Vicky White reportedly went shopping at a sex toy shop before she helped her inmate boyfriend escape, leading to an 11-day manhunt that ended in her suicide and his capture.
Details about the former Alabama jail honcho’s shopping spree emerged during an extensive interview US Marshal Marty Keely gave about her ill-fated adventure with Casey White.
At first, authorities believed the murder suspect might have kidnapped Vicky, the assistant director of corrections for Lauderdale County, but soon realized her cover story about taking him to a mental health evaluation was a ruse.
Keely and the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force then sprang into action and started gathering leads.
The first break came when a fellow jail worker reported that Vicky had called and asked to be picked up at an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in Florence, Alabama.
She said she had locked her keys in her car and needed a ride to work, Keely said.
In the store’s parking lot, investigators found the patrol car in which Vicky had left the sheriff’s office hours earlier with a handcuffed Casey in the backseat, he said.
It was also where surveillance footage showed she had staged the orange getaway Ford Edge she had bought with cash a few days earlier.
Vicky had already sold her house for $95,000, far below market value, sold her car and filed for retirement, Keely said.
She had also bought an AR-15 assault rifle and a shotgun to add to her 9mm service semi-automatic and a .45-caliber handgun.
Investigators later learned that Vicky had bought men’s clothes at a local Kohl’s department store and also visited a store that sells sex toys.
Two law enforcement officials said Vicky had also left the jail with Casey previously in what investigators believe was a dry run for the escape.
She had taken him out of the lockup for about 40 minutes, the officials told the outlet on condition of anonymity.
However, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton refuted that account in an interview with NewsNation, saying there was no evidence Vicky had taken Casey out of the jail earlier.
Before long, the Bonnie and Clyde duo had made it out of state and were nearly 200 miles away.
Tips began to flow in, but nothing panned out until a tow truck driver from Tennessee reported that he had towed a Ford Edge three or four days earlier and that it was still in his tow yard, Keely said.
The next break came when a homeowner in rural Tennessee recognized a photo of Casey and helped authorities piece together what had happened.
He told police he sold Vicky a Ford F-150 pickup truck for cash. It didn’t have license plates, but she didn’t care, the man told investigators, according to Keely.
“He says, ‘Yeah, I sold him a truck,’” Keely said of the homeowner. “And so, we learned that he sold him a truck the same day that they escaped from the Lauderdale County Correctional Facility. And it was just a few hours after they had escaped.”
During the sale, a woman in an orange Ford pulled up and the two drove off trailing one another, said the homeowner, who provided the pickup truck’s vehicle identification number, according to Keely.
The two abandoned the Ford Edge and made their way to Evansville, Indiana, where Casey abandoned the pickup at a car wash.
They then paid a homeless man to rent them a motel room, paying cash up front for a 14-day stay. They were living under aliases in the motel and had bought a third getaway vehicle, a Cadillac sedan.
The car wash manager first noticed the abandoned truck on May 3 and found it odd the vehicle was still there the next morning. A police officer who checked it out determined the vehicle wasn’t stolen and that there was nothing they could do.
Another break came Sunday because the officer had written the VIN in a report and Keely’s team spotted it. His fugitive team descended on Evansville, working with fellow deputy marshals in Indiana.
The team eventually found the Cadillac at the Motel 41 and placed it under surveillance.
Vicky soon emerged in a wig, alongside her 6-foot-9 beau, Keely said. They hopped in the car and drove off with the marshals secretly tailing them, but the officers were spotted, according to Keely.
The brief pursuit ended when the officers rammed the car, which flipped over.
“Airbags are gonna go off and kill us!” Vicky was heard yelling in a 911 call as she told Casey they should run. “Get us back to the f—- hotel!”
Seconds later, she turned the gun on herself.
“Please help my wife, she just shot herself in the head,” Keely said Casey yelled. It wasn’t clear why he referred to Vicky as his wife.
Vicky was pronounced dead at a hospital and Casey was returned Tuesday night to Alabama.
