(CNN) — Authorities in Alabama are searching for a correctional officer and an inmate charged with murder following they They disappeared on Friday.
Vicki White, deputy director of corrections for Lauderdale County, broke Casey White, the inmate, out of jail Friday morning and said she would take him to the county courthouse.
The two, who authorities say are unrelated, have not been seen since, and the US Marshals Service is offering up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of the inmate and the location of the agent, he said. service this Sunday.
This is what we know.
The agent and the inmate were released from jail
Vicki White said she was taking Casey White in for a mental health evaluation when she got him out of jail. She said that she was going to seek medical attention following dropping the inmate off at the courthouse because she was not feeling well.
Authorities discovered later that day that no such evaluation, or any court hearing, had been scheduled for Casey White that day, and Vicki White never made it to the location where she was to receive medical care, according to Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton.
That followingnoon, concerned officers at the jail tried to reach Vicki White, but her phone went straight to voicemail. It was then that they learned that Casey White had not returned to prison.
Authorities are looking at all possibilities, including whether the corrections officer helped Casey White escape.
“Knowing the inmate, I believe he is in danger whatever the circumstances,” Singleton said Friday.
“I was in jail for capital murder and had nothing to lose. Whether or not she helped him, we don’t know, and we won’t address that until we have absolute proof that that’s what happened. We assume that she was abducted once morest her will unless we can absolutely prove otherwise. But regardless, even if she did help him, we believe she is in danger,” Singleton stated.
Vicki White’s 2013 Ford Taurus patrol car was seen in a shopping center parking lot Friday morning, according to the sheriff.
Singleton’s office reviewed all security video footage in the area where the car was seen, but there is no evidence yet to show the two got into another vehicle.
The agent went once morest the policies
In her job as deputy director of corrections, Vicki White coordinates all transportation from the detention center to the courthouse, so she knew protocol required two sworn officers to be with Casey White at all times, since he was a charged inmate. of capital murder, according to Singleton.
“All precautions were in place,” Singleton said. “The question we have for Principal White is why did she violate the policy?”
Vicki White is an ‘exemplary employee’, sheriff said
The corrections officer had been with the sheriff’s office for regarding two decades and “does a tremendous job,” Singleton told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday morning.
“All of her co-workers, all of the sheriff’s office employees, the judges, they all have the utmost respect for her,” Singleton said. “She has an impeccable record. She is an exemplary employee. So we are very concerned regarding her safety.”
Vicki White had recently spoken regarding retiring, Singleton said Friday.
Casey White is considered an “armed and dangerous” man
Casey White was serving a 75-year sentence for a series of crimes he committed in Limestone County in 2015. The acts include home invasion, carjacking and a police pursuit, according to the US Marshals Service.
In 2020, he confessed to the 2015 murder of a woman in Rogersville, Alabama, according to Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly. White later pleaded not guilty to that crime and was being held at the detention center awaiting trial.
The inmate had intended to escape and take a person hostage in 2020, Singleton said, but his plan was discovered and a policy was put in place that mandated that two sworn deputy officers should be with him at all times, including during transport to court.
Because Vicki White had a 9mm handgun, authorities assume Casey White, who is 6’9″, is now armed and should be considered dangerous, Singleton said.
reward offered
The US Marshals Service has taken up the case, the service said in a news release announcing a reward of up to $10,000. The Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI are also involved in the investigation, CNN previously reported.
“Casey White is believed to be a serious threat to the corrections officer and the public,” US Sheriff Marty Keely said in the statement.
“Anyone with information regarding White’s location or Deputy Director of Corrections White’s disappearance is urged to contact police,” the statement said. “You can call the USMS Communications Center at 1-800-336-0102. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through the US Marshals Tip App.”
“Don’t try to stop this fugitive,” Keely said.