According to her supervisor, Vicky White has been a model deputy in the Lauderdale County, Alabama, sheriff's office for 16 years.

Authorities believe this makes it more challenging to comprehend how she became the girlfriend of a murder suspect detained at her jail, helped him escape custody, and fled with him for more than a week, traveling almost 300 miles, before shooting herself as police closed in.

Rick Singleton, the sheriff of Lauderdale County, stated at a press conference on Monday, "I had the utmost confidence in Vicky White; she had been an exemplary employee. I have no idea what could have prompted her to do something like this." I do not know if we will ever know.

Since they began on April 29th, the jailbreak and manhunt had caught the public's attention. According to Singleton, just before the two went missing, Vicky White told coworkers – on what was meant to be her last day as assistant director of the jail – that she was taking Casey White (no relation) to local courts for a mental examination.

No such evaluation was scheduled. Casey White was serving a 75-year sentence for attempted murder and was awaiting trial for the fatal stabbing of a woman in 2015. It was against jail rules for a correctional officer to leave an inmate alone.

According to authorities, Vicky and Casey went directly to the parking lot of a shopping mall. They abandoned her patrol vehicle, hopped into an orange 2007 Ford Edge without license plates, and took off.

According to inmates at the Lauderdale jail, Vicky, 56, and Casey, 38, were in a romantic relationship, and came forward when officials noticed they had vanished, said Singleton. Investigators independently corroborated this information and discovered Vicky had recently sold her home for around half of its market worth before purchasing the getaway vehicle.

The Edge was later discovered abandoned in Tenness. A tip led detectives to security footage from a carwash in Evansville, Indiana, which showed Casey driving a 2006 Ford F-150 pickup.

Chad Hunt of the US Marshals Service, which assists local law enforcement in capturing fugitives, told CBS News that Casey left the truck at the car wash and switched to a gray CadillacAccording to CBS's Hunt, officers soon located this Cadillac at a hotel in Evansville, approximately 270 miles from the Lauderdale jail, where they observed Vicky wearing a wnt. As officers approached, the fugitives fled in their vehicle.

The police pursued the Cadillac for almost 15 minutes before it crashed. As officers approached the mangled vehicle, Casey White promptly surrendered; he was charged with murder and faced the death penalty if convicted.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Casey White has waived extradition proceedings, paving the way for his relatively swift return to Alabama.

"Please help my wife – she just shot herself in the head," Casey reportedly said to authorities as they closed in, revealing something about their connection.

Steve Lockyear, the county coroner, informed several news outlets that Vicky was transferred to a hospital for treatment of her head wound but died there.

Singleton stated that he had no ill will toward Vicky White and had intended to receive clarification from her on her behavior. Regarding Casey White, though, the sheriff adopted a different tone, rejoicing that authorities had removed "a dangerous man from the street."

Singleton stated, "He will never see the sun again." That is a positive development.

Some connected the Whites' case to the 2015 escape of convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat from the Clinton correctional facility in upstate New York. The couple temporarily escaped captivity with the assistance of Clinton correctional officer Joyce Mitchell. He allegedly had a sexual relationship with at least one of the escapees and was convicted of aiding the escape in the 2018 Showtime miniseries Escape at Dannemora.