Sheriff: Former Ala. jail official, escapee captured in Indiana
A former Alabama jail official and the murder suspect she is accused of helping escape from custody were apprehended Monday in Indiana after more than a week on the run, law enforcement officials said.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said the fugitives were caught near Evansville, Indiana, after U.S. Marshals pursued the Whites’ pickup truck, which wrecked.
Casey White surrendered and Vicky White was taken to a hospital, the sheriff said.
“Casey White and Vicky White are in custody,” Singleton said. “This has ended a very long and stressful and challenging week and a half. It ended the way that we knew it would. They are in custody.”
In Indiana, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said Vicky White shot herself after the chase and suffered serious injuries.
The two had been the target of a manhunt since April 29 when Vicky White, the 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 instead fled.
Casey White was serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other charges at the time of his escape.
“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,”
Singleton said.
A warrant was issued May 2 for Vicky White charging her with permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree. Family members and co-workers said they were stunned by her involvement.
The pickup was found Monday in Evansville after U.S. Marshals received a tip Sunday that the 2006 Ford F-150 pickup was seen at a car wash, the Marshals Service said. Surveillance photos showed a man who resembles Casey White exiting the vehicle at the car wash, officials said.
Investigators believe the pickup was stolen in Tennessee and driven 175 miles to Evansville, a law enforcement official said.
Anti-abortion office: Police asked for the public’s help Monday in tracking down those who vandalized and threw two Molotov cocktails into the office of a Wisconsin anti-abortion lobbying group’s office that was damaged by fire.
No one has been arrested and there are no suspects in custody in the fire that was discovered early Sunday when someone driving to Madison’s nearby airport noticed flames coming from the office building, said Madison police Chief Shon Barnes.
The fire at the Wisconsin Family Action office came after two Catholic churches in Colorado, including one known for its annual anti-abortion display, were vandalized last week.
The leak last week of a draft opinion suggesting that the U.S. Supreme Court was on course to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide sparked protests across the country, including in Madison.
Lake Mead remains: A week
after a decades-old body was found in receding Lake Mead, authorities in Las Vegas are trying to identify a second set of newly discovered human remains.
Two sisters from the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nev., were paddle boarding on the drought-stricken Colorado River reservoir when they spotted bones Saturday in the Callville Bay area of the lake.
The National Park Service confirmed that the bones found were human.
Investigators are not treating the case as a homicide, Las Vegas police said. The remains are with the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
The discovery came after a body in a barrel was found May 1 along newly exposed shoreline of the lake formed by Hoover Dam between Nevada and Arizona.
In that case, police said the body was a man who had been shot, probably between the mid-1970s and the early 1980s because he was wearing
shoes manufactured during that period.
Majesty’s absence: Queen Elizabeth II will not attend the opening of Parliament on Tuesday for the first time in nearly 60 years, as she struggles with difficulties in getting around.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement Monday that the decision was made in consultation with her doctors and that the 96-year-old had “reluctantly’’ decided not to attend. Prince Charles will read her speech, while for the first time her grandson Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, will have an official role in the event.
It will mark only the third time during her reign that Elizabeth has not opened Parliament. She previously missed the opening in 1959, when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew, and 1963, when she was pregnant with Prince Edward.
The state opening of Parliament is a centuries-old
ceremony that marks the start of the legislative year.
Times Square trial: The man behind the wheel of the car that barreled through crowds of pedestrians in New York City’s Times Square, killing a woman and injuring 22 other people, went on trial Monday after various delays over five years, including pandemic-induced court shutdowns.
In an opening statement, prosecutor Alfred Peterson told a Manhattan jury that Richard Rojas was well aware of the carnage he was causing by plowing through helpless tourists in 2017 visiting the popular destination known as “the crossroads of the world.”
Defense attorney Enrico DeMarco said in his opening that Rojas has a history of mental illness that made him unable to understand the consequences of his actions that day.
Rojas’ trial is expected to take several months.
Rojas pleaded not guilty
to murder, assault and other charges in 2017.
Celebrity chef’s trial: Mario Batali’s sexual misconduct trial opened Monday in a Boston court with his accuser recounting how she’d been “shocked, surprised and alarmed” as the celebrity chef aggressively kissed and groped her while taking selfies at a restaurant in 2017.
The 32-year-old Bostonarea software company worker said she felt confused and powerless to do anything to stop Batali as he grabbed her “in a way that I have never been touched before.”
Monday’s trial opened after Batali — in a surprise move — waived his right to a jury trial and opted instead to have a judge decide his fate.
Batali, who pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery in 2019, could face up to 2 years in jail and be required to register as a sex offender if convicted.