'Jailbreak: Love on the Run': What Happened To Casey White And Vicky White
It’s just a simple story of woman meets man, and falls in love. Except, in the case of the new Netflix documentary, Jailbreak: Love on the Run, the woman is a prison officer and the man is a prisoner, 20 years her junior, whom she has helped escape from prison.
The documentary tells the story of Vicky White and Casey White – not relations – who ended up in the headlines in 2022, when an 11-day manhunt began in Alabama with the unlikely star-crossed lovers who had absconded from jail. “It’s a disgusting romance novel, is what it is,” one person comments on the trailer for the film.
But with the whole escapade coming to an abrupt and tragic end in Indiana, what was the true story behind the prison break, and what happened to Vicky White and Casey White?
The backstory
Vicky White, 57, was an assistant director at the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Alabama, where she had worked for 17 years, winning employee of the year four times. In 2022, she told her colleagues that she was ready to retire, commenting, as reported on the trailer, that she would “like to go out with a big bang”.
Casey White, born in 1983, had a criminal record that stretched for a decade. In 2012, he was sentenced to three years in jail for beating up his brother with the handle of an axe, and in 2016, he was sentenced to 75 years in prisons for a string of offences, including attempted murder and robbery.
While serving his time in jail, he allegedly confessed to the 2015 murder of Connie Ridgeway. He was transferred to Lauderdale County Jail to face two counts of capital murder, but once there, he recanted his confession and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Officials believe that a romance began between the pair from about 2020. She had been giving him “special treatment”, and in around 2022, Vicky sold her house for $95,550, – significantly less than the property's assessed value of $235,600 – and had also bought a selection of firearms, men’s clothing and cars.
The escape
Vicky White was set to retire the day she left with Casey, but never completed the paperwork. On the morning of April 29, 2002, Vicky told her colleagues that she was taking Casey to the county courthouse in Florence for a psychological evaluation, which was a lie.
Instead, the pair drove away in Vicky’s patrol car, which was then spotted at a local petrol station. The deputies were alerted and they realised there were no hearings at the courthouse that day, and, fearing Vicky had been coerced or abducted by Casey, began a manhunt.
The manhunt soon moved from state to nationwide. The couple switched cars several times and they were spotted in surveillance cameras heading north, checking in and out of motels. Vicky had also dyed her blonde hair black.
They eventually got to Evansville, Indiana, where they checked into a motel. However, on May 9, they were clocked washing their truck by a car wash employee, who passed on the footage to the police. They were tracked down to the Motel 41, and when Casey White began driving the car with the two of them in it, a car chase began.
Casey drove the car – a grey Cadillac – onto a field, and a police vehicle rammed it, causing it to flip into a ditch. However, when police approached, Casey gave himself up and was arrested, but Vicky had been shot in the head. Despite the couple not being officially married, Casey said: “Please help my wife. She shot herself in the head and I didn't do it.”
What happened next?
Vicky was rushed to hospital, and died a few hours later. Her death was recorded as a suicide.
In May 2023, Casey White reached a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to first-degree prison escape, and in exchange, he would not be tried for felony-murder in the death of Vicky White.
On June 8, 2023, Casey White was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree prison escape. He is serving out his sentence in William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County, Alabama.
'Jailbreak: Love on the Run' is available to watch on Netflix
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