Casey White: Recaptured fugitive tranferred to Alabama prison being on the run from authorities for 11 days

On the back of White’s head were four small gashes within a shaved circumference of hair the size of a quarter. Dry blood was visible on the back of his bright yellow jumpsuit.

Immediately after the hearing, White exited the courthouse and glanced at the news cameras and the crowd of bystanders who had gathered, but didn’t say anything. He was transferred to a state prison — William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer, Alabama, a little more 100 miles south of Lauderdale County.

Casey White, 38, and Vicky White, 56, were captured in Evansville, Indiana, Monday after a car chase, which ended when authorities forced the car Casey White was driving to wreck in a ditch, the US Marshals Service has said.

Plenty of questions remain about the actions of both Casey White and Vicky White, the then-Lauderdale County assistant director of corrections, who authorities say drove the inmate out of the county detention center in a patrol car April 29 under the pretense of taking him to a courthouse.

The pair used a series of other vehicles over the next week and a half, perhaps aided by cash from the recent sale of Vicky White’s home, authorities have said.

Monday’s car chase and crash in Evansville ended a frantic 11-day manhunt that spanned multiple states and elicited hundreds of tips, including one that ultimately led authorities to their capture.

Newly released police dashboard and body camera video show the moments after the Indiana car chase ended, when Casey White was arrested and officers attempted to pull Vicky White, who was injured, from the car.

In the video, several officers can be seen surrounding Casey White, who is pinned to the ground next to the car. The fugitive is then taken into custody and led away from the wrecked car.

Authorities were not immediately able to pull Vicky White from the car because she appeared to have a gun in her hand, according to officers seen in the body camera video, who also noted she appeared to be breathing.

After an officer reached in to take the gun from her hand, they worked to pull her through the sunroof opening in the car, the video shows.

Inmate’s arrest is a ‘huge relief’

White allegedly confessed to killing Ridgeway in 2020, but later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

He was already being held in a state prison on a 75-year sentence for a series of other crimes in 2015, including home invasion, carjacking and a police chase, the Marshals Service said.

Authorities believe Casey White and Vicky White met at the county jail as early as 2020, when he was arraigned in the Ridgeway case, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said.

White’s murder trial is currently set for June. During Tuesday’s court appearance, White’s attorney, Jamy Poss, said he would be filing a change of venue motion, which the judge said he would consider.

The officer and inmate were traveling with cash and weapons

Singleton previously said the inmate and officer had a “special relationship” that was romantic in nature in which Casey White received privileges like extra food at the detention center because of Vicky White. Over the course of the investigation, authorities came to believe Vicky White willingly helped the inmate escape. After the two were captured, authorities found supplies that may have allowed them to be on the run for much longer.

Investigators found wigs, $29,000 in cash and several weapons among their possessions, including four handguns, an AR-15 rifle and three magazines, said Dave Wedding, sheriff of Indiana’s Vanderburgh County.

The veteran officer used her years of experience to plan and execute the escape, officials have said.

Vicky White “was basically the mastermind behind the whole plan,” Singleton said Tuesday. “Casey White didn’t escape from the facility; he was basically just let out.”

The journey to Indiana

Monday’s crash marked the end of an 11-day chase that began after Vicky White checked the inmate out of jail. She said she was taking him to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation but they never arrived.

The pair instead drove to a shopping center parking lot, ditched the officer’s patrol vehicle and took off in a 2007 Ford Edge SUV that Vicky White had bought under an alias and parked in the lot the night before, Singleton said last week.

The SUV was found in a tow lot in Williamson County, Tennessee, about two hours north of the jail in Florence, Alabama, US Marshals have said. Singleton says the pair likely abandoned it just hours after they left Florence, possibly due to mechanical issues.

Authorities believe they purchased a Ford F-150 truck while in Tennessee.

They are believed to have been in Evansville since at least May 2, when a city police officer proactively checked the license plate of the truck, Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin said Tuesday. At the time, the check did not flag any connection between the truck and the fugitives, he said.

US Marshals learned Sunday that the truck had been abandoned at an Evansville car wash. On Monday, the agency released surveillance images that showed who investigators believed to be Casey White at the car wash on May 3.

Investigators determined the pair left the car wash in a Cadillac, according to Wedding, the Vanderburgh County sheriff, who said he didn’t know how the pair obtained that vehicle.

An Evansville police officer reported Monday that the Cadillac was parked in a motel parking lot and officers began conducting surveillance on the motel.

As officers were conducting surveillance on the motel, Vicky White and Casey White exited, got into the Cadillac and drove away, US Marshal Marty Keely said. Officers followed them and a car chase ensued, ending when authorities forced the fugitives to wreck in a ditch.

Casey White reportedly told authorities to help “his wife” who he said had shot herself in the head, according to Keely, who noted that Casey White and Vicky White were not, to investigators’ knowledge, married.

Forcing the Cadillac into the ditch “may have saved many of my deputies’ (and other officers’) lives,” Wedding said.