Security video footage has been released that shows former Alabama Corrections Officer Vicky White, who died after a police chase on Monday, buying clothes for inmate Casey White as the pair made their getaway.
Ms White, 56, and the man facing murder charges made their escape on 29 April and a search operation was launched to find them. They were finally caught by the police on Monday after a car chase. While the convict survived and was taken into custody, the officer died in hospital from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.
The former assistant director of corrections for Lauderdale County removed the 6’9” White from the prison under the guise of taking him to a mental health evaluation at the courthouse. Authorities later discovered that no such evaluation had been scheduled. She said she was going to go for a medical check-up after dropping off the inmate because she felt unwell. The pair haven’t been seen since.
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton told CNN that investigators have found surveillance footage of Ms White, who isn’t related to the inmate she allegedly helped escape, buying men’s clothes at a department store, and also visiting an “adult store”.
She “obviously had a change of clothes” for White, the sheriff said.
“It just tells us that it was very well planned and calculated,” Mr Singleton told CNN on Monday. “Obviously she well-planned this escape down to a T.”
Investigators previously released footage showing White at a Quality Inn in Florence, Alabama where she stayed before the escape.
The police car the officer and the inmate initially used was found abandoned in the car park of a shopping centre, with the officer’s keys to the jail, police radio, and handcuffs being left in the vehicle. Authorities believe that they left in White’s 2007 Ford SUV that she parked in the car park the previous night.
That vehicle was seen in a tow lot in Tennessee on 6 May after it had been abandoned in the woods without identifying marks on the day of the escape, suggesting that they drove about two hours north from the Florence jail to Williamson County in Tennessee.
“We know now where the car is, we know what direction they went,” the sheriff told CNN. “We’re trying to canvass the area for any witnesses, also trying to research, see if any stolen vehicles were reported in that area during that time.”
Law enforcement officials believe that the vehicle may have been having mechanical issues, leading to it being left in the woods.
“We don’t have any information or intel about how they left that area,” Mr Singleton said.
“There are all kinds of possibilities. We are looking at every possible scenario we can think of,” he said when asked about possible help from a third party, adding that they may have left the US.
“That’s something we’re also considering and trying to follow up, especially with Mexican and Canadian authorities,” Mr Singleton said.
Ms White, 56, and Casey White, 38, had entered a romantic relationship after getting to know each other in 2020, according to the sheriff.
Before their escape, the officer said she would retire and sold her home for far below the property’s market value.
She was set to be charged for allegedly permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree before she died. The sheriff’s office had earlier said she was no longer their employee. Her last day was on Friday, but her retirement documents were never finalised.
Authorities believe that the pair had “plenty of cash” when they escaped. Mr Singleton said Ms White’s mother has been “extremely cooperative”.
“Like us, she’s at a total loss. She did not know this side of her daughter, obviously, and she’s very distraught,” he said.
The US Marshals Service had said that the suspects were considered armed and dangerous, possibly being in possession of rifles and handguns. The agency also said that White threatened his ex-girlfriend as well as her sister in 2015, saying that if he ever managed to leave jail “he would kill them and he wanted police to kill him”.
Before the couple’s capture, the authorities had warned White’s “potential targets” and said they had taken actions to make sure they’re safe.
