Casey Cole White: Escape, Evansville Capture, and Life Sentence

Casey White’s escape from the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, on April 29, 2022, set off an 11-day nationwide manhunt that ended in Evansville, Indiana, when U.S. Marshals rammed his vehicle into a ditch and his accomplice, assistant corrections director Vicki White, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Casey White was recaptured, pleaded guilty to first-degree escape, and was sentenced to life in prison. He is held at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility and will not be eligible for parole until 2081.

Who Casey White Was Before the Escape

White was already serving a 75-year sentence when he escaped. He had been convicted in 2019 on charges stemming from a December 2015 crime spree across Alabama and Tennessee that included home invasions, carjackings, holding victims at gunpoint, shooting a dog, and tracking down an ex-girlfriend in an attempted murder.¹² His record also included a 2010 guilty plea for attacking a male relative with an ax handle.

In 2020, while in prison, White sent a letter confessing to the 2015 stabbing death of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway in Rogersville, Alabama. A grand jury indicted him on two counts of capital murder.³ He was transferred to the Lauderdale County Detention Center that year for arraignment. The day before that hearing, deputies received a tip and found two homemade knives in the jail shower; White was returned to state prison.⁴ In February 2022 he was brought back to Lauderdale County for further court appearances.⁵

Vicki White and the Inside Help

Vicki White (no relation to Casey) had worked at the detention center for 17 years and had risen to assistant director of corrections. She was a four-time Employee of the Year, routinely worked 50- to 60-hour weeks, and was known inside the office as compassionate and a rule-follower.⁶

Investigators later determined that she and Casey White had been in a hidden romantic relationship since around 2020. Over two years, they exchanged more than 1,000 phone calls using a burner phone, and she slipped letters to him while delivering mail. He also received extra food and commissary items.⁷⁸

Vicki spent weeks preparing. She sold her Lexington, Alabama, home on April 18 for $95,550, less than half its assessed value of $204,700. She gave away furniture, bought camping equipment, firearms, men’s clothing, fake identification, and a copper-colored 2007 Ford Edge under an alias. She also took Casey outside the jail on what investigators called a “dry run.”⁸⁷ On April 28 she filed her retirement paperwork, effective the next day. She stayed that night at a Florence Quality Inn and parked the Ford Edge at a nearby shopping center.⁹ Sheriff Rick Singleton later called her the “mastermind” of the logistics.

The Morning of April 29, 2022

Around 9:20 a.m. on her last scheduled day, Vicki instructed a deputy to prepare Casey White for transport. He was placed in handcuffs and shackles. About ten minutes later, she told a booking officer she was the only firearm-certified deputy available and would take him to the courthouse for a “mental health evaluation.” No such appointment existed. Other armed deputies had been assigned to transport vans or court duty, leaving her alone to move him.¹⁰⁸

Transporting an inmate of Casey White’s classification alone violated jail policy, which required two deputies. Security footage also showed Vicki walking in front of him as they left the building, another breach of procedure.¹⁰ She drove off in a sheriff’s cruiser. Roughly ten minutes later, the two abandoned the cruiser at a shopping center, left her jail keys, radio, and handcuffs inside, and switched to the pre-positioned Ford Edge.⁸ The alarm was not raised until 3:30 p.m., when staff realized Vicki could not be reached and Casey had never arrived at the courthouse.

The 11-Day Manhunt

The U.S. Marshals Service led the search, with its Gulf Coast and Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Forces involved. Rewards reached $15,000 for Casey White and $10,000 for Vicki White.¹¹ The route took the fugitives roughly 300 miles north through Tennessee into Evansville, Indiana. They moved through four vehicles in all: the abandoned sheriff’s cruiser, the Ford Edge (later found at a Williamson County, Tennessee, tow lot on May 5), a 2006 Ford F-150 caught on surveillance at an Evansville car wash, and the Cadillac sedan they were driving at the end.⁹

The abandoned Ford Edge narrowed the search area. Surveillance of the F-150 was the next break, and a tip received on May 8 led investigators to the pair’s exact location.¹¹

