By DYLAN LOVAN and JAY REEVES
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A homicide suspect and the jailer who helped him escape from an Alabama lockup had been carrying $29,000 in money, 4 handguns and an AR-15 rifle and had been ready for a shootout once they had been captured, an Indiana sheriff stated Tuesday.
Authorities caught up with the pair Monday, greater than per week after the breakout and practically 300 miles (480 kilometers) away, and rammed their automobile right into a ditch after a quick chase. Escaped inmate Casey White, 38, surrendered, whereas jail official Vicky White, 56, was discovered with a gunshot wound to the top and was pronounced useless at a hospital, officers stated.
Vanderburgh County Coroner Steve Lockyear stated in an e-mail to The Associated Press that an post-mortem was accomplished on White. The method of demise has been dominated a suicide.
Authorities imagine she shot herself, however a coroner will make the willpower, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding stated.
The finish of the manhunt left authorities attempting to piece collectively what occurred through the 11 days that elapsed after Vicky White escorted Casey White from a Florence, Alabama, jail for what she falsely claimed was a psychological well being analysis.
The inmate and Vicky White appeared to have had a “jailhouse romance,” Alabama authorities stated final week. They weren’t associated.
As for her position within the escape, the sheriff stated: “He was not forcing her. It was a mutual relationship.”
At the time of the breakout, Casey White was serving a 75-year jail sentence for tried homicide and different offenses and was awaiting trial on fees of stabbing a girl to demise throughout a 2015 housebreaking. If convicted, he may get the demise penalty.
Investigators imagine the pair spent about six days holed up at a motel in Evansville. Authorities found wigs supposed to cover their identities. Wedding stated investigators don’t imagine the 2 had kinfolk or different contacts within the metropolis of 120,000.
“They thought they’d driven long enough. They wanted to stop for a while, get their bearings straight and then figure out the next place to travel,” the sheriff stated.
Authorities closed in on them after the supervisor of a automobile wash reported {that a} man carefully resembling the 6-foot-9, 260-pound Casey White had been recorded by a surveillance digicam getting out of a pickup truck.
Investigators stated they positioned the pickup, then realized that the pair could have switched to a Cadillac, which was then noticed outdoors a motel close by. When the couple left the motel, police chased them down, authorities stated.
Casey White instructed investigators after his seize that “he was probably going to have a shootout at the stake of both of them losing their lives,” the sheriff stated.
The inmate appeared by video Tuesday in an Indiana courtroom, the place he waived extradition, and authorities stated he will probably be despatched again to Alabama.
An legal professional representing White within the homicide case, Jamy Poss, declined to remark.
Vicky White, assistant director of corrections on the Lauderdale County jail, had put in for retirement forward of the escape, and the day of the breakout, April 29, was her final day of labor.
A lady who labored together with her for 16 years may barely communicate by way of tears Tuesday.
“I know she did wrong and made a terrible mistake, but she’s still your friend,” longtime jail worker Sherry Sylvester stated.
She stated that White usually tried to assist prisoners, notably ones with out household. But Sylvester stated she by no means noticed White do something that crossed the road: “She did everything by the book.”
Connie Moore, Casey White’s mom, stated she final spoke with him by cellphone the day earlier than the escape. She stated her son could not have recognized what was about to occur.
“Everything was just as normal as it could be. I doubt he even knew he was leaving when she came in there to get him,” Moore stated.
A warrant was issued on May 2 for Vicky White charging her with allowing or facilitating escape. Authorities stated the plan appeared to have been within the works for a while. She bought her home for about half its market worth and acquired an SUV that she stashed at a shopping mall with out license plates.
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Reeves reported from Florence, Alabama. Associated Press author Rick Callahan contributed from Indianapolis.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”