The massive manhunt for escaped Alabama inmate Casey White and his alleged accomplice, corrections officer Vicky White, has come to an end on Monday. However, Vicky White reportedly took her own life in her last moments before investigators got to her. Now, her sheriff says he may never really know the motive behind his best employee’s actions.
“It’s obvious now the questions we had, we’ll never get answers,” Lauderdale County, Alabama Sheriff Rick Singleton said on “Dan Abrams Live” on Monday.
As the search for the four-time employee of the year and inmate Casey White entered its eleventh day after they two disappeared from the Lauderdale County Jail on April 29, Singleton was concerned Vicky White wouldn’t make it back alive.
Singleton says he thought Casey White might kill the corrections officer if he thought she was slowing him down. However, in the end, Singleton said Vicky White’s decision to take her own life “doesn’t surprise” him.
“Knowing Vicky and what she’d be facing coming back — and more than facing the charges, facing her family and co-workers — I was just concerned that would really weigh on her and if it came down to a situation like it did today, this would be the result,” Singleton said.
Investigators captured Vicky White and Casey White after an Indiana car wash owner James Stinson informed authorities about a truck that was parked in one of his bays overnight. Stinson told NewsNation that he had the vehicle towed last Wednesday. On Sunday, U.S. marshals contacted Stinson, who said his surveillance system captured video of Casey White getting into another vehicle. He gave investigators a description of the vehicle, and they found it at a hotel Monday morning.
Vicky White shot herself at some point after her car rolled over during an ensuing police chase. Casey White was taken into custody in stable condition.
Singleton said Vicky White was a friend to all of the dozens of corrections officers with whom she worked.
“We’re still awestruck as to why she would’ve pulled a stunt like this,” Singleton said. “It’s just come as a total shock to her law enforcement family in the sheriff’s office. I don’t know how to explain it.”
Casey White, at least, can provide some answers when he’s extradited back to the same prison he broke out of. Singleton pledged he’d be in a cell by himself, shackled 24/7.
“I might hear from a civil rights attorney about that,” Singleton said. “But I don’t care.”
