Alabama’s recaptured fugitive Casey White arrives at arraignment
Vicky White, his alleged corrections officer accomplice, died of a gunshot wound
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FLORENCE, Ala. - Casey White, the accused murderer who escaped an Alabama jail 12 days ago with the alleged help of a high-ranking corrections officer, arrived at the Lauderdale County Courthouse for his arraignment Tuesday night.
He said nothing in response to shouted questions like "Do you love Vicky?" and "Who planned the escape?" as deputies escorted him inside to face the judge.
His alleged accomplice, the Lauderdale County Detention Center’s assistant director of corrections Vicky White, died the day prior from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound rather than face arrest, according to the Vanderburgh Sheriff’s Office in Indiana, where the manhunt came to a close Monday.
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White and White were not related but had fallen into a "jailhouse romance" over the last two years. They met when Casey White, already serving a 75-year sentence in state prison, briefly stayed in the county jail for an arraignment on murder charges in the 2015 death of Connie Ridgeway, who he confessed to stabbing in an alleged murder-for-hire plot before pleading not guilty by reason of insanity.
The jailbird and guard stayed in touch over the phone, according to Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton. Then, on her last day before retiring, Vicky White allegedly walked her felonious lover out of the jail in broad daylight on April 29.
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She’d claimed to be taking him to the county courthouse for a mental health evaluation, and allegedly bought additional time by telling colleagues she felt unwell and would go to a doctor after.
Instead, according to authorities, she drove to a getaway car stashed nearby, and they went north to Tennessee. They switched cars there, and it would be days before they resurfaced on surveillance video, swapping cars again at an Indiana car wash.
Feeling like they’d gone far enough and needed to reorganize their thoughts, they lingered in Evansville, Indiana, according to Sheriff Wedding, citing Casey White’s own statements to investigators.
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Investigators found White and White at a motel in Evansville, Indiana, Monday, Sheriff Wedding said.
They offered a homeless man cash to book them a room for two weeks, only about half of which they got to enjoy, according to the sheriff.
CASEY WHITE ESCAPE: TIMELINE FOR ALABAMA MURDER SUSPECT ON THE RUN WITH CORRECTIONS OFFICER
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After their capture Monday, Wedding told Fox News Digital that a search warrant at the motel found "nothing of evidentiary value." But in their vehicle, he said, law enforcement recovered multiple firearms, wigs and about $29,000 of the $90,000 in cash Vicky White had on hand after selling her four-acre property well below market value.
He was sent back to Alabama Tuesday evening to face justice.
"He is never going to see the light of day again," Sheriff Singleton said after the fugitives’ capture Monday.
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In addition to the pending murder charges, which could carry the death penalty, Casey White faces charges in connection with the escape. He was already convicted of a wild crime spree in which he stole multiple vehicles, terrorized his ex-girlfriend and her roommates with a pair of pistols, shot their dog and tried to kill her.
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Casey White had repeatedly stated that he wanted to die at the hands of police and told deputies in Indiana that his plan to die in a gunfight fell apart after a U.S. Marshals-led task force wrecked the couple’s getaway car in a chase across uneven grass.
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Once the car flipped, he gave up without a fight.