Casey White’s criminal history dates back a decade. Court documents alleged he beat his brother in the face and head with an axe-sledgehammer handle, landing him in prison in 2012 for more than three years.
Then in 2015, he carried out a crime spree including a home invasion, carjacking and a police chase, according to the Marshals Service. In March 2016, he was indicted on 15 counts and was ultimately convicted on seven of those counts, including attempted murder and robbery, according to Alabama records. He is serving a 75-year prison sentence on those charges.
According to the Marshals Service, White allegedly threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend and her sister in 2015 if he got out of prison and said he wanted the police to kill him. The agency said it has advised his “potential targets” of the threat and taken protective actions.
Josh Goan was one of the victims in the 2015 case. He said White broke into his truck, stole his firearm, and then used the firearm to carjack his neighbor and the neighbor’s infant baby. Goan was a witness in the trial and told CNN it was a surreal experience to see how little remorse White had.
“I was very satisfied that they gave him enough time that by the time — if he ever — gets out, he would not be able to do anything. I took security in that and definitely have lost a little bit of peace (since the escape),” he said. “The fact that he is out in the world is a terrible thing for society.”
White was serving out his 75-year sentence at the William E. Donaldson Correction Facility in Jefferson County, Alabama.
But in 2020, he allegedly confessed to the 2015 stabbing death of 59-year-old Connie Ridgeway and was charged with two counts of capital murder. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and was brought to the Lauderdale County’s detention center to attend court hearings in the case, authorities said.
There, he came into contact with Vicky White, who was working as the assistant director of corrections for Lauderdale County.
He was brought back to the Lauderdale detention center on Feb. 25, Sheriff Rick Singleton said.
It is not the first time White tried to escape prison, nor is it the first time he gained the trust of other correctional officials.
In 2020, while White was being held in Lauderdale County’s detention center, authorities learned he planned to escape the jail and take a hostage, Singleton said.
“We shook him down, and we did find a shank in his possession — a shank is a prison knife — and we retrieved that. We immediately had him shipped back to the Department of Corrections,” Singleton said.
An attorney who represented White through 2020 told CNN affiliate WAFF the latest escape attempt was in itself not a surprise.
“I was not shocked Casey escaped,” attorney Dale Bryant said. “I was shocked of who he escaped with. I had never heard of her before. But this was not the first escape attempt Casey had attempted while at Lauderdale County facing those charges.”
Prior to the current escape, Casey White and Vicky White had developed a “special relationship,” which included extra food, Singleton said.
“We were told Casey White got special privileges and was treated differently while in the facility than the other inmates,” he said.
Likewise, Casey White had previously gained the trust of officials of the Limestone County Sheriff’s office.
“When he was in Limestone County after a little while he had earned the trust of the Sheriff’s department at that time, and they allowed him to be a trustee inside the jail,” Bryant told WAFF. CNN has reached out to the Limestone County Sheriff’s office for more information about its trustee program.
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