Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Christopher Bucktin

Cougar prison officer who sprung murderer on last day before retirement hunted

The assistant director of a prison who escaped with her 6ft 9in white supremacist convict lover has left pursuers floundering.

Vicky White, 56, was until April 29 second in command at Alabama’s Lauderdale County Jail.

But on that day she drove off with brutal lag Casey Cole White – no relation – and has not been seen since.

She told colleagues she was taking 18st violent brute White, 38, for a mental health check-up at a courthouse three minutes’ drive away.

Instead the pair quickly switched to a brown Ford Edge Vicky had bought, and disappeared.

Sheriff Rick Singleton, the man leading the hunt for them, said to the Mirror: “If I could speak to Vicky, I’d tell her to hand herself in.

“Sooner or later, we are going to find you. Please let that be alive.”

But he admitted that, more than a week into the search involving the FBI, Marshalls Service and police, he remained at “square one”.

Vicky White, due to retire after 25 years the day after her disappearance, had first met Casey in 2020.

He had been brought to Lauderdale County for questioning after he wrote a letter confessing to the 2015 murder of Connie Ridgeway.

The 59-year-old was found stabbed to death in her home at the Meadowland Apartments in Rogersville, Alabama.

White said he was a paid hitman, but when charged with murder pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

He was already serving a 75-year sentence for a one-night crime spree in December 2015.

His night of terror included a burglary, two carjackings and multiple shootings in North Alabama and South Tennessee.

The spree left a woman injured and dog dead.

Since their 2020 meeting, Vicky had regularly been driving the two hours to where Casey was incarcerated, at the William E Donaldson Correctional Facility.

She gave a false name to prison authorities.

Her estranged husband died of Parkinson’s in January. Vicky White had no children.

After she and Casey fled, it emerged she had nine days previously sold her £200,000 home for just £77,000.

Using the alias of April Davis or Renee Marie Maxwell, she bought the brown Ford – and some other essentials.

White also visited a retailer specialising in clothes for tall men plus Sugar and Spice, a sex-themed shop where she bought lingerie and, the owners hinted, a selection of bedroom toys.

Authorities say the pair are also equipped with an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, a pistol and at least £73,000 in cash.

Sugar and Spice owner Ms Mary noticed Vicky White had an odd shuffling walk.

She said: “It was like she was old before her time. She slowly waddled rather than walked.

“Goodness knows how she has managed to go on the run.”

Aryan Brotherhood member White had been transferred from his penitentiary cell to the county jail because the state would not allow his lawyer to bring a laptop inside.

Lauderdale County District Attorney, Chris Connolly, said the move was permitted so he could go over evidence with his attorney before his capital murder trial over the October 2015 killing of Ms Ridgeway.

Mr Connolly told the Mirror: “This was a horrible case.

“Certainly, the longer a case remains unsolved, the dimmer the hope is that you may be able to solve it.”

Because Casey Cole White left the jail apparently in the custody of a senior warder, it was a full six hours before authorities realised the pair were not coming back.

Meanwhile she and her lover had taken back roads north to Tennessee – but their well-planned flight looks to have hit at least one snag.

Authorities say their Ford Edge SUV seemed to have broken down. It was found abandoned on a country lane.

Jennifer Carr, who lives near where the car was found, told us: “It was left in the middle of the lane and stood out so much. But there was no sign of anyone.

"They could have been picked up or hidden in the woods, but within seconds they had gone."

“It’s scary to think they are on the loose. But, we have the guns ready and now lock our doors in case.” Vicky’s colleagues, who were preparing for her retirement party, are furious.

Not only has she betrayed their profession, they at first thought she had been kidnapped.

One corrections officer said: “This job has never been for the faint-hearted.

"We are trained not to let emotion take hold, but when Vicky went missing, many were in tears.

“They were preparing to say goodbye because of her retirement.

“Instead, she said kiss my a** and took off with her lover.”

But not everyone is so convinced of Vicky White’s guilt.

Her mum Pat Davis, who lived next door to her daughter, told us exclusively: “People need to stop judging Vicky before the facts come out.

"She’s my daughter. I know her better than anyone.

“Y’all believe she was behind all this, but no one knows. They need to let the facts come out.

“I just want her to be found safe.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.