EVANSVILLE, Ind. – It could have ended in a shooting.
That was Casey White and Vicky White’s plan after they were spotted in southern Indiana, leading to a chase that ended in an accident and Vicky White’s death.
Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding revealed the details during a news conference Tuesday about the nationwide manhunt that ended in his backyard.
“He was probably going to have a firefight that they both lost their lives,” Wedding said.
According to Wedding, the Alabama escapees had four pistols and an AR-15 in their possession. Casey White told police that he and Vicky White planned to break up with gunshots. Although the two share the same last name, they are not related and were not married.
Quick action, Wedding said, blocked that plan, when a pursuing police car rammed their vehicle, sending it into a ditch.
“Later we found [if the car hadn’t ended up in the ditch], the fugitive was going to engage in a shootout with police,” Wedding said. “That action may have saved the lives of many of my deputies and fellow law enforcement officers.”
He continued: “I want to bring my people home and I don’t care about the lives of the fugitives if it protects the lives of my people.”
How the chase started
Investigators tracked the fugitives’ Cadillac to a motel. An Evansville police officer saw the car and notified the sheriff’s office. Police then set up surveillance so they could track the couple.
They saw them get into the vehicle and tried to stop them. The car left the parking lot and headed onto Highway 41. The fugitives then pulled into the parking lot of a nearby business and ran across a grassy field.
During the chase, a car rammed the Cadillac, sending it into the ditch. Vicky White then killed herself and Casey White surrendered, ending the manhunt.
Wedding said investigators are convinced Vicky White shot herself, though she said they would have to wait for autopsy results to confirm. She said that Casey White expressed no remorse for her death.
Tuesday night, the Evansville Police Department posted dashcam and bodycam footage of Vicky White being pulled out of the wrecked car and Casey White being pulled over.
Why Evansville?
The couple prepaid for a 14-day stay at an Evansville motel and had been in town for about a week. Investigators recovered several items from the couple, including guns, $29,000 in cash and several wigs.
Wedding said Casey White told investigators they needed a quiet place to lay low and that Evansville fit the bill.
“They had driven long enough to stop somewhere for a while to get their bearings and find the next place to travel,” Wedding said.
“After six days, it was hard to believe they were here. I don’t think someone on the run would stay in a community like Evansville for six days,” the sheriff said.
There was no indication that they were planning to meet anyone in Evansville or that they knew anyone there.
“His plan was pretty flawed,” Wedding said. “They are criminals. His plan was flawed and failed, thank God.”
Now back in custody, the former fugitive will return to Alabama to face charges in a capital murder case. He has waived extradition from Indiana to Alabama. Wedding said he has been in contact with Alabama authorities and that he will not publicly reveal details of the transfer.
truck tracking
A tip from a car wash manager helped police pinpoint the fugitives’ location. The manager noticed a van that had apparently been abandoned at the business. Wedding said the couple bought the F-150 with cash and left in a Cadillac, the same vehicle used in the chase.
Wedding wasn’t sure how or where the couple acquired the Cadillac.
According to the sheriff, an officer checked the truck’s license plate on May 2. It did not return as stolen. The car wash manager called on May 4, but police said they had to wait 48 hours before they could tow it away, as it was on private property. The vehicle was then towed at the manager’s request.
Police said they did not immediately know the truck was linked to the Alabama fugitives. In their eyes, it was simply an abandoned vehicle.
Still, the truck, and subsequent surveillance video, proved key in showing that Casey White and Vicky White were in the Evansville area.
Wedding said police received several tips about possible fugitive sightings, though he wasn’t sure how credible they were. He cited a tip about a sighting in Richmond, Indiana, as an example.
start of the chase
The jailer and inmate had been on the run since April 29, when Vicky White drove to the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, to take the 38-year-old inmate in for a mental evaluation.
However, no such mental evaluation had been scheduled for Casey White, and the two went on the run. Authorities recovered a Ford Edge that belonged to them in Tennessee. They had been in Evansville since early May, even as the national manhunt intensified.
Casey White was awaiting trial in a capital murder case and possibly facing the death penalty. He was already serving a 75-year sentence for a 2015 crime spree that involved home invasion, carjacking and police pursuit, authorities said.
He will not face charges in Vanderburgh County, Wedding said.
Reference-fox59.com