Former jail officer kills herself
Fugitive inmate captured after more than week
A former Alabama jail official has died after shooting herself when she and the murder suspect she was accused of helping to escape were captured Monday in Indiana after more than a week on the run, according to officials.
The capture ended the manhunt through three states but did not resolve the mystery of why Vicky White, 56, a respected jail official, would help Casey White, 38, a hulking inmate with a violent and frightening history.
The two fugitives were caught in Evansville, Ind., when U.S. Marshals pursued their vehicle and then crashed into it, authorities said.
Casey White surrendered and Vicky White was taken to a hospital after shooting herself, authorities said. Vanderburgh County Coroner Steve Lockyear said White died from her injuries.
“We got a dangerous man off the street today. He is never going to see the light of day again. That is a good thing, for not just our community. That’s a good thing for our country,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton of Alabama said.
The manhunt began April 29 when Vicky White, assistant director of corrections for the jail in Lauderdale County, allegedly helped engineer the escape of Casey White, who was awaiting trial in a capital murder case. Vicky White had told co-workers she was taking the inmate from the jail for a mental health evaluation at the courthouse, but the two, who are not related, instead fled the area.
The car they took off in was later found abandoned in Tennessee, but there was no trace of the pair until U.S. Marshals received a tip Sunday that surveillance photos from an Evansville car wash showed a man who closely resembled Casey White exiting a 2006 Ford F-150 pickup truck, the Marshals Service said.
On Monday, officials learned that the pair was spotted near the sheriff ’s office, said Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding in Indiana. As officers arrived, the pair fled in a vehicle and led police on a pursuit, he said.
U.S. Marshals collided with them “to try to end the pursuit,” he said. Casey White was injured, not too seriously, in the crash and Vicky White then shot herself, causing “very serious” injuries, he said.