A sheriff’s deputy in Alabama went missing along with the murder suspect she was in the process of transferring to a court appearance earlier this week, the county sheriff’s office announced Friday.
casey cole white39, was an inmate being held on murder charges in the 2015 stabbing death of Connie Jane Ridgewayvictim of a murder-for-hire scheme, who was murdered in her own home. in 2020the defendant allegedly admitted that he was paid to kill Ridgeway.
On Friday around 9:30 am, inmate White was being transported by the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Director of Corrections. vicky white (no relation), to a court appearance when the two disappeared, the LCSO said in a press release/alert.
“Casey White is being held on capital murder charges,” the alert reads. “If anyone sees them, please contact 911 immediately.”
According to the sheriff’s office, the disappearance of the two was not noticed until approximately 3:30 pm that same day.
Vicki White was driving a marked vehicle at the time. That vehicle was discovered in a parking lot in Florence, Alabama around 11:00 am on the day in question. Authorities say they don’t know which way the two may have gone at this time.
“We are still aggressively investigating, trying to figure out what happened and find the location of Officer White and inmate White,” the Lauderdale County Sheriff said. Rick Singleton saying during a press conference on April 19, 2022. “Knowing the inmate, I think she is in danger whatever the circumstances. She was in jail for capital murder and she had nothing to lose.”
Singleton added that Vicki White has been an employee of the sheriff’s office for about 25 years and told her subordinates that she would take Casey White for a mental health evaluation before leaving the inmate and then seek medical attention for her because she was under The weather. However, traveling alone with inmates is a “strict violation” of department policy, the sheriff said, suggesting the deputy likely wasn’t questioned because of her seniority.
Since beginning their investigation “aggressively,” Singleton said, investigators have learned that Casey White never showed up to court, never had evaluations scheduled and Vicki White never showed up at any urgent care locations in the area.
The sheriff said he and his department were “shocked” by the turn of events and admitted to the distinct possibility that their employee had allowed the inmate to escape, but that Casey White could also have overpowered and kidnapped Vicki White. The deputy, she noted, had turned in her retirement papers the day before she and the murder suspect disappeared. Singleton also said the investigation would look at past interactions between the two to “see if anything else was going on.”
“Whether or not she helped him, we don’t know, and we won’t address it until we have absolute proof that that’s what happened,” the sheriff said. “We assume at this point that she was abducted against her will, unless we can prove absolutely otherwise.”
The mysterious disappearing act has taken place national levels of interest as the FBI and US Marshals are currently assisting the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency in trying to track down the duo.
“Currently, investigators are trying to locate any video that might give us more information about what we’re dealing with,” Singleton said.
white was originally arrested in late 2015 after being wanted in connection with a multi-state crime spree.
The defendant was previously in the custody of the state of Alabama, but was transferred to Lauderdale County for the Ridgeway murder. He has previously been convicted of first degree robbery, first and third degree robbery, theft of a vehicle, animal cruelty for killing a dog and attempting to elude police. In addition, he has been charged with attempted murder and kidnapping.
A call “Blue Alert” has been issued in the case.
[images via Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office]
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Reference-lawandcrime.com