Casey White is in custody – and Vicky White is dead, from what was apparently a self-inflicted gunshot wound during a police chase Monday afternoon in Indiana,
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said that chase took place in Evansville just under 220 miles from where the ordeal began, back on April 29th – when 56 year old Vicky White, a former jailer, led 38 year old Casey White to freedom in her patrol car. Casey White was a Capital Murder suspect. The couple was involved in a police chase with the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, which led to their capture.
Northern District of Alabama U.S. Marshal Marty Keely said they learned that the two were staying at a hotel in Indiana and set up surveillance. At some point Vicky White left the hotel wearing a wig and the suspects got into a vehicle – and what is termed a “rolling surveillance” continued. A short time later the chase ensued until it ended in a rollover crash. According to reports Casey White got out of the crashed vehicle and immediately began saying his wife had shot herself and that he “didn’t do it”; the two were NOT married.
Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding, at a press conference in Indiana, said the chase involved a Cadillac driven by Vicky White.
The details remain unclear; however at some point, Vicky White supposedly suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound and the vehicle wrecked. During the aftermath, Casey White surrendered, and Vicky White was taken to an Indiana hospital where she was pronounced dead. Casey White will be returned to Alabama. When depends on if he waives extradition; he is now charged with Escape, and Vicky White was charged with Permitting/Aiding an Escape, Identity Theft and Forgery 2nd Degree.
Authorities said there is no evidence that the pair had any help during their time on the run. The nationwide manhunt began the day Vicky White was set to retire – after an exemplary 17 years at the jail.
Vicky White had instructed another officer to prepare Casey Cole White for transport explaining no one else was available to take him. She explained to one colleague that she would take him to the nearby courthouse for a mental health evaluation, but as it turned out there was no such evaluation scheduled.
Vicky White led Casey White, who was in shackles, to her patrol car – and in less than two minutes, the pair were gone.
They left the jail on Seminary Street near downtown Florence at 9:41am then drove directly from the jail to Florence Square Shopping Center, at Huntsville Road and Cox Creek Parkway. Surveillance video showed White’s vehicle at the intersection of Cox Creek Parkway and Huntsville Road shortly after 9:49am Friday – just eight minutes after the two left the jail. A patrol vehicle was left in the parking lot, and Vicky White and Casey White left the scene in a different vehicle — a 2007 rust-colored Ford Edge with an unknown license plate and minor damage to the rear left bumper.
Williamson County, Tennessee Sheriff’s officials stated that the vehicle was reported abandoned on Friday, April 29th, the same day the two made their getaway. Sheriff’s officials in Tennessee also said there were no tags on the vehicle and it was locked.
It was taken to an impound lot, and it went unnoticed as the vehicle linked to the two until Thursday night.
We’ll continue to follow this story as it unfolds.
(AL.COM/www.al.com/Paul Gattis contributed to this report)