By Carol Robinson
al.com
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A retired Indiana sheriff’s official said Casey White planned to kill Vicky White once they made a successful getaway.
Retired Vanderburgh County Maj. Jason Ashworth told ABC’s 20/20 on Friday that Casey White told him, outside of the interview room and away from any cameras, that Vicky White had no future with him.
“He described her as a liability. He described her as someone who didn’t have criminal mind,’’ Ashworth said in the two-hour special, “Catch Us If You Can.”
“Once they got to the mountains and they had made it, that he was going to kill her,’’ Ashworth said.
Casey White’s attorneys, however, denied those claims and believe that Casey White loved and still loves Vicky White.
The segment unveiled new information in the infamous 2022 manhunt, which ended in a police chase, a crash, Casey White’s capture and Vicky White’s suicide.
That includes details about how the two may have carried out a sexual relationship inside the north Alabama lockup and letters Casey White wrote before the manhunt’s deadly ending.
“Who knows what the truth is,’’ Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office investigator Sgt. Matt Burbank told anchor Deborah Roberts. “Casey White only cares about one person and that is Casey White.”
Here are five other details included in the show.
1. Vicky White was armed during the escape.
The ordeal began on April 29, 2022, when the 56-year-old Vicky White casually left the Lauderdale County Jail to transport Casey White, 40, to a court hearing, which was later learned was a ruse.
When six hours passed without their return, it was initially feared that Vicky White had been taken hostage.
That theory fell apart when investigators, pouring over jail security cameras, immediately noticed something amiss.
Vicky White not only showed no sign of fear or distress as the pair left the jail, but she appeared more than comfortable while breaking protocol by walking in front of Casey White.
But it was something else – so subtle – that provided a bigger clue. Though it was a somewhat warm day, Vicky White was wearing a jacket and when the wind blew it open, it revealed she had a gun on her waist.
Jailers are not allowed to be armed. Investigators told 20/20 that was the first sign to them that Vicky White may have been involved in Casey White’s escape.
2. Investigators quickly learned she planned to never return.
When investigators went to the her parents’ home, they found her purse – with all her identification and credit cards – on her bed. She had strategically placed her will and life insurance policy on a dresser to be easily found.
“A number of red flags popped up during the investigation,’’ Chad Hunt, commander of the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force, based in Birmingham, said on the show. “That was the big one.”
It showed, investigators said, that Vicky White wasn’t planning to return.
“She is not expecting to come back alive,’’ Burbank said.
Investigators learned of a storage unit rented by Vicky White. There they found evidence of an alias and a burner phone used to rent the unit.
Vicky White, leading up to the escape, had bought a shotgun and an AR-15 from a gun store in Huntsville. She took those guns, as well as her service weapon, with her when the pair went on the run.
“It’s telling us that there is a plan here,’’ Northern District of Alabama U.S. Marshal Marty Keely told 20/20.
They began to take a deeper look into her life and her finances – she had recently sold her home, cashed out her 401k and abruptly announced the day before the escape that she was retiring.
3. They had a “full-blown romance” with phone sex and moments together in the jail shower.
Investigators found evidence of a relationship between Casey White and Vicky White going back about two years, including 1,100 phone calls recorded by the jail.
Investigators said Casey White would tell Vicky White how beautiful she was, but when the compliments were done, he would always proceed to tell her something she could do for him.
As for Vicky White, Burbank said, “She sounded like a woman in love.”
“Every phone call ended with phone sex,” Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said.
They also found a jail surveillance video in which Vicky White was delivering commissary goods to Casey White’s cell. A hand reached out of slit of a pass-through, handed Vicky White a note and touched her hand.
The special also featured an exclusive interview with Casey White’s former cellmate, Georgineo Lopez, who said he had known Vicky White for years and had seen a drastic change in her once Casey White entered the picture.
“At the beginning, she was by the books,’’ Lopez said. “But she changed a lot.”
