Alabama inmate Casey White charged in death of jail official who helped him escape

Casey White, the Alabama inmate whose escape in April set off a nationwide manhunt, has been charged with murder in the death of the jail official who helped him, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

White, 38, has been indicted on a count of felony murder in the death of Vicky White, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said in a statement.

"During the course of and in furtherance of committing Escape in the First Degree, White caused the death of Vicky White, who died from a gunshot to the head," the district attorney said.

Officials have said that Vicky White, 56, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after the car they were in was rammed into a ditch during a police pursuit in Indiana more than a week after the escape.

Neither the indictment nor Connolly’s statement says that Casey White shot her. Connolly’s statement said no further information would be released, and he did not return a request for clarification Tuesday night.

State law appears to show that a person can be charged with felony murder when they are committing certain felonies, or fleeing afterwards, and cause the death of someone.

Vicky White, who was assistant director of corrections at the Lauderdale County Jail in northwest Alabama, helped Casey White escape on April 29, officials have said.

They are not related, but authorities said Vicki White had been involved in a two-year relationship with Casey White.

Casey White was awaiting trial on capital murder charges in the 2015 stabbing of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway. He was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for convictions that include robbery and attempted murder when he was indicted in 2020 in Ridgeway's death.

Vicky White, who worked for the sheriff’s office for 25 years, left the jail with Casey White purportedly for a mental health evaluation, but investigators later learned there was no such evaluation scheduled, Sheriff Rick Singleton has said.

Vicky White had filed paperwork to retire and her last day at work was the day both disappeared, he said. Before the pair vanished, she had sold her home.

They had changed vehicles and had been staying at a motel in Evansville, Indiana, more than 200 miles away from the jail in Florence, Alabama, officials have said.

After the police pursuit that ended with the pair’s Cadillac in a ditch, Casey White surrendered to police.

There was about $29,000 left in the car, as well as guns, when they were caught, the sheriff in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, said at the time.

Casey White was previously charged with first-degree escape after he was brought back to Alabama from Indiana.