Everything we know about dead Alabama prison officer and murder suspect she disappeared with

Alabama prison officer Vicky White died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds horus after she and escaped inmate Casey White were captured by law enforcement officials in Indiana.

The nationawide manhunt came to a dramatic end when Casey White surrendered and Vicky White was taken to hospital, where she later died, as they were finally tracked down and apprehended after 11 days on the run.

“We got a dangerous man off the street today,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton told AL.com following the 9 May capture. “He is never going to see the light of day again.”

Their escape from the Lauderdale county detention centre without a trace has spurred a total $15,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the two and the issuing of a warning of a “serious threat” to the public.

Ms White, who is suspected of helping Casey White, shared a “special relationship” with him, said police.

The US Marshals Service captured the pair after receiving a tip on their Indiana location late on Sunday night, according to officials. When officers arrived at the hotel the pair were staying in they fled, with their vehicle flipping over during the subsequent chase.

Vanderburgh County Coroner, Steven W Lockyear, announced that Vicky White died at Evansville Deaconess Midtown Hospital on Monday 9 May, reported WHNT.

Here’s what we know so far

The pair, who share the same surname but are unrelated, were last seen on 29 April after Ms White said she was taking the inmate for a mental health evaluation to check him out of jail. She said she would leave to get medical care after dropping the inmate at the courthouse because she was not feeling well.

Authorities later found there was no evaluation or court hearing scheduled for the inmate and Ms White never made it to where she was supposed to get medical care, according to Lauderdale county sheriff Rick Singleton.

Ms White’s 2013 Ford Taurus patrol car was found abandoned in the parking lot of a nearby shopping centre at around 11am Friday, the sheriff said.

But the alarm was only raised several hours later at around 3.30pm, when Ms White’s coworkers grew concerned she hadn’t returned and were unable to reach her by phone.

Four days later on Tuesday, the US Marshals service said they were seen on 29 April in Rogersville, Alabama, 30 minutes east of Lauderdale county. They were driving a “gold/copper” 2007 Ford Edge with unknown number plates.

The Marshals Service labelled Ms White a “wanted fugitive” and offered a reward of $5,000 for information about her whereabouts, while the reward for information that could lead to the capture of the inmate White is for $10,000.

“Investigators received information from inmates at the Lauderdale County Detention Centre over the weekend that there was a special relationship between Director White and inmate Casey White,” the Lauderdale county sheriff’s office said in a statement.

“That relationship has now been confirmed through our investigation by independent sources and means.”

CNN reported that the inmate White had received special privileges like extra food because of the officer.

Mr Singleton said the sheriff’s office has issued a warrant for Ms White’s arrest for “permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree”.

He said they know she participated in the escape but they are not sure “she did that willingly or if she was coerced, threatened somehow to participate”.

Ms White had also recently sold her home and filed for retirement just days before the pair vanished. Ms White’s mother said her daughter sold her home and moved in with her – but didn’t mention anything about her plans to retire.

What we know about the prison officer and the inmate

Ms White, 56, is 5’5” and weighs approximately 145 pounds. She has blonde hair and brown eyes and is described as reportedly having a “waddling gait”.

Her colleagues have described her as “an exemplary employee” for the department for the last 25 years.

“Professionally, she was the most solid person,” Lauderdale County DA Chris Connolly told CNN.

“She wasn’t a big talker but if we needed something at the courthouse she was somebody we could call and make those things happen.

“That’s why myself and everybody else who knows her are just shocked by this.”

The Marshals Service said White, 38, is 6’9”, weighs approximately 330 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes. Authorities released additional photos of him from surveillance footage inside the jail, showing him dressed in orange prison garb with short facial hair and walking in a prison corridor.

White was handed 75-year prison sentence in 2019 for a string of violent crimes he committed in a night in 2015. He was convicted for attempting to murder his then-girlfriend, killing her dog and kidnapping her roommates, among other charges.

In 2020, he was charged in another case from 2015 for the stabbing of Connie Ridgeway in Lauderdale county. White confessed to killing the man but eventually pleaded not guilty, WAFF reported. He had also tried to escape county custody earlier.

Officials are assuming White is now armed with the corrections officer’s 9mm handgun and are urging the public not to approach the “extremely dangerous” escapee, but to call 911 for any sighting.