declared she was taking the inmate to court for a mental health evaluation, before authorities realised there were no hearings scheduled for that day.

The Ford was ultimately found abandoned at a car wash in Williamson County, Tennessee before they made it across state lines; it appeared that the pair had also attempted spray-paint the car green before it was discovered.

In addition to the crimes already charged with, Casey White is accused of beating his brother with the handle of a sledgehammer, threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend and sister, as well as confessing to the 2015 stabbing death of 59-year-old Connie Ridgeway. He was also pictured in jail with what are said to be a number of white supremacist tattoos.

Pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, he was charged with two counts of capital murder and given a combined sentence of 75 years, before being brought to the Lauderdale County detention centre for his court hearings.

White is now back in custody and sheriff Singleton assured, “we got a dangerous man off the street today,” adding: “He’s not getting out of this jail again, I assure you that.”