{"id":22027,"date":"2022-05-02T07:59:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T11:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=22027"},"modified":"2022-05-02T07:59:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T11:59:20","slug":"alabama-hunt-for-missing-prison-inmate-and-guard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/05\/02\/alabama-hunt-for-missing-prison-inmate-and-guard\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama hunt for missing prison inmate and guard"},"content":{"rendered":"
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US police are searching for an escaped inmate who is facing murder charges, and a guard who disappeared with him.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Inmate Casey White and corrections officer Vicki White were last seen on Friday morning at the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office in Alabama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Ms White said she was taking him to a mental evaluation, but officials later realised it had not been scheduled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Authorities are investigating whether Ms White helped the inmate escape, or if she was taken hostage by him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Despite their matching surnames, the pair are not related. Authorities say Casey White should be considered “armed and extremely dangerous” – in part because he may now have access to the officer’s gun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Ms White left the detention centre with the prisoner at about 09:30 CDT (15:30 BST) after telling colleagues she was going to drop him off at the courthouse for a mental health evaluation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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She said she would then get some medical attention because she was not feeling well, Sheriff Singleton added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Shortly after 11:00 someone found her vehicle in a shopping centre car park.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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At about 15:30 officials realised the prisoner had not been returned to custody, and no one could contact the officer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The US Marshals Service\u00a0is offering a reward<\/a>\u00a0of up to $10,000 (\u00a37,950) for information leading to Casey White’s recapture and the location of Vicki White.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Casey White is believed to be a serious threat to the corrections officer and the public,” US Marshal Marty Keely said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Exemplary employee’<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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Sheriff Singleton said Ms White has been with the department for about 25 years. She is the assistant director of corrections, and part of her role involves arranging courthouse transportation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Her decision to take the prisoner to the courthouse by herself violated policy, he explained, as someone charged with such a severe crime would normally be accompanied by two deputies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“I can tell you that every employee in this office is shocked that she is missing and that this has happened.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Sheriff Singleton said Ms White had been voted employee of the year several times and was an “exemplary employee”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He said he wanted solid proof before accusing Ms White of any wrong doing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Did she assist him in escaping? That’s obviously a possibility. So we’re looking into that as one angle of the investigation. Was she kidnapped en route to the courthouse? You know, taken against her will? That’s obviously another angle we’re looking at.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Knowing the inmate, I think she is in danger whatever the circumstances,” the sheriff said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Casey<\/span><\/div>
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Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office released this image of Casey White, saying it is the most recent photo of him<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Murder charge<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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White, 38, was charged with two counts of capital murder in September 2020 over the stabbing of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway, according to the US Marshals Service.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The US federal law enforcement agency said he was already serving time for a series of crimes in 2015, including burglary, vehicle theft, and a police chase.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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He confessed to the murder and was awaiting trial at the Lauderdale County Jail when he disappeared, authorities added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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White has planned to escape from prison before, Sheriff Singleton told ABC News. But officials found out about the plan – which involved taking a hostage – before he could attempt it in 2020.<\/p>\n

Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US police are searching for an escaped inmate who is facing murder charges, and a guard who disappeared with him. Inmate Casey White and corrections officer Vicki White were last seen on Friday morning at […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[3558,1087,8497,8496],"class_list":{"0":"post-22027","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-usa","9":"tag-alabama","10":"tag-escape","11":"tag-lauderdale-county","12":"tag-lauderdale-county-jail","13":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22027"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22030,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22027\/revisions\/22030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}