At the time of the indictment, Judge Ben Graves informed White that he would be charged with first-degree absconding, in addition to the murder charges he had already faced in connection with Connie Ridgeway’s death in 2015.
The prisoner was escorted to the courthouse in a caravan of armored vehicles and arrived shortly before 11 p.m. He entered the courthouse with handcuffs and shackles around his ankles and met briefly with his lawyer before entering the courtroom.
During the hearing, White listened intently to the judge as he explained the charges. He looked tired and snorted more than once during the 10-minute hearing.
On the back of White’s head were four small slits in the shaved circumference of a quarter of the size of his hair. Dry blood could be seen on the back of his bright yellow jumpsuit.
Immediately after the hearing, White left the courthouse and glanced at the news cameras and the crowd of passers-by who had gathered but said nothing. He will be transferred to the William E. Donaldson Penitentiary in Bessemer, Alabama, just over 100 miles south of Lauderdale County.
Casey White, 38, and Vicki White, 56, were arrested Monday after a car chase that ended when authorities forced a car Casey White was driving to crash into a ditch, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Vicki White was transported to the hospital, where she later died of her injuries.
Recently released police cameras and video cameras show the moments after the chase of the car, when Casey White was arrested and officers tried to get the injured Vicki White out of the car.
The video shows several police officers around Casey White, who is pressed to the ground next to the car. The fugitive was then apprehended and taken away by the wrecked car.
Authorities were unable to get Vicki White out of the car immediately, as she appears to be still holding a gun in her hand, according to officials seen in the video from the body camera, who also noted that she appeared to be breathing.
After a police officer reached out to take the gun from her hand, they worked to pull it out of the hatch of the car, the video shows.
The crash ended a frantic 11-day search that engulfed many states and sparked hundreds of tips, including one that eventually led authorities to capture them.
The arrest of a prisoner is a “great relief”
Prior to his escape, Casey White was detained at the Lauderdale County Detention Center while facing charges of murder in connection with Ridgeway’s stabbing death. Vicki White worked there as an assistant director of corrections. Ridgeway’s son, Austin Williams, was sitting in the front row of the courtroom as he appeared in court Tuesday night, 10 feet from White. Williams told CNN earlier Tuesday that White’s capture was “a great relief” and “feels like a miracle.”
White allegedly admitted to killing Ridgeway in 2020, but later pleaded not guilty to insanity and was taken to Lauderdale County to attend court hearings, authorities said.
He has already been held in state prison on a 75-year sentence for a number of other crimes in 2015, including home burglary, car theft and police harassment, the marshals’ office said.
Authorities believe Casey White and Vicki White met in prison as early as 2020, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said.
The trial for White’s murder is currently scheduled for June. Speaking at the court on Tuesday, White’s lawyer, Jamie Poss, said he would request a change of location, which the judge said he would consider.
The employee and the prisoner traveled with money and weapons
Officials previously said the inmate and the officer had a “special relationship” that was romantic in nature, in which Casey White received privileges as extra food at the detention center because of Vicki White, Singleton said.
During the investigation, authorities increasingly believed that Vicki White had voluntarily helped the prisoner escape. After the two were captured, authorities discovered stockpiles that may have allowed them to flee much longer.
Authorities found wigs, $ 29,000 in cash and several weapons in their possession, including four pistols, an AR-15 rifle and three cartridges, Sheriff Dave Widing said on Tuesday in Vanderburg County, Indiana.
“Each of these weapons could have been used to ambush our officers as they tried to capture a murder suspect,” he said.
Prior to their escape, Vicki White sold her house well below market value and announced plans to retire, authorities said. Although her last working day was set for April 29, the day she fled, her retirement documents were not finalized, the sheriff’s office said.
The veteran used his many years of experience to plan and carry out the escape, officials said.
Vicki White “was essentially the brain behind the whole plan,” Singleton said Tuesday. “Casey White didn’t run away from the facility, he was just let out.”
The trip to Indiana
Monday’s crash marked the end of an 11-day trial that began when Vicki White released a prisoner from prison on the morning of April 29. She said she was taking him to court for a mental health assessment, but they never arrived.
Instead, the two went to a mall parking lot, dumped the officer’s patrol vehicle, and took off in a 2007 Ford Edge SUV that Vicki White had bought under a pseudonym and parked the night before, Singleton said last week.
The SUV was found towing in Williamson County, Tennessee, Friday, about two hours north of a prison in Florence, Alabama, U.S. marshals said. Singleton says the couple probably abandoned him hours after leaving Florence, probably due to mechanical problems.
Authorities believe they bought a Ford F-150 while in Tennessee.
They are believed to have been in Evansville since at least May 2, when a city police officer proactively checked the truck’s registration number, Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin said on Tuesday. At the time, the inspection found no connection between the truck and the fugitives, he said.
U.S. marshals learned Sunday that the truck was abandoned at a car wash in Evansville. On Monday, the agency released surveillance images showing who investigators believe is Casey White in the car wash.
Investigators found that the couple left the car wash in a Cadillac, according to Wedding, the sheriff of Vanderburg County.
An Evansville police officer said Monday that a Cadillac was parked in a motel parking lot and officers began monitoring the motel.
While officers were monitoring the motel, Vicki White and Casey White got out, boarded a Cadillac and set off, said US Marshal Marty Keeley. Officers followed, followed by a car chase that ended when authorities forced the fugitives to crash into a ditch.
Casey White reportedly told authorities to help “his wife”, who he said shot herself in the head, according to Keeley, who noted that Casey White and Vicki White were not married to the knowledge of investigators.
Omar Jimenez, Jamiel Lynch, Christina Sugella, Amara Walker, Jade Gordon and CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.
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