Vicky White, ex-corrections officer accused of helping Alabama inmate escape, died by suicide, coroner says
Vicky White, the former Alabama corrections officer accused of helping a murder suspect escape from jail, died from a single self-inflicted gunshot wound, an Indiana coroner's office said Tuesday.
White, 56, died Monday hours after she and escaped inmate Casey White were captured in Indiana following a car crash that ended a manhunt that spanned more than week. Vicky White and Casey White are not related.
The Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office concluded that Vicky White died by suicide.
The pair had a cache of weapon — four handguns and several semi-automatic weapons, including an AR-15 — Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said.
After his arrest Monday, Casey White “said that he was probably going to have a shootout at the stake of both of them losing their lives,” Wedding said.
The pair had been on the run since April 29, after, authorities say, Vicky White helped Casey White flee the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, about 70 miles west of Huntsville.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said they left that morning — the day Vicky White had been set to retire — for a purported mental health evaluation in court for Casey White. Investigators, however, learned that no such evaluation had been scheduled, Singleton said.
As Vicky White was leaving the jail, she told a booking officer that she was going to a medical appointment after she dropped Casey White off because she wasn't feeling well. Singleton said Vicky White didn't have an appointment scheduled for that day.
Casey White was jailed on a capital murder charge in the stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway. He confessed to the murder and was awaiting trial at the jail when he disappeared, authorities said.
During the investigation, officials learned that Vicky White and Casey White had a “special relationship” and had communicated over the phone for the past two years before they disappeared.
Singleton also said Vicky White transported Casey White by herself, which violated a department policy that requires two sworn deputies to be present with an inmate facing those charges.
The duo were on the run for more than a week. They were tracked to Evansville, Indiana, about 270 miles north of the jail, after Casey White was seen on a security camera washing a Ford F-150 pickup. The business owner provided authorities with images from the camera.
A car chase ensued with U.S. marshals. Casey White was driving at the time of the crash, Singleton said at a news conference Monday night. It's not clear what led to the pursuit or why they were in Evansville.
Casey White surrendered to police and is in custody. Vicky White was taken to the hospital, where she died.
