Sheriff: Missing Alabama Jail Official, Inmate Had 'Special Relationship'

Details have emerged regarding the relationship between missing Alabama Corrections Director Vicky White, 56, and capital murder suspect Casey White, 38, who authorities believe Vicky helped escape from prison. The pair are not related though law enforcement has learned they share a “special relationship.”

Where the Search and Investigation Stands

In a Facebook Live interview Thursday, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton told WAFF that authorities are working on “half a dozen or so tips that look like they have some promise” as the investigation spans seven days. He added that “lots of tips” had come in, including one regarding a woman who passed a note in Florida that said “she was Vicky White and had been kidnapped,” but it was not her.

“We encourage people to keep calling them in,” he said. “Sooner or later, that’s probably what’s going to lead to catching them, is a tip.”

He acknowledged he believes the pair are still in the United States but highlighted that as the investigation is in its seventh day, they could be anywhere. Singleton noted that hundreds of agents in the United States are now involved in the probe that has turned international as domestic officials have been in contact with authorities in the United Kingdom. The “U.S Marshals Service (USMS) Task Force is heading up the investigation with the assistance of the FBI, the Bureau of Alchohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Secret Service, in addition to state agencies,” Breitbart News previously reported. 

Casey was serving a 75-year sentence “for a 2015 crime spree that involved home invasion, carjacking, and a police chase,” in addition to facing capital murder charges, the USMS said in a release. 

The release notes:  

Investigators have learned that during pre-sentence reporting in 2015 he made threats against his ex-girlfriend and her sister, warning that if he ever got out, he would kill them and that he wanted police to kill him. USMS and local law enforcement authorities have been in contact with his potential targets to advise them of the threats and the escape and have taken appropriate protective actions…

Investigators determined that prior to the escape, Vicki White purchased a 2007 orange or copper colored Ford Edge. It is believed that they could be traveling in this vehicle. It is unknown what license plate is on the vehicle, or if it even has a license plate. There is minor damage to the rear left bumper.

Additionally, Vicky, who was set to retire the day she and Casey went missing, sold her house for far below its value less than two weeks before the pair disappeared, CNN noted. On April 18, the home “sold for $95,550, according to documents, but county records list the home’s total parcel value to be $204,700,” the outlet wrote.

The USMS said Casey White is 6’9, approximately 330 pounds, and has brown hair and hazel eyes, while Vicki White is 5’5, around 145 pounds, with blond hair and brown eyes. She is said to have a “waddling gait,” the USMS said.

Vicky goes by the aliases Renee Marie Maxwell and April Davis, and she used one of them to purchase the vehicle, Singleton confirmed to WAFF.

The Pair’s “Special Relationship”

On Tuesday, the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s office released a statement, obtained by Law and Crime, noting that Casey and Vicky share a “special relationship:”

Investigators received information from inmates at the Lauderdale County Detention Center over the weekend that there was a special relationship between Director White and inmate Casey White. That relationship has now been confirmed through our investigation by independent sources and means.

Singleton said that inmates reported that Casey “was getting extra food on his trays” and “was getting privileges no one else got. And this was all coming from her,” CNN reported. 

The sheriff told the New York Post on Wednesday that he believes Vicky and Casey first made contact in late 2020 when the inmate was transferred from William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County to the Lauderdale County Detention Center. While Casey was serving the 75-year sentence at the Jefferson County facility, he penned a letter confessing to the murder of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway, Singleton and District Attorney Chris Connelly explained. The officials said that on August 3, 2020, he was taken to the Lauderdale facility for questioning, where the sheriff believes a relationship unfolded between the pair.

He was arraigned on the murder charges on October 2, 2020, and was ordered back to the Jefferson County facility by November after a shank was found in his possession and authorities learned he was plotting an escape, according to Connolly. Singleton said after returning to the Donaldson facility, Vicky called the inmate a number of times.

“What we found out now is that they were in communication from 2020 up until the current day,” Singleton told the Post. 

In March of last year, he was taken back to the Lauderdale County Detention, where he underwent mental health evaluations and was quarantined due to the coronavirus. He spent four months at the facility before being transported to Donaldson again in August, and Vicky allegedly continued to communicate with the inmate by phone. Finally, in February of this year, he was again transported back to the Lauderdale facility, where he was awaiting trial before he and the corrections director vanished on April 29, according to the Post.

The outlet spoke to Casey’s mother, Connie, who said her son never spoke of Vicky but shared that he had a “pen-pal” with whom he had correspondence.

“He wrote a letter to say that he murdered that woman. But he didn’t really murder her, he just done that to get back up here, Connie alleged to the Post regarding her son’s confession.

Breaking Protocol

When the pair first disappeared, authorities were unsure if Vicky, who Singleton had described as an ideal employee, had facilitated an escape or if she was a kidnapping victim, Breitbart News previosuly reported.  A warrant has since been issued for Vicky’s arrest on the charges of “permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree,” Singleton announced Monday. 

Breitbart News previously reported: 

The pair disappeared during a transport to an “alleged mental health evaluation” from the detention center to the courthouse Friday, in which Director White, who organizes all transports, broke protocol by being the only deputy present for the ride, Singleton said at a press conference Friday, as Breitbart News reported.

The LCSO later confirmed there was no mental health evaluation scheduled.

On Monday, Singleton noted that two vans carrying five and seven inmates, respectively, left the detention center moments before Director White and inmate White. Each van was manned by two deputies as protocol requires. Following the departure, Director White instructed a deputy to summon inmate White and ready him for transport to the courthouse. Once shackled and cuffed, she told the booking officer that she would be taking White herself, noting that she was the only available personnel available, Singleton said.

“She coordinates all of the transports from the detention center to the court and so forth, so I’m sure her subordinates didn’t question her when she told them she was bringing him to court for a mental health evaluation,” Singleton said Friday.

Singleton noted that authorities know she aided in White’s escape, adding that it remains to be seen if she helped of her own volition or if she was intimidated in some way.

“There’s obviously a side to Vicky White that we didn’t know about,” Singleton told WAFF Thursday. “We’re finding that out now. It’s very disappointing.”