Lauderdale escape: CO in phone contact with inmate White during his time in state prison
Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said now-fired assistant director of corrections Vicky White didn't visit the capital murder suspect she apparently helped escape in state prison.
She was in contact with him by phone between 2020 and 2022, Singleton clarified in a statement Thursday morning,
It's believed Vicky White and Casey Cole White had been in contact since at least 2020, when he was jailed at Lauderdale County, awaiting capital murder charges.
Questions were raised about the likelihood of in-person visits during the time Casey White was incarcerated at Donaldson prison because the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed inmate visits during at least a portion of that time.
'Convinced she orchestrated this': Vicky White flew under the radar before escape with Casey White
Related: Police seek North Alabama jailer who disappeared with inmate after selling home, retiring
The search continues for the jailer and inmate on the run since last Friday, when the two disappeared in what looks now like a well-planned jailbreak.
Vicky White told colleagues she was taking Casey White for a mental health evaluation at the courthouse Friday morning. She left with the cuffed and shackled 6-foot 9-inch tall inmate — against jail policies that call for two armed officers for such as escort — in a marked unit. Because she was their supervisor, Singleton said, no one questioned the breach of policy.
Rather than going to the courthouse, she drove to a strip mall and abandoned the sheriff's unit there. Investigators now know they got into a 2007 Ford Edge that Vicky White had purchased sometime before, and apparently left it in the parking lot in an area where vehicles for sale are often left overnight.
Where Vicky White and Casey White went next is the subject of intense investigation by law enforcement agencies to the federal level, and web sleuths far and near.
Authorties on Thursday released a gallery of images showing, among other things, Casey White's tattoos and how Vicky White might look with an altered appearance, in an effort to help identify the fugitives.
More: Reward offered for information on missing Lauderdale County inmate and corrections officer
What we know: What we know about escaped inmate, corrections officer missing from Lauderdale County
When reporters asked the sheriff about aliases Vicky White had used, according to a U.S. Marshals poster. The poster listed April Davis and Renee Marie Maxwell as her possible AKAs. He said one of those aliases had been used to buy a vehicle
There is now a warrant for Vicky White's arrest for facilitating an escape. The two are believed to be in possession of a shotgun, an AR-15 style rifle and White's 9 mm service weapon.
The two are considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who sees them is asked to call 911, and to not approach either.
Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Vicky White and Casey White: History examined in jailbreak investigation
