A US prisoner who prompted a nationwide manhunt when he disappeared from jail with the help of a prison officer has been charged with her murder.
Casey White, 38, was charged over the shooting death of corrections officer Vicky White, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said.
The pair's disappearance from an Alabama jail in April sparked a national search that came to a bloody end in Indiana, where Casey White was captured and Vicky White died.
The indictment alleges that during the escape: "White caused the death of Vicky White", who died from a gunshot wound.
The indictment does not specify who pulled the trigger.
In May a coroner ruled that Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Casey White will plead not guilty at an arraignment hearing, defence attorney Mark McDaniel said in a statement.
The defence previously pointed blame at Vicky White for the escape, saying Casey White was in her "care and custody" the entire time of his disappearance from jail.
Casey White walked out of an Alabama jail in handcuffs in the custody of Vicky White, who was the assistant director of corrections at the facility.
On the day of the escape the 56-year-old told co-workers she was transporting the inmate to a mental health evaluation.
Authorities later learned no such appointment existed.
Alabama law allows a murder charge if someone "causes the death of any person" while engaging in certain other felonies such as escape or if the person "recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person".
Friends and colleagues had said they were bewildered by the involvement of Vicky White, who had worked for the sheriff's office for 16 years, with the inmate who was already serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.
ABC/AP