Capture in Evansville

On May 9, 2022, law enforcement found the pair at Motel 41 in Evansville, where they had paid for a 14-day stay. Officers watched them exit, get into the Cadillac, and head north on U.S. Highway 41. A U.S. Marshals task force member rammed the car, flipping it onto its side in a ditch near Anchor Industries.¹²

When officers reached the overturned vehicle, Vicki White had a gunshot wound to the head. Casey White told officers, “Please help my wife. She just shot herself in the head.”¹³ She died at a hospital that night, and the Indiana coroner ruled her death a suicide. Inside the Cadillac investigators recovered four handguns, an AR-15-style rifle, three magazines, wigs, and roughly $29,000 in cash.⁹ Casey White later told investigators the two had planned a shootout with police if cornered.¹⁴

Charges, Plea Deal, and Sentence

Casey White was extradited to Alabama. In July 2022, prosecutors charged him with felony murder in connection with Vicki White’s death, arguing under Alabama’s felony murder rule that the death occurred during the commission of a dangerous felony — the escape itself.¹⁵

On May 5, 2023, White pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of first-degree escape. Prosecutors dismissed the felony murder charge in exchange. Lauderdale County Assistant District Attorney Angie Hamilton said Vicki White’s family agreed to the deal and were “satisfied with the sentence.” Defense attorney Robert Tuten called it a “just resolution.”¹⁵

On June 8, 2023, Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Benjamin Graves sentenced him to life in prison. Judge Graves said, “It’s not my place to give you grace. But I hope that for you. You are not the most hated man in America, but you have taken legal responsibility for this crime.” The judge ordered that any potential profits from book or movie deals be directed toward the cost of White’s indigent defense.¹⁶

White spoke at the hearing: “I feel like the most hated man in the world. I loved Vicky and I wouldn’t drag her name through the mud for anyone in this courtroom.” He described her as the first person to show him affection in six years and apologized to her family. Defense attorney Mark McDaniel added, “It’s not all on Casey. It’s a two-way street, folks. She had the keys to the jail.”¹⁶

Where Casey White Is Now

White is held at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Alabama. His life sentence for the escape runs concurrently with his previous 75-year sentence, and prosecutors say he will not be eligible for parole until 2081.⁶³¹⁷ No appeals related to the escape conviction have been publicly reported.

Changes at the Lauderdale County Jail

Sheriff Rick Singleton said publicly he was “embarrassed” and “disappointed” by the escape.¹⁸ The Lauderdale County Detention Center has since spent roughly $250,000 on security upgrades. Cell door locks dating to the 1960s were replaced with a modern locking system, and the facility adopted a digital inmate-tracking platform called “Guardian” that uses wristbands to monitor movement, log meals and medication, and generate alerts for high-risk inmates.¹⁹

1
ABC 7 Chicago. Casey White Jail Break Alabama
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The Independent. Casey White’s Criminal History
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WHNT News. Prosecutors Suspend Capital Murder Case Against Casey White
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WAFF. Casey Cole White Plotted Escape Before Arraignment
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ABC News. Missing Alabama Inmate Corrections Officer Special Relationship
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People. What Happened to Casey White and Vicky White
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Corrections1. Netflix Documentary Details 1,000 Calls Between Vicky White and Casey White
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CNN. Alabama Vicky White Casey White Escape
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CNN. Vicky Casey White Manhunt Timeline
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ABC News. Timeline of Murder Suspect’s Escape From Alabama Jail
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The Week. Everything You Need to Know About the White and White Manhunt
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CNN. Connie Ridgeway Family Casey White Capture
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CBS News. Casey White Vicky White Alabama Fugitives Plea Deal
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NBC News. Vicky White Casey White’s Indiana Motel Room
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CNN. Casey White Pleads Guilty Alabama Jail Escape
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WHNT News. Casey White to Appear in Court for Sentencing Hearing
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WAFF. ALEA Offers Reward for Information on 2015 Rogersville Homicide
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WVTM 13. Vicky White Suicide Casey White Captured
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WHNT News. Lauderdale County Detention Center Adds Two Additions to Jail to Enhance Safety