Alabama corrections officer, murder suspect both go missing on way to court

LAUDERDALE COUNTY, Ala. – Law enforcement authorities are engaged in a manhunt in Alabama after an inmate charged with murder and a ranking corrections officer transporting him to court disappeared Friday morning, WVTM 13 reported.

Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office Assistant Director of Corrections Vicki White along with inmate Casey Cole White (no relation) were last seen at about 9:30 a.m. when they left a detention center for a court appearance, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff’s officials said the transport vehicle was discovered in a parking lot in Florence about 11 a.m. Friday.

However, they were not aware that AD White and inmate White were missing until about 3:30 p.m. when he was not returned to jail. The booking officer attempted to contact AD White, but her phone was going straight to voicemail.

Investigators are combing through surveillance footage to determine where they may have gone, the New York Post reported.

In a news conference Friday evening, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said AD White, who is an employee of 25 years, told the booking officer at the detention center that she was escorting inmate White to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation.

AD White said she wasn’t feeling well, so planned to seek medical care for herself after dropping the inmate off with other deputies, WVTM reported.

The sheriff noted it is a “strict violation of policy” for inmates with those types of charges to be escorted anywhere by a single deputy, but they believe AD White wasn’t questioned because she is the head of operations and coordinates all transports.

“Knowing the inmate, I think [Officer White] is in danger whatever the circumstances,” Singleton said. “He was in jail for capital murder. He has nothing to lose.”

Casey White is charged with capital murder in the “brutal death” of Connie Ridgeway at her Rogersville home in 2015, according to court documents.

Officials confirmed the two never arrived at the courthouse. It has since been determined that the inmate did not have any evaluations scheduled.

“Did she assist him in escaping? That’s obviously a possibility,” Singleton said. “So we’re looking into that as one angle of the investigation — was she kidnapped en route to the courthouse and, you know, taken against her will?”

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Source: www.lawofficer.com