EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Alabama prisoner Casey White has been charged with murder in the death of Vicky White, a jailer who helped him escape prison prompting an 11-day manhunt that came to a bloody end in Indiana.
A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Casey, who is already serving a 75-year sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.
The indictment alleges that during the jailbreak — while committing the crime of escape in the first degree — Casey caused the death of Vicky White, who authorities said shot herself in the head right before they were captured in southern Indiana on May 9.
Investigators believe Casey and Vicky — who are not related — met at the jail where she worked, developed a romantic relationship and planned an escape.
He was awaiting trial on a murder charge on April 29, when he left the jail with Vicky, the longtime assistant corrections director at the time.
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Video showed her escorting Casey to a patrol car and leaving for a supposed mental evaluation at a courthouse. Officials said no evaluation or hearing was ever scheduled, and the two disappeared.
The pair quickly rose to the top of the most wanted list. The nationwide manhunt lasted 11 days before they were tracked down in Evansville, Indiana.
As police were chasing them, in what would be their final moments of freedom, Vicky called 911 and told dispatchers to call off the chase.
U.S. Marshals ended up running their vehicles into the fugitives' car to stop it. When this happened, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said that Vicky shot herself. She was taken to the hospital with serious injuries and later died.
Wedding said Casey showed no remorse over Vicky's death. At the time, authorities said they didn't believe Casey shot Vicky and Vanderburgh County Coroner Steve Lockyear later ruled her death a suicide.
Casey, who was also injured, surrendered without a fight, saying he didn’t kill the woman he called his wife. He, too, was taken to the hospital. However, Wedding said Casey's injuries weren't as serious.
Dashcam video from Evansville Police shows Casey on the ground, surrounded by police officers, who arrested him.
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Casey has already been charged with first-degree escape in the jailbreak. He also faces a capital murder charge in the 2015 killing of Connie Ridgeway. He hasn't been convicted of that murder, however.
Authorities say he confessed to the slaying in 2020 while in state prison, but the defense asked a judge to throw out those statements.
He won't go on trial in the murder case any sooner than December, a judge ruled in granting an unopposed defense motion to postpone the case.