by Vicky White, the Alabama corrections officer accused of aiding a capital murder suspect Casey White escapes from custody, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office said Tuesday night. Vicky White, 56, died Monday night, hours after she and Casey White were taken into custody in Evansville, Indiana, after a manhunt lasting more than a week.
“The manner of death has been ruled a suicide,” the coroner’s office said.
According to the authorities, Casey White told law enforcement officers who captured him that Vicky White had shot herself. The two are not related, but he referred to her as her “wife of hers,” the US Marshals said.
“Casey quickly surrendered, and his immediate words to our team were, ‘Please help my wife. She just shot herself in the head,'” said Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force commander Deputy Marshal Chad Hunt.
US Marshals told CBS News there is no evidence Casey and Vicky White were ever married.
Earlier Tuesday, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said Casey White told police he was “probably going to have a firefight where both of them would lose their lives.” Wedding also said the couple had about $29,000 in cash, various wigs, at least four handguns and an AR-15 rifle when they were captured.
The sheriff said authorities were investigating how they obtained the weapons.
The two were taken into custody Monday after a car chase that ended with officers throwing their car into a ditch. The manhunt began after an Evansville, Indiana, police officer spotted a Cadillac the couple was believed to be using in a hotel parking lot on Monday. Authorities began surveilling the hotel, Wedding said Tuesday, and began pursuing Casey and Vicky White as they fled.
Casey White suffered “a couple of bumps and bruises” from the accident, Wedding said.
Upon his capture, Casey White signed an extradition waiver. On Tuesday night, he was flown back to Lauderdale, Alabama, where he will stand trial on capital murder charges next month.
At his arraignment Tuesday night, the judge added first-degree flight to his pending charges, CBS Huntsville, Alabama affiliate WHNT-TV reports. He was already facing a capital murder charge in the stabbing death of a local woman in 2015.
Alex Sundby, Victoria Albert, and Brian Dakss contributed reporting.
If you or someone you know may be at risk for suicide, there is help. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text a crisis counselor to 741741, or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
