CNN
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Authorities in Lauderdale County, Alabama, are searching for a corrections officer and an inmate charged with homicide who went lacking Friday morning.
Vicki White, assistant director of corrections at the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office, and inmate Casey White have been final seen about 9:30 a.m. Friday when she removed him from the jail, supposedly to take him to the county courthouse for a psychological analysis, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton stated. The officer and the inmate aren’t associated.
Vicki White informed a guard she was going to drop off Casey White at the courthouse and search medical care as a result of she wasn’t feeling nicely.
No psychological analysis was scheduled for Friday and Casey White was by no means dropped off at the courthouse, Singleton stated. Vicki White didn’t make it to the location the place she stated she was going to hunt medical consideration.
Her car, a 2013 Ford Taurus patrol automotive, was noticed in a shopping mall car parking zone round 11 a.m. Friday by somebody who was on a lunch break, Singleton stated.
Authorities didn’t understand they have been lacking till a number of hours later.
Officers at the jail turned involved and tried to succeed in her, however her telephone saved going straight to voicemail. They then realized Casey White had not been returned to the jail.
Casey White is 6-foot-9 and thought of armed and harmful. Vicki White “was armed with a 9mm handgun, which means we are assuming he is armed,” Singleton added.
“Knowing the inmate, I think she’s in danger whatever the circumstances. He was in jail for capital murder, and he had nothing to lose,” Singleton stated.
Casey White, 38, is a state prisoner serving 75 years for a criminal offense spree he dedicated in Limestone County in 2015, Singleton stated. He was being held at the detention middle in Lauderdale County, in the state’s northwest nook, for hearings associated to a 2015 murder wherein he has been charged.
In 2020, Casey meant to flee and take an individual hostage however his plan was found, the sheriff stated. A coverage was put in place mandating that two sworn deputies needs to be with him always, together with throughout transportation to court docket, he stated.
Vicki White coordinates all transports from the detention middle to court docket and due to this fact knew the protocol, the sheriff stated.
Authorities are actually all potentialities of what occurred, together with if the corrections officer helped Casey White escape.
Speaking with CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday morning, Singleton stated his workplace is approaching the case from three angles: Whether Vicki White was overpowered and kidnapped; whether or not she assisted inmate Casey White in escaping; and if she assisted him, whether or not she did so willingly or was coerced or threatened to take action.
“Whether she assisted him or not, we don’t know, and we won’t address that until we have absolute proof that that’s what happened. We are assuming at this point that she was taken against her will, unless we can absolutely prove otherwise,” Singleton stated Friday.
Authorities stated they’re nonetheless searching and investigating any interplay between the corrections officer and Casey White, in addition to any telephone calls he had obtained.
Video safety footage from the space the place Vicki White’s automotive was discovered has not proven the two stepping into one other car.
Vicki White has been employed with the sheriff’s workplace for about 20 years and “does a tremendous job,” Singleton stated Saturday.
“All of her co-workers, all the employees in the sheriff’s office, the judges, all have the most utmost respect for her,” Singleton stated. “She has an unblemished record. She’s an exemplary employee. So we’re very concerned for her safety.”
Casey White confessed in 2020 to killing Connie Ridgeway in 2015, in response to Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly. However, White pleaded not responsible and was awaiting trial.
Ridgeway’s son, Austin Williams, informed CNN her killing was “a total shock” to the household.
For years, Williams and his brother labored to maintain Ridgeway’s reminiscence alive, providing a reward for any data resulting in the arrest of her killer.
“We were pretty much her world. She was a really nice person, kind of friends with everybody; never met a stranger kind of person,” Williams stated.
Williams says White’s trial had been rescheduled due to Covid-19 delays.
“I see a very troubled person,” Williams stated. “You want someone to be able to be rehabilitated, but at this point it’s someone who is just very, very troubled and just needs to be put away from human society.”