New Delhi: A former Alabama jail official, who was accused of helping escape a murder suspect late last month and had been on the run with him since, shot herself Monday, officials were quoted as saying. While fugitive Casey White (38) surrendered, the official, Vicky White (56), killed herself after the authorities caught up with them after more than a week of manhunt through three states, news agency AP reported.


Vicky White was the assistant director of corrections for the jail in Lauderdale County, Alabama, where Casey White was awaiting trial in a capital murder case.


The two Whites, unrelated, were caught when US Marshals on their trail crashed into their vehicle in Evansville, Indiana. While Casey White gave himself up, Vicky White chose to shoot herself, the report said, adding that she was taken to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.


The chase started on April 29 when Vicky White allegedly helped engineer the escape of Casey White. Vicky had reportedly told her coworkers that she was taking the inmate for a mental health evaluation at the courthouse, but the two fled, instead.


While the car used by the two had been found abandoned in Tennessee, US Marshals received a tip-off Sunday that a man resembling Casey was spotted at an Evansville car wash, the Marshals Service was quoted as saying. 


The officials learnt on Monday that the two were seen near the sheriff’s office, and soon reached there. Seeing the marshals on their trail, the pair fled in a vehicle, the report said.


Quoting Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding in Indiana, the report said the US Marshals collided with the pair’s vehicle “to try to end the pursuit”. While Casey White sustained minor injuries as a result of the collision, Vicky White shot herself, causing “very serious” injuries, he added.


Before his escape from the jail, Casey White was already serving a 75-year sentence for attempted murder and other charges, even as he awaited trial in a 2015 case when he stabbed a 58-year-old woman during a burglary. He could face the death penalty if convicted.


A warrant issued on May 2 for Vicky Sue White charged her with permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree.






Vicky White Bought Guns, Sold Off Her House Before The Escape


It is not clear yet as to why a senior jail official like Vicky left everything to help free a murder suspect, the report noted.


Rick Singleton, the Lauderdale County Sheriff of Alabama, had called her a trusted and “exemplary employee”. Before her death, according to the AP report, the sheriff had said he hoped to get answers from Vicky about her actions. “I had every bit of trust in Vicky White. She has been an exemplary employee. What in the world provoked her, prompted her to pull a stunt like this? I don’t know. I don’t know if we’ll ever know,” Singleton said.


Quoting Vicky White’s family and coworkers, the report said her actions had left them stunned. Singleton also said the plan could have been in the works for some time, with jail inmates claiming the two had a special relationship and that Vicky gave Casey better treatment than other inmates of the jail.


She had reportedly bought a rifle and a shotgun in the past several months, US Marshal Marty Keely said she was known to have a handgun too. Vicky also sold her house for about half the market rate, and bought a 2007-model orange Ford Edge that she had kept at a shopping centre without licence plates.


“This escape was obviously well-planned and calculated. A lot of preparation went into this. They had plenty of resources, had cash, had vehicles,” Singleton was quoted as saying.


On the day she carried out the escape plan, Vicky White had said it was going to be her last day at work, the report said.