FLORENS, Alabama (AP) – A fugitive Alabama prisoner has had a “special relationship” with prison officials who believe he helped escape, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.
A search was under way for Casey White, who is awaiting trial for a murder case, and Vicki White, a prison officer, after they both disappeared after leaving the Lauderdale County Detention Center on Friday morning. The two are not connected, authorities said.
“Investigators received information from Lauderdale County Detention Center over the weekend that there was a special relationship between Director White and inmate Casey White. This connection has now been confirmed by our investigation from independent sources and means, “the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to the press. The Office did not specify the nature of this relationship.
On Friday morning, 56-year-old Vicki White told colleagues that the 38-year-old prisoner should go to court for a mental health assessment. She escorted the prisoner herself, which the sheriff said was a violation of the department’s policy. That afternoon, when she did not answer the phone, authorities discovered that the two were missing and no such assessment was scheduled. Her patrol car was found abandoned in the parking lot of a shopping center.
An arrest warrant was issued for Vicki White on Monday on charges of aiding and abetting.
Family members and colleagues said they were confused by the involvement of Vicki White, who worked for the sheriff’s office for 16 years, with the prisoner, who is already serving a 75-year sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.
“I just can’t imagine Vicky running away with this man,” her ex-mother-in-law, Francis White, said in a telephone interview. She continues to love her daughter-in-law for decades after she divorced her son in 1991. He died earlier this year.
She said her ex-daughter-in-law was kind and always wanted to help others, but added that she was sometimes alone. “Vicky was a man who kept all his thoughts and problems to himself,” she said.
Vicki White has no children, her ex-mother-in-law said, and recently sold her house, a large 4-acre (1.6-hectare) property she originally bought to be close to her parents. The property, which included a trailer and a barn, was “really too big” for one person, Francis White said.
WAAY said Vicki White sold her home for $ 95,500 just 12 days before she disappeared. The purchase price was below the market value for the region, the station said.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Monday that Vicki White had announced plans to retire and the day she disappeared would be her last day on the job.
“This is not Vicki White we know, with any degree of imagination,” Singleton said Monday.
The U.S. Marshall Service said Tuesday that the couple could travel in a 2007 orange or copper Ford Edge with minor damage to the rear left bumper.
Authorities said Casey White, who is 6 feet 9 inches (2.06 meters) tall, should be recognizable by her size. Authorities warned that anyone who saw the couple should not approach them.
“Subjects must be considered dangerous and may be armed with AR-15 rifles, pistols and shotguns,” the marshals’ office said in a statement.
Casey White was serving a sentence for a series of crimes, including attempted murder, robbery and burglary. While in jail, he confessed to the death of a 58-year-old woman in 2015 with a knife, prompting him to be taken to Lauderdale County Jail for trial. The sheriff said they believe White had planned an earlier escape from prison in 2020 when they found a makeshift knife.
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