Missing US prison officer had ‘special relationship’ with escapee

The relationship between Vicky White, an assistant director of corrections for northwestern Alabama’s Lauderdale County, and the now-fugitive Casey White was confirmed in part through tips from inmates at the county detention centre.

“We have confirmed through independent sources and other means that there was in fact a relationship between Casey White and Vicky White outside of her normal work hours – not physical contact, but a relationship of a different nature,” Sheriff Rick Singleton said.

“We were told Casey White got special privileges and was treated differently while in the facility than the other inmates,” Sheriff Singleton said.

Authorities are looking for both Vicky White and Casey White, who are not related, after the corrections officer on Friday morning left the Lauderdale County detention centre with the 38-year-old inmate while he was handcuffed and shackled in her patrol car.

A warrant has been issued for Vicky White’s arrest on charges of permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree.

Vicky White said she was taking Casey White to a courthouse for a mental health evaluation and would then go get medical care because she wasn’t feeling well.

Authorities later discovered no hearing or evaluation was scheduled for Casey White that day, and Vicky White never arrived at the medical facility.

Her patrol car was found abandoned on Friday morning in a shopping centre’s parking lot, less than a mile from the detention centre.

The situation has left Vicky White’s co-workers in shock.

The day she disappeared was to be her last day at work after nearly two decades with the department, Sheriff Singleton said.

She submitted her retirement paperwork last week, sold her home about a month ago, and had thought about moving to the beach.

“All of her co-workers are devastated. We’ve never had any situation like this with Vicky White. She was a model employee,” Sheriff Singleton said.

Previously, Sheriff Singleton had said the corrections official had “an unblemished record” and was “an exemplary employee.”

“If she did this willingly, and all indications are that she did … I guess we’re trying to hold on to that last straw of hope that maybe for some reason she was threatened and did this under coercion, but absolutely you’d feel betrayed,” Sheriff Singleton said.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said he worked with Vicky White almost daily for 17 years and last spoke with her the day before she disappeared.

“I would have trusted her with my life,” he said.

“I am so disappointed in her. She was trusted and she exploited that trust.”

“I never heard of him, never seen his picture, nothing. I didn’t know anything about him,” Ms Davis told the outlet.

Ms Davis said she is in disbelief about the situation and wants her daughter to come home.

“We don’t know if she was took by force or if she was voluntarily in this. But we just want her back, that’s all we want.”

‘I’d be surprised if they’re still in Alabama’

Video shows Vicky White’s patrol car stopped – about eight minutes after leaving the jail – at an intersection about two blocks from the shopping centre parking lot where it would be found abandoned, Sheriff Singleton said.

That indicates the car was driven straight to the parking lot, and the driver never attempted to go to the courthouse, he said.

But the video doesn’t show what happened after the car arrived at the parking lot.

Sheriff Singleton said he believes the pair left the lot in a second vehicle – perhaps transferring to a vehicle that was staged there or being picked up by someone.

The US Marshals Service said yesterday the pair was last seen on April 29 in Rogersville, Alabama, in a gold/copper 2007 Ford Edge with unknown Alabama plates.

“I’d be surprised if they’re still in Alabama,” the sheriff said.

He noted officials at the Mexican and Canadian borders have been notified of the search.

Vicky White would have money from the recent sale of her home, but her retirement fund paperwork had not yet been processed, Sheriff Singleton said.

The US Marshals Service is offering a reward of up to US$15,000 for information leading to the location of the missing inmate ($10,000) and officer ($5000).

The inmate and officer should be considered dangerous and may be armed with an AR-15 rifle and a shotgun, marshals said.

Escaped inmate is ‘extremely dangerous’

Casey White is “an extremely dangerous person,” Sheriff Singleton said.

He was serving 75 years in prison for a series of crimes in 2015, including a home invasion, carjacking and a police chase, according to the Marshals Service.

He was transferred from a state prison to Lauderdale County’s detention centre on February 25 to attend court hearings on two capital murder charges he faces related to the 2015 stabbing death of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway, the Marshals Service said.

He confessed to the crime in 2020 then pleaded not guilty, according to Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly.

“We’re assuming he’s armed because she was armed,” Sheriff Singleton said of Casey White.

In 2020, while Casey White was being held in Lauderdale County’s detention centre, authorities learned he planned to escape the jail and take a hostage, Sheriff Singleton said.

“We shook him down, and we did find a shank in his possession – a shank is a prison knife. And we retrieved that. We immediately had him shipped back to the Department of Corrections,” Sheriff Singleton said.

The jail already had a policy mandating two sworn deputies accompany inmates at all times, including during transportation to the courthouse – but “we emphasised that policy with him,” Sheriff Singleton said.

Vicky White violated the policy by leaving the jail alone with Casey White, but since she was second-in-command at the facility other officers didn’t push back, Sheriff Singleton said.

“Being the boss and over the transport, she just informed the booking officer that she was going to carry him to the courthouse and drop him off, which was a flagrant violation of policy. But I’m sure because it was her boss, the booking officer didn’t question it,” he noted.

As part of her job, Vicky White “was frequently throughout the cell blocks, has contact with all the inmates at one time or another,” Sheriff Singleton said.

“But as far as a romantic relationship or something like that, we have no evidence or proof that that was the case, although it’s a possibility,” he added.