The operation to capture former Alabama State Penitentiary Vicki White and inmate Casey White, whom she is believed to have helped escape custody, ended in tragedy on Monday.

The fugitives were caught near Evansville, Indiana, after a car chase ended in an accident.

Casey White, who was serving a 75-year sentence in prison and was suspected of murder in another case, turned himself in and is in custody, and Vicki White (they share the same name) tried to commit suicide and died in the hospital.

The couple spent over a week on the run. According to the police, there was a romantic relationship between them.

The fugitives have been hunted across the country since April 29 after Vicki White, 58, an assistant director of corrections in Lauderdale County, Alabama, is believed to have helped organize the escape of Casey White, 38, who was awaiting trial for capital murder. execution.

Vicki White told her colleagues that she was picking up a prisoner from prison and taking her to the courthouse for a psychiatric evaluation. After which they disappeared.

It was Vicki White’s last day of work before she retired. Shortly before that, she sold her house for about half the market value and bought a car, which she hid without numbers in the garage of the mall. In this car they were noticed last Friday in Alabama.

On Sunday, bailiffs received word that a Ford F-150 pickup truck had been spotted in Evansville, about 300 miles from an Alabama jail, after a local car wash worker said the car had been sitting in a parking lot for several days.

Surveillance photos show a man who looks very much like Casey White getting out of the car.

Vicki White was also seen in a wig when she got into a car driven by Casey White.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said the car was found outside his office on Monday. According to Wedding, when the police arrived, the fugitives tried to escape.

A chase ensued, ending with the US Marshal’s car ramming their vehicle, causing the fugitives’ car to slide into a ditch and overturn. Casey White suffered minor injuries and Vicki White shot herself, seriously injuring herself.

Weapons were found inside the vehicle, including an AR-15 rifle and 9mm pistols, as well as several wigs and $29,000 in cash.

Sheriff Wedding said the drastic action by the police probably helped to avoid loss of life. According to the sheriff, White shot herself almost immediately after the collision, before the police could stop her.

“Later we learned that the fugitive was about to engage in a shootout with law enforcement,” he told reporters, adding that Casey White had told police about this during interrogation.

The escape took place on the morning of 29 April. Vicki White took the prisoner out of prison, telling the authorities that she was taking him to court for a consultation with a psychiatrist.

As it turned out later, no consultation was scheduled that day, and White herself did not act according to protocol: according to the rules, two guards must accompany a dangerous criminal outside the prison.

White told her colleagues that, leaving the criminal in court, she would go to the doctor herself because she felt unwell. Later it turned out that she had not been scheduled to see a doctor that day either.

The guard and the perpetrator left the prison around 9 am on Friday, and at about 11 am, her empty patrol car was found in the parking lot of the mall.

On May 2, an arrest warrant was issued for Vicki Sue White, charging her with facilitating a first-degree escape.

US authorities offered $10,000 for information about escaped prisoner Casey Cole White and a then officially missing corrections officer.

Wedding said at a press conference on Tuesday that if the couple had an escape plan, it didn’t work.

“They thought they had gone far enough and wanted to stop for a while and then figure out where to run next,” he said.

Family members and colleagues of Vicki White said they were stunned by her involvement in the escape.

Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said at a press conference, “I can tell everyone in our department is shocked by her disappearance and what happened. All of her colleagues, all of the sheriff’s department, the judges – they all respected her very much.”

According to him, during the investigation it became clear that the couple had been developing an escape plan for quite some time. Other inmates said the couple had a special relationship and Vicki treated Casey White better than the other inmates.

“This escape was clearly well planned and calculated. It took a lot of time and effort. They had enough resources, money, vehicles,” Singleton said.

Casey White was serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other crimes.

He was awaiting trial for stabbing a 58-year-old woman during a burglary in 2015. If found guilty, he could face the death penalty.

According to Sheriff Singleton, White had previously planned to escape from prison by taking a hostage, but in 2020 his plan was revealed – he did not have time to make an attempt to escape.