Vicky White was popular at the Lauderdale prison. The prison officer worked for almost 17 years according to Fox News in the prison in the US state of Alabama, was employee of the year and most recently even deputy director of the prison. A photo shows the 56-year-old with a reserved smile, the sheriff’s star is emblazoned on the jacket, which is buttoned up to the top. This was the Vicky White as her peers knew her.
Until the officer pushes open the heavy prison door at the end of April, followed by prisoner Casey White in orange prison clothes – and disappears with the 38-year-old. Eleven days later, Vicky White is dead. After a chase with the police, she dies of a shot in the head. Suicide, suspect the emergency services.
But now there may be a turning point in the case: the prosecutor’s office has accused Casey White of murdering the police officer.
A “special relationship”
The question that arises: Was Vicky White an accomplice, a lover – or a victim? Investigators have questioned other inmates about the relationship between the two Whites, who police say are not related or related by marriage. The officer maintained contact with White outside of her normal work hours, but according to observers there were no physical advances, the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office said. “We were told that Casey White was given special privileges and treated differently at the facility than the other inmates,” said Sheriff Rick Singleton the news channel CNN. The investigators speak of a “special relationship”.
Casey White has been serving a 75-year sentence since 2019 for charges including attempted murder, kidnapping and burglary in Lauderdale. Before her disappearance on April 29, Vicky White had told colleagues that the detainee needed to be taken to court for a psychiatric evaluation and, contrary to regulations, led the six-foot-tall, 150-kilogram man out of the building on his own. According to media reports, it was her last day at work, she had applied for a pension, sold her house and withdrawn a large amount of cash. However, White and White never arrived in court, and the authorities later found that no examination date for the 38-year-old was scheduled that day. It all points to the duo making things together.
The two managed to go into hiding for a week and a half before finally being followed and arrested by the police in Indiana. During the chase, the media later reported, citing Sheriff Dave Wedding of Vanderburgh County, Indiana, that Vicky White shot herself in the head and died in the hospital.
Casey White after his arrest on May 10th. He was transferred back to the Lauderdale County Jail.
(Photo: Dan Busey/AP)
The new indictment against Casey White tells a different version of the story. He “caused the death of Vicky White during the escape, who died of a shot in the head,” according to several US media. In Alabama, people can be charged with murderwhen they cause the death of a person while committing another crime – such as attempting to escape.
Whether this is the case with Casey White will now be clarified in court, who pulled the trigger of the gun is not mentioned in the documents. It is not the only pending trial for the 38-year-old: in prison he is said to have confessed to stabbing a woman. He stated that he was insane when he did the crime and was therefore not guilty. His lawyers have also pleaded not guilty in the case of Vicky White’s death.