Police begin to piece together timeline between Lauderdale escape and jailer Vicky White’s death
Before learning that Vicky White had succumbed to an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said he hoped she would survive.
He wanted answers from the former assistant director at the jail.
White died Tuesday night, hours after her 11 days on the run with capital murder suspect Casey Cole White came to an end in a ditch in Evansville, Indiana, after U.S. Marshals rammed the Cadillac the pair was traveling in. Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said White shot herself just after the crash; Casey White told authorities he planned to shoot it out with officers, even if it risked both their lives.
"What was going through her mind," Wedding said, in those final moments, "I have no idea."
More about the Lauderdale County jail escape:
'Convinced she orchestrated this': Vicky White flew under the radar before escape with Casey White
Lauderdale escape: CO in phone contact with inmate White during his time in state prison
Her death could leave the most puzzling question unanswered: Why did a respected long-time employee of the sheriff's office sell her home, throw away her retirement, leave her mother, and betray her colleagues to get a man convicted of violent felonies out of jail?
While the “why” may remain unanswered, details about what Vicky White, 56, and Casey White, 38, did after leaving Florence, Alabama, on April 29 have come into focus.
After Vicky White took a shackled Casey White from the Lauderdale County Detention Center, bound for what proved to be a fictional mental health evaluation, they abandoned her marked sheriff's unit at a shopping mall and took a recently purchased orange 2007 Ford Edge that she apparently left at the lot the night before.
They left Florence at about 10 a.m., and by 1:50 p.m., they'd abandoned the Ford on a rural roadside in Williamson County, Tenn., near Nashville, about a two-hour drive from Florence. The SUV was towed to a lot and left there for days before it was connected to the Alabama escape.
On Sunday, Weinbach Carwash manager James Stinson checked security camera recordings after noticing a blue 2006 Ford F150 truck had been parked at the business for a long period. When he looked at the recording, he saw a man resembling Casey White near the vehicle. When law enforcement officers looked at security footage, they saw the two leaving in a gray Cadillac after abandoning the truck.
When asked about reports that Casey White had purchased the Cadillac for $6,000 near where the Ford Edge was abandoned in Tennessee, Wedding said that was probably accurate.
So the two were in Evansville for almost a week. What they did and how the 6-foot-9 escapee and the jailer stayed under the radar as the story of their escape made national headlines hasn't yet been disclosed, if authorities know.
"We have a lot more of the puzzle to put together," Wedding said.
What’s ahead? An autopsy was planned for Tuesday afternoon for Vicky White; Casey White waived extradition, so he will return to where the saga apparently began — the Lauderdale County Detention Center.
Lauderdale County authorities say he won't be there long: He'll be arraigned immediately and head back to prison, where he will await a capital murder trial in the death of Connie Ridgeway.
Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connelly said the trial is slated for June. "Plan A," he said, is to try White on the capital murder charge then.
Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Police unravel details of Lauderdale escape, jailer Vicky White’s death
