New details emerge on missing corrections officer and inmate

New details have emerged in the case of a corrections officer in Lauderdale County, Alabama who left the detention center with a dangerous inmate Friday morning, and both have been missing ever since.

Vicki White, the assistant director of corrections at Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office, told guards she was taking inmate Casey White (no relation) to the county courthouse for a mental evaluation at around 9:30 a.m.  She mentioned that she was not feeling well and expressed intentions to seek medical care after dropping the prisoner off.

According to Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton, Casey White was not scheduled for a mental evaluation and was never delivered to the courthouse.  Likewise, Vicki White did not make it to the clinic where she had told coworkers she planned to seek care.  Her patrol car was later found in a shopping center parking lot.

Sheriff Singleton said that Vicki White has been with the LCSO for over twenty years and was a model employee.

On the other hand, Casey White was far from a model inmate. He was serving 75 years for a 2015 crime spree including a murder that he confessed to in 2019 while behind bars. After becoming aware of Casey’s plan to escape and take a hostage in 2020, the sheriff’s office enacted a policy that two deputies must be with him at all times.

Part of Vicki’s duties was coordinating all prisoner transports, so she was aware of the proper procedure. Yet for unknown reasons, Vicki left with the inmate alone on Friday.

In an interview with CNN, Sheriff Singleton said investigators are approaching the search from three angles: Casey could have overpowered Vicki and taken her hostage, Vicki could have willingly assisted him in his escape, or she was threatened or coerced to do so.

“Whether she assisted him or not, we don’t know, and we won’t address that until we have absolute proof that that’s what happened. We are assuming at this point that she was taken against her will, unless we can absolutely prove otherwise,” Singleton said.

Casey White is considered to be armed and dangerous.  If you see either Casey White or Vicki White, do not approach them but instead dial 911 immediately.