by Security video footage shows missing former Alabama corrections officer Vicky White allegedly shopping for clothes for inmate Casey White before the pair escaped.
Officer White and the man facing murder charges escaped on April 29. The former Lauderdale County deputy director of corrections broke the 6’9” White out of prison under the guise of taking him in for a mental health evaluation in court. Authorities later discovered that no such evaluation had been scheduled. She said that she was going to go for a medical check-up after leaving the inmate because she was not feeling well. The couple has not been seen since.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton told CNN that investigators found surveillance footage of Ms. White, who is not related to the inmate she allegedly helped escape, shopping for men’s clothing at a department store. and also visiting an “adult store”.
She “obviously had a change of clothes” for White, the sheriff said.
“It just tells us that it was very well planned and calculated,” Singleton told CNN on Monday. “Obviously, she planned this escape well to the core.”
Investigators previously released footage showing Ms. White at a Quality Inn in Florence, Alabama, where she stayed before the escape.
The police car initially used by the officer and inmate was found abandoned in a shopping center parking lot, with the officer’s jail keys, police radio and handcuffs in the vehicle. Authorities believe they left in Mrs. White’s 2007 Ford SUV that she parked in the parking lot the night before.
That vehicle was seen in a tow-away lot in Tennessee on May 6 after being abandoned in the woods with no identification marks on the day of the breakout, suggesting they drove about two hours north from the Florence jail to Williamson County in Tennessee.
“Now we know where the car is, we know which way they went,” the sheriff told CNN. “We’re trying to canvass the area for witnesses, also trying to investigate, see if there were any reported stolen vehicles in that area during that time.”
Law enforcement officials believe the vehicle may have had mechanical problems, causing it to be left in the woods.
“We don’t have any information or intelligence on how they left that area,” Singleton said.
“There are all kinds of possibilities. We are looking at every possible scenario that we can think of,” he said when asked about possible help from a third party, adding that they may have left the US.
“That is something that we are also considering and trying to follow up on, especially with the Mexican and Canadian authorities,” Singleton said.
Mrs. White, 56, and Casey White, 38, had entered into a romantic relationship after meeting in 2020, according to the bailiff.
Before her escape, Mrs. White said she would retire and sell her house for much less than the property’s market value.
There is now a warrant out for her arrest for allegedly allowing or facilitating first degree elopement. The sheriff’s office said she no longer works there. Her last day was Friday, but her retirement papers were never finalized.
Authorities believe the couple had “a lot of cash” when they escaped. Singleton said Mrs White’s mother has been “extremely cooperative”.
“Just like us, she is totally lost. She didn’t know this side of her daughter, obviously, and she’s very distraught,” she said.
The US Marshals Service has said the suspects should be considered armed and dangerous, possibly in possession of rifles and pistols. The agency also said White threatened his ex-girlfriend and his sister in 2015, saying that if he ever made it out of jail “he would kill them and he wanted the police to kill him.”
Authorities have warned White’s “potential targets” and have taken steps to ensure they are safe.
Singleton said Monday that authorities are concerned White isn’t taking medication to “control temper and that sort of thing.”
“He has some issues that he’s taking medication for, and when he comes off them, I’m told he can be extremely violent,” the sheriff said, according to CNN.
The agency is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the escaped inmate and $5,000 for the former officer. Alabama Governor Kay Ivery added $5,000 for each suspect on Friday.