He said Vicky White would often stand at the window and look into their cell. She even had a shower curtain installed so that they would have more privacy when they showered.
The other cellmates couldn’t see behind the curtain, but Lopez said Vicky White would stand outside the window while Casey White showered. At 6-feet, 9-inches tall, Casey White stood tall above the top of the shower curtain and could see Vicky White.
“She acted like she couldn’t see him, but she knew what he was doing,’’ Lopez said. “Casey White would stand in the shower playing with himself, while looking at Vicky.”
The 20/20 show also revealed that while all the other inmates were sent out to the prison yard, Casey White was allowed to stay behind in the cell, where there are no cameras.
“I guess that’s when they were having their private relationship,’’ Lopez said.
“Vicky was able to arrange Casey to have time all by himself and she could have been with him at those times,’’ Sgt. Burbank said. “They had a full-blown romance.”
4. Casey White saw her as a grandmotherly figure.
Marshal Keely said they had a psychological profile compiled on Casey White. That profile suggested that Casey White looked at Vicky almost as a grandmother figure.
“I know that sounds strange because they were obviously engaged in a sexual relationship,’’ Keely said. “But for that reason, the information that we were receiving was that in all probability, he wouldn’t hurt her.”
The show revealed that investigators got a big break in the search when they recovered the bright orange Ford Edge that the pair had used as their initial getaway car, once they ditched the sheriff’s cruiser.
When the Ford was recovered, it was discovered that they had tried to spray paint the vehicle to change the color but had botched the job.
Inside that car they found receipts from the store where they bought the spray paint. That led them to store surveillance footage and their first look at Casey White after he had escaped.
As has been previously reported, Casey White and Vicky White had bought a pickup truck once they ditched the orange car.
Looking at license plate readers and traffic cameras, they noticed a Cadillac was always following that pickup truck, and that a blonde woman appeared to be driving.
They also spotted that Cadillac pull up to Weinbach Car Wash in Evansville, Indiana, which is where the pair had dumped the blue pickup truck, to pick up Casey White. It was a call from the car wash owner that was the beginning of the end of the manhunt.
“Having her own vehicle, she had an opportunity to leave,” and didn’t, Hunt said.
After 11 days, investigators tracked down Casey White and Vicky White at the 41 Motel in Evansville. While law enforcement waited for a tactical team to assemble, the pair left the hotel room and then the chase was on.
“Our immediate fear was that they were going to get out and shoot it out,’’ Hunt said.
“I think they were ready to almost have a Bonnie and Clyde moment,’’ now-retired Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding told 20/20.
The ABC special showed body camera footage from the police chase which ended in that crash. Casey White was heard saying, “Help my wife. Is my wife OK?”
Authorities said a single gunshot was heard, and Vicky White was found unresponsive but still breathing. She later died at the hospital. Her death was ruled a suicide.
5. Casey White planned to die in a shootout with police.
In the getaway car, investigators found letters written by Casey White on a legal pad, which investigators said he had penned in the event of his death.
The first, Sgt. Burbank said, was an open letter to law enforcement in which he wrote, “If you’re reading this, I am dead and I made Vicky White get me out.”
In another he wrote, “Me and my wife are all over the news. Y’all are stupid but my beautiful wife wants me to shoot her when and if y’all (expletive) catch us. She wanted me to so we can go together.”
In yet another letter, Casey White wrote, “Tell all my family I couldn’t take prison no more and thought I might as well for sure get a few sorry S.O.B.s.”
Investigators said they took that to mean he planned to kill law enforcement officers.
Earlier this year, Casey White pleaded guilty to first-degree escape. As part of that plea, the felony murder charge in connection with Vicky White’s death was dismissed.
District Attorney Connelly told 20/20 that Casey White won’t be eligible for parole until he is 100 years old.
Among the friends and coworkers interviewed by 20/20 for the special was Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Carole Medley, who said she was close to Vicky White.
“She would have been horrified by the media, the attention, the national press,’’ Medley said. “She would not have wanted any of that.”
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