Sheriff: Missing Alabama Corrections Official ‘Participated’ in Accused Murderer’s Escape

Authorities have issued a warrant for missing Assistant Corrections Director Vicki White, 56, of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama, on the charges of “permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree” after she and 38-year-old inmate Casey White, a capital murder suspect, vanished after leaving a detention center Friday.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton announced the charges at a press conference Monday, streamed by WHNT. He added that Friday – the day of their disappearance – was supposed to be Director White’s last day before retirement, adding that she sold “her home about a month ago.”

“She had been talking about retiring for three or four months and had done some things, you know, she did sell her home about a month ago and talked about going to the beach, so …everybody thought she was going to retire,” said Singleton. “Nobody saw this coming.”

The pair are not related, though, the LCSO said they have a “special relationship,” Fox News reported.

The U.S Marshals Service Task Force is heading up the investigation with the assistance of the FBI, the Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Secret Service, in addition to state agencies, Singleton said Monday. 

In a Tuesday press release, the U.S. Marshal Service announced that the pair “may be traveling in a 2007 orange or copper colored Ford Edge.” The agency is offering $10,000 for information leading to inmate White’s arrest, while it is offering $5,000 for information that results in Director White’s capture. 

The U.S. Marshal Service said that Casey White is 6’9, approximately 330 pounds, and has brown hair and hazel eyes. 

Vicki White is 5’5, around 145 pounds, with blond hair and brown eyes. She is said to have a “waddling gait” and goes by the aliases Renee Marie Maxwell and April Davis, according to Fox News. 

“The subjects should be considered dangerous and may be armed with an AR-15 rifle, handguns and a shotgun,” the release said. 

The pair disappeared during a transport to an “alleged mental health evaluation” from the detention center to the courthouse Friday, in which Director White, who organizes all transports, broke protocol by being the only deputy present for the ride, Singleton said at a press conference Friday, as Breitbart News reported.

The LCSO later confirmed there was no mental health evaluation scheduled. 

On Monday, Singleton noted that two vans carrying five and seven inmates, respectively, left the detention center moments before Director White and inmate White. Each van was manned by two deputies as protocol requires. Following the departure, Director White instructed a deputy to summon inmate White and ready him for transport to the courthouse. Once shackled and cuffed, she told the booking officer that she would be taking White herself, noting that she was the only available personnel available, Singleton said.

“She coordinates all of the transports from the detention center to the court and so forth, so I’m sure her subordinates didn’t question her when she told them she was bringing him to court for a mental health evaluation,” Singleton said Friday. 

Singleton noted that authorities know she aided in White’s escape, adding that it remains to be seen if she helped of her own volition or if she was intimidated in some way. 

Inmate White “was charged with capital murder in September 2020 in the brutal stabbing of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway,” the U.S. Marshal Service said. “He was already serving time for a 2015 crime spree that involved home invasion, carjacking, and a police chase. White confessed to the murder and was awaiting trial at the Lauderdale County Jail when he disappeared.”