Fugitive Alabama inmate and ex-jail officer are caught in Indiana

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, an inmate with a violent and frightening history.

The two fugitives were caught in Evansville, Indiana, where U.S. Marshals pursued their vehicle and then crashed into it, authorities said.

“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,” Sheriff Rick Singleton, of Alabama’s Lauderdale County, said.

The manhunt began

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 murder case. Vicky White had told co-workers she was taking the inmate for a mental-health evaluation at the courthouse, but the two, who are not related, fled.

White stands 6 feet, 9 inches (2.06 meters) tall and weighs about 260 pounds (118 kilograms).

Casey White was serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other charges at the time of his escape. He was awaiting trial in the stabbing of a 58-year-old woman during a burglary in 2015. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.