By Carol Robinson
al.com
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The retired Alabama sheriff who oversaw the exhaustive manhunt for Casey White and Vicky White has published a book about the 2022 ordeal.
Rick Singleton, who retired early this year as the sheriff of Lauderdale County, chronicled the 11-day search in “Manhunt: The Search for Vicky and Casey White: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.”
The paperback book was published on Amazon on Dec. 15 and is ranked the #1 new release in the Criminal Procedure Law category.
“I’m a history buff and this was obviously a historical event for our county,’’ Singleton said. “I just wanted to preserve the story for future generations so if anybody had questions, they’d have a reference they could go back to and see what the sheriff back then said about it.”
“I’m not a professional writer or author,’’ he said. “Surprisingly enough, just off my Facebook page I’ve sold about 250-275 copies.”
Singleton said he’s been working on the book since his retirement at the beginning of 2023.
Casey White, 40, was in state prison when he confessed in 2020 to the 2015 death of Connie Ridgeway of Rogersville. While in the Lauderdale County Jail awaiting trial, White met Vicky White, the jail officer, who was not related to him.
On April 29, 2022, she slipped him out of the jail, touching off a dramatic manhunt.
Singleton said Casey White and Vicky White had a jailhouse romance.
The manhunt ended after the couple was stopped by law enforcement on May 9, 2022, in Evansville, Indiana. Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound that had occurred during the stop.
In May of 2023, Casey White pleaded guilty to first-degree escape in exchange for a deal that dropped a felony murder charge for the death of Vicky White against him. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In July 2023, a judge granted a request by prosecutors to drop the capital murder charge against White in Ridgeway’s death.
“This is the story of the escape as shared by Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton, the man responsible for seeing that Casey White was recaptured, and that Vicky White was returned to Alabama to face the consequences of her actions,’’ according to Amazon’s description of the book.
“At the first press conference with the national media, Sheriff Singleton told reporters ‘It’s all on the table, the good, the bad, and the ugly,” the description says. “He honored that commitment by being accessible and transparent with the media, who he credits with playing a major role in apprehending the pair due to the massive coverage they gave the case between April 29th and May 9th.”
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