LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — An inmate and an employee of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office were reported missing after leaving the jail Friday morning.
According to a Facebook post from the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO), Vicki White, the assistant director of corrections, and inmate Casey Cole White are missing. Despite sharing a last name, they are not related.
Deputies say Casey White is being held on capital murder charges. If you see them, call 911 immediately.
White is charged with the 2015 death of Connie Ridgeway. White confessed to the murder in 2020 while in state prison for other crimes.
In a news conference Friday, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Vicki, armed with a 9mm, left the detention center with the inmate around 9:41 a.m. headed to the courthouse for what she said was a mental health evaluation for Casey. She was alone with Casey, which the sheriff said was in direct violation of policy.
Singleton said Vicki, who has been with the department for 25 years, was supposed to drop off the inmate at the courthouse and then she said she would be going to seek medical attention because she wasn’t feeling good.
The vehicle they used was found around 11 a.m. in the parking lot of a local shopping center.
Officials said no one realized the two were missing until 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Deputies tried to contact Vicki but could not reach her and her phone was going to voicemail. Casey was not back at the detention center at this time either.
Singleton said his department was “aggressively investigating” the incident and would be looking into previous interaction between the two to “see if something else was going on.”
Singleton said his department was “shocked” and that it was obviously a possibility that she helped him escape. Regardless of her involvement, the sheriff acknowledged she could very well be in danger.
Singleton said an update on the case may be released on Friday night.
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