Escaped Alabama Inmate Waives Extradition, To Be Brought Back To State

FLORENCE, AL — Escaped Alabama inmate Casey White has waived his right to an extradition hearing and will be brought back to Alabama, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton announced in a statement Tuesday.

White will first be taken to the Lauderdale County Courthouse for an arraignment and will be subsequently taken to the Alabama Department of Corrections, according to the statement.

White was captured Monday after a police pursuit in Evansville, Indiana, ended with a crash over a week after he escaped Lauderdale County Detention Center. Vicky White, the assistant director of corrections in Lauderdale County who helped Casey White escape, shot herself during the incident and later died in a hospital. The two are not related.

Casey White did not resist authorities after the crash, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said in a news conference Monday evening.

A Cadillac matching the description of a vehicle the runaway pair was thought to be driving was spotted near the sheriff's office Monday. Deputies and marshals responded to the area, and the duo fled before being intercepted by marshals in a crash, according to Wedding. Casey White suffered minor injuries.

Vicky White and Casey White may have been in Evansville since at least May 3, according to Wedding.

The two left the Lauderdale County Detention Center on the morning of April 29 in Vicky White's patrol car after she told other detention center officials she was taking him to the county courthouse in Florence for a mental health evaluation. The car was found abandoned later that afternoon at a nearby shopping center. Police later determined there was no evaluation scheduled, and no attempt was made to drive to the courthouse.

Later in the investigation, authorities learned from other inmates that Vicky White and Casey White had a special, nonphysical relationship.

Casey White will have increased security, which includes being placed in a cell by himself and remaining in handcuffs and shackles, when he returns to Lauderdale County, Singleton said in a separate news conference Monday evening.

"He's not getting out of this jail again," Singleton said. "I'll assure you of that."

Casey White is serving 75 years in Alabama state prison for several convictions, according to Alabama Department of Corrections records. Prior to his escape, he was in Lauderdale County Detention Center awaiting court appearances in connection with murder charges in the 2015 killing of Connie Ridgeway, to which he confessed in 2020, authorities said.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said officials plan to try him in June.

Before her death, Vicky White had an outstanding warrant on a permitting an escape charge and was later charged with forgery and identity theft in connection with the purchase of a 2007 Ford Edge used to facilitate the plan, according to police.