An Alabama jail detainee charged with the death of a high-ranking guard who helped him escape while he was having an affair with her pleaded guilty Thursday to the escape in exchange for the murder case being dismissed.
Casey Cole White, 39, entered the plea agreement in Lauderdale County court, avoiding a trial in June on the felony murder charge in the death of Vicky White, deputy director of corrections at the local jail. He continues to await trial on another murder charge.
Authorities said Casey White escaped from the Lauderdale County Jail in late April 2022 with the help of Vicky White, a 17-year veteran of the sheriff’s office who operates the lockup. Law enforcement officials initially thought that Casey White had kidnapped Vicky White, but later learned that the pair had started an affair while he was in his personal custody.
An 11-day manhunt for the couple ended in Indiana when authorities caught up with them. Police recaptured Casey White while Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Casey White faced charges in her death because Alabama law allows someone to be charged with murder if someone else is killed in the commission of a felony.
WHNT-TV reported that Casey White apologized to Vicky White’s mother when she entered her guilty plea. “It wasn’t supposed to be that way,” she said. She said that the couple had fallen in love and were planning to start a new life together.
One of the requirements of the plea agreement is that Casey White avoid contacting Vicky White’s family, court records show.
On the day of the escape, Vicky White, 56, told her coworkers that she was taking Casey White for a mental health evaluation. That was supposed to be her her last day at her job after she had filed her retirement papers in advance.
Authorities later learned that there was no such appointment for Casey White.
Casey White is separately scheduled to go on trial this summer for murder in the 2015 stabbing death of a woman named Connie Ridgeway in the Lauderdale County community of Rogersville. If convicted, he would receive life in prison without the possibility of parole.