Casey White prison escape

On the morning of April 29, 2022 at 9:30 a.m., Vicky White, the assistant director at the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Alabama, escorted Casey White to a police vehicle, then left the detention center. A surveillance video showed Casey in handcuffs and leg shackles.[7] Casey, who has an extensive criminal history, was already serving 75 years for a 2015 crime spree.[8] He was at the facility for pre-trial motions after having confessed two years earlier to the 2015 stabbing death of 59-year-old Connie Ridgeway.[8]

Vicky told fellow officers she was taking Casey to the county courthouse in Florence for a psychological evaluation, then going to see her personal physician since she was not feeling well that day.[7] The task aroused suspicion since inmates being taken to the courthouse are supposed to be escorted by two deputies. Authorities believe she was not challenged because of her position.[9]

The two never returned to the detention center. The Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department was given a surveillance video, taken at a local gas station, of Vicky White's patrol car 8 minutes after the pair left the detention center.[10] The deputies checked the courthouse's itinerary, and found that there were no hearings or evaluations that day. Authorities feared Vicky may have been forced or coerced into helping Casey escape.[11] They immediately initiated a statewide manhunt hoping to find her unharmed, and to recapture Casey.[11]

Alabama authorities launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Casey White's escape. Vicky White was set to retire the day she left with Casey, but never finalized the paperwork. Prior to helping Casey escape, she sold her four-acre property for $95,550, significantly less than the property's assessed value of $235,600. She had also bought several items including: firearms, men's clothing and vehicles.[12]

Officers soon discovered that Vicky had been giving Casey special treatment, including extra food and privileges.[13] Guards also noted that Casey had a propensity for trying to elicit sympathy from the staff. Vicky's special treatment of Casey eventually led to a romantic relationship that may have begun in 2020. After this discovery, authorities terminated her employment and issued arrest warrants for her on May 2 and May 6, 2022 for helping Casey escape.[14]

The manhunt was switched from statewide to nationwide. The Ford Edge used as the second getaway vehicle was found abandoned in Tennessee. The couple had switched to a blue 2006 Ford F-150 Pickup Truck heading north, checking in and out of several motels along the way. Vicky White was seen in surveillance videos with her blond hair dyed black.

The couple eventually arrived in Evansville, Indiana, where they rented a motel room. They reserved the room by paying a homeless man who was a convicted sex offender $100 to reserve the room for them. The man was unaware that the couple was on the run. They had paid for a 14-day stay at the motel room.[15]

Authorities offered rewards for information leading to their capture, and considered them armed and dangerous.[16] Casey White was deemed so violent, even law enforcement personnel were advised to approach him with caution.[17]

On May 9, 2022, authorities in Evansville, Indiana received a surveillance video of the couple washing the pickup truck from a car wash employee.[18] They were later spotted in another video getting into a gray Cadillac DTS.[19] An Evansville police officer saw the vehicle at a Motel 41, and called for additional units. The couple left the motel and entered the car with Casey White driving.[19]

A chase ensued on US 41, and Casey drove onto a grassy field. A police vehicle rammed the Cadillac causing it to flip into a ditch.[20]

As law enforcement converged on the vehicle, Casey White surrendered to authorities without incident, but Vicky was suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. Casey told officers, "Please help my wife. She shot herself in the head and I didn't do it." Authorities said there was no indication they were married. Vicky was rushed to a local hospital, and pronounced dead hours later. Her death was ruled a suicide. Her interment took place at Center Hill Cemetery in Lexington, Alabama on May 14.[21]

The State of Alabama eventually gave a person who chose to remain anonymous a $5,000 reward for information leading up to the capture.[22]

After the Vanderburgh County coroner ruled Vicky White's death to have been the result of a suicide, her body was returned to Alabama.[28] About two hundred people attended her funeral.[29]

Casey was returned to Alabama the next day after waiving his right for an extradition hearing.[30] He was transferred back to the state prison in Bessemer, Alabama, rather than the facility from which he escaped.[31] His motion for a preliminary hearing on the escape charge was denied on June 13, with the judge referring the case to grand jury. On July 11, Casey White was charged with felony murder for the death of Vicky White.[32] A trial for the 2015 murder was scheduled for December 12, 2022 before being postponed to June 17, 2023, and the trial for the murder of Vicky White being set two months earlier, on April 17, 2023.[33] In May 2023, Casey White reached a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to first-degree prison escape, and in exchange would not be tried for felony-murder in the death of Vicky White.[34]

In the weeks following their capture, the specific motel room in which Vicky White and Casey White stayed became highly sought after, with a waiting list for the room reaching 60 bookings.[35]

In 2023, Lifetime released a movie about this prison escape called Bad Romance: The Vicky White Story as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" feature films. It stars Wendi McLendon-Covey as Vicky White and Rossif Sutherland as Casey White. McLendon-Covey also serves as an executive producer.[36]

• Felony murder rule
• Jurisdiction
• List of prison escapes
• Media circus