LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — A former Limestone County attorney who represented Casey White says there is no way he planned all of the details of his escape with corrections officer Vicky White.
Lauderdale County authorities say that Vicky White was taking Casey White to a scheduled mental evaluation appointment when the pair escaped on April 29. Bryant surmises that one of the reasons that no one questioned the trip was because of White’s diagnosed mental instability.
According to attorney Dale Bryant, Casey White suffers from mental illness and poses a threat to anyone when he’s outside of a structured environment of jail. Due to his impulsive nature to commit a serious crime, the attorney says there’s no way that he had the patience to plan the details whole escape.
Bryant, who represented White in his appeals cases told News 19 that when Casey White is on his anti-psychotic medication, he is alright. Although he couldn’t share the exact diagnosis, Bryant said that White’s history of violent impulsive acts doesn’t allow him to detail an escape plan.
Bryant was White’s attorney on several convictions in 2019 stemming from a crime spree in 2015, after which he was sent to Donaldson Correctional Facility in Bessemer. Bryant said he never knew what White was capable of when he was medicated.
“In my interactions with him there at Donaldson Prison, they also had him on anti-psychotic medication,” Bryant told News 19. “He had earned the trust of the Limestone County Jail while he was here back in 2015 to 2019 to be awarded a trustee position where he has a little bit more freedom in the jail.”
“This plan, this escape was detailed,” Bryant stated. “It was thorough.”
Bryant says all of White’s prior crimes leading up to the escape were spur of the moment, the heat of passion, and probably not thought out for more than 10 minutes maximum. It leads him, in his interactions, to believe that the escape was more than likely planned by Vicky White.
“The escape, in general, is exactly what Casey wants to do, is get out of prison right,” said Bryant. “But it is well thought out and the planning is, again, nothing that is in Casey’s norm.”
Bryant says he feared White would react when cornered by law enforcement.
Law enforcement officials were looking for inmate 38-year-old Casey White and former Assistant Director of Corrections, 56-year-old Vicky White who were reported missing on April 29 after leaving the Lauderdale County Detention Center. Vicky was an employee with the Sheriff’s Office for 16 years. Despite sharing a last name, the two are not related.
They were on the run for a total of 11 days and crossed at least three state lines.
The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office spoke with inmates at the jail about Casey White and Vicky White. Several inmates said the two had a “special relationship”.
While Casey White was in Donaldson Prison, Vicky White kept in contact with him over the phone. The sheriff’s office said the two had been in contact for two years and there is the potential that they were planning his escape throughout that time.
Singleton explained. “Knowing they’ve had this relationship ongoing since 2020… her knowing eventually he’d be coming back here they could have been planning this for the past two years. And they could have been planning this when he got here in February, but there was some planning that went into this.”
On Friday, April 29, federal arrest warrants were filed for both Whites, the Sheriff’s Office told the public the warrants were issued on Monday, May 2. Vicky White was wanted for first-degree facilitating an escape and Casey White’s new arrest warrant is for first-degree escape. On Monday, May 9, new charges were added to the warrant for Vicky White’s arrest. The new charges included identity theft and forgery after she used an alias to purchase the 2007 Ford Edge the two used to escape.
On Monday, May 9 the U.S. Marshals released photos of a 2006 Ford F-150 truck that had been abandoned at a car wash in Evansville, Indiana on May 3. The South Weinbach Avenue car wash owner said he saw a man who appeared to be Casey White get picked up by another car with a driver that looked like Vicky White.
Evansville is 175 miles north of Williamson County, Tenn., where the copper 2007 Ford Edge was discovered.
U.S. Marshals announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Casey White on May 1, and later a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Vicky White.
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey offered an additional $5,000 reward for Casey White and an additional $5,000 for Vicky White. That brought the reward total to $15,000 for Casey White and $10,000 for Vicky White, for both $25,000.
On May 9, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said Casey White told investigators he did plan on having a shootout with the police in Evansville, Indiana when authorities were closing in on him.
In a press conference shortly after Indiana authorities captured Casey White in a chase that ended in a crash, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said he didn’t know why the pair was in Indiana. Singleton said Casey White surrendered to police, and Indiana authorities confirmed Vicky White was taken to the hospital with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The Vanderburgh County Coroner Steven W. Lockyear said Vicky White died at 7 p.m. at Evansville Deaconess Midtown Hospital later that night.
On Tuesday, Lockyear confirmed to News 19 news partner NewsNation that Vicky White’s death has been ruled as a suicide caused by a single self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The autopsy was performed on Tuesday around 5 p.m. On Wednesday, NewsNation’s Brian Entin was told Vicky’s body had been returned to Alabama.
An emergency status conference was held at the Lauderdale County Courthouse on Tuesday.
White was already facing a capital murder charge for the 2015 stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway in Rogersville. News 19 crews inside the courtroom said the defense stated they will be filing motions, including a change of venue. The judge said the court date for White’s capital murder trial will likely remain the same.
Casey White was brought back to Lauderdale County late Tuesday night and shortly after was transferred to the Donaldson Correctional Facility in Birmingham where he will remain until his next court appearance.
