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Where Is Jailbreaker Casey White and His Alleged Accomplice Two Years After 2022 Escape?
Casey White was facing charges for the 2015 murder of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway before he and his jailor, Vicky White, began a romantic relationship.
A suspected killer’s brazen 2022 escape from an Alabama jail resulted in a high-profile manhunt that ended in tragedy.
Casey White, 41, was temporarily housed at the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Alabama, about 100 miles northwest of Birmingham, awaiting his capital murder trial for the 2015 stabbing death of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway. Prior to being moved to the Lauderdale County Jail, Casey White was serving a 75-year prison term at the Alabama Department of Corrections for a 2015 crime spree before. He was transferred after he allegedly confessed to Ridgeway’s murder in a letter he wrote to an investigator from behind bars, as covered by Oxygen.com. He later took back his statements, denying a role in Ridgeway's murder.
It was while in the jail that Casey White met assistant corrections director Vicky White, 56, (no relation), who allegedly helped the convicted man escape on April 29, 2022, setting off an 11-day, nationwide manhunt that ended in Evansville, Indiana, after they were spotted with a stolen truck at a car wash.
Officials, including U.S. Marshals, pursued the fugitive couple, and a short car chase ensued before the vehicle wrecked, leading to Casey White's capture and Vicky White’s shocking suicide.
The prisoner was charged with felony murder for his alleged co-conspirator’s death, but later pleaded guilty to the escape in exchange for having the murder charge dismissed, as previously reported. He was sentenced to life.
Casey White said during the June 8, 2023, sentencing hearing that he loved Vicky White and told Vicky White’s mother in the courtroom, “It wasn’t supposed to go that way.”
Where is Casey White now?
Casey White is serving life in prison at the William E. Donaldson Correction Facility in Bessemer, outside Birmingham, Alabama, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. It was the same prison in which he stayed when serving his 75-year term for a violent crime spree that included a home invasion, two carjackings, kidnapping, and multiple shootings that left one woman injured and a dog dead.
The Jefferson County facility is also where Casey White and Vicky White exchanged nearly 1,000 phone calls before the jailbreak, some of which included phone sex, according to Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton.
In July 2023, following Casey White’s sentencing, prosecutors moved to suspend the capital case for the murder of Connie Ridgeway, according to CBS Huntsville affiliate WHNT-TV, a successful move supported by Ridgeway’s sons, Austin and Cameron, according to a statement shared by Lauderdale District Attorney Chris Connolly.
“Suspending the prosecution of Casey White will allow investigators additional time to complete their investigation and will preserve State resources,” said the Ridgeway family. “In the meantime, Casey White is right where he belongs: in Donaldson Prison.”
On October 13, 2015, local law enforcement found Ridgeway stabbed to death in her Rogersville, Alabama, apartment following requests for a welfare check. The grisly murder turned up few clues until Casey White penned a confession five years later.
Per the state’s D.O.C., Casey White will be considered for parole on January 1, 2061.
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What happened to Vicky White?
Vicky White sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound during the high-stakes car chase that ended with Casey White’s capture in Evansville, Indiana, about 120 miles west of Louisville, Kentucky, and some 300 miles north of where the Whites made their escape. Her final moments were captured in a chaotic 911 call, as previously reported by Oxygen.com.
She was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to her injuries within hours of the accident.
Sheriff Singleton previously described Vicky White as “an exemplary employee” with more than 16 years dedicated to the job as a jailor. April 29, 2022 — the day she allegedly helped Casey White escape — was expected to be her last day at the jail before retirement.
That morning, Vicky White signed the prisoner out for a purported mental health evaluation, and she told coworkers that she planned to drop him off at the courthouse before going to her own doctor’s appointment.
The pair had a six-hour head start before officials became aware of the escape. Initially, it wasn’t clear whether Vicky White was a willing participant or taken against her will, though she was eventually charged with facilitating or permitting escape in the first degree.
Later, Sheriff Singleton said that it was determined a romantic relationship between the pair started as early back as 2020, as previously reported. Prior to Vicky White’s death, her mother, Frances White, told reporters that Vicky White’s husband died in January 2022 from complications related to Parkinson’s Disease.
