An Alabama inmate who escaped had a “special relationship” with the jail official who authorities believe aided in his escape, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
A search was underway for Casey White, who was awaiting trial in a capital murder case, and Vicky White, a jail official, after the pair went missing after leaving the Lauderdale County Detention Center on Friday. in the morning. The two are not related, authorities said.
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“Investigators received information from inmates at the Lauderdale County Detention Center over the weekend that there was a special relationship between Director White and inmate Casey White. That relationship has now been confirmed through our investigation by independent sources and media,” the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to media outlets. The office did not elaborate on the nature of that relationship.
On Friday morning, Vicky White, 56, told co-workers that the 38-year-old inmate needed to go to court for a mental health evaluation. She was escorting the inmate alone, which the sheriff says is a violation of department policy. That afternoon, when she did not answer the phone, authorities discovered that the two were missing and no such evaluation had been scheduled. Her patrol car was found abandoned in a shopping center parking lot.
A warrant was issued for Vicky White’s arrest on Monday on charges of aiding an escape.
Family members and colleagues said they are puzzled by the involvement of Vicky White, who had worked for the sheriff’s office for 16 years, with the inmate who was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.
“I just can’t imagine Vicky running away with that man,” her former mother-in-law, Frances White, said in a telephone interview. She remained fond of her daughter-in-law decades after she divorced her son in 1991. He died earlier this year.
He said his former daughter-in-law was kind and always wanted to help others, but added that she was sometimes reserved. “Vicky was a person who kept all her thoughts and her problems to herself,” she said.
Vicky White was childless, her former mother-in-law said, and had recently sold her home, a sprawling 4-acre (1.6-hectare) estate that she had originally bought to be close to her parents. The property, which included a trailer and barn, was “really too big” for one person, Frances White said.
VERY GOOD reported that Vicky White sold her house for $95,500 just 12 days before she disappeared. The purchase price was below the market value of the area, the station reported.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Monday that Vicky White had announced plans to retire and that the day she disappeared would have been her last day on the job.
“This is not the Vicky White we know, far from it,” Singleton said Monday.
The US Marshals Service said Tuesday the couple may be traveling in an orange or copper-colored 2007 Ford Edge with minor damage to the left rear bumper.
Authorities have said that Casey White, who is 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 meters) tall, should be recognizable by his size. Authorities warned that anyone seeing the pair should not approach them.
“Subjects are to be considered dangerous and may be armed with an AR-15 rifle, handguns and a shotgun,” the Marshals Service said in the bulletin.
Casey White was serving time for a series of crimes that included attempted murder, robbery and breaking and entering. While in prison, he confessed to the stabbing death of a 58-year-old woman in 2015, authorities said, prompting him to be taken to the Lauderdale County Jail for prosecution. The sheriff said they believe White planned an earlier jailbreak in 2020 when they found a makeshift knife.
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