Casey White ordered to provide DNA sample for probe of prison escape that ended with jailhouse lover’s death

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Capital murder suspect Casey White has been ordered to provide a DNA sample as part of the investigation into his 10-day prison break that ended with the tragic death of his jailhouse lover.

White, 38, was ordered to hand over the sample to prosecutors by Friday 21 May or “as soon as practicable”, according to court records.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly had filed a motion with the request, which Lauderdale County District Judge Carole Medley then granted on Wednesday.

Neither the motion nor the court order details a reason why the DNA sample is needed, however DA Connolly has previously said that his office is exploring other charges against White over the doomed prison escape.

White is currently charged with prison escape in the first degree after he broke out of Lauderdale County Jail with the help of his prison guard lover Vicky White on 29 April and led law enforcement on a nationwide manhunt for 10 days.

DA Connolly previously told The Independent that White could face fresh charges over the escape and would not rule out the possibility that charges would be brought over the death of Ms White.

“I intend to prosecute him both for the capital murder and the escape and other related charges that we are looking at,” he said.

The DA, who had worked closely with Ms White throughout her 17-year career as a corrections officer, did not elaborate on what the charges would be and said he “couldn’t comment” on the possibility that charges will be brought over her death.

However he said that investigators had received information from their counterparts in Indiana, where the couple were finally captured on 9 May.

White is now back behind bars in a maximum security prison in Alabama awaiting trial on two counts of capital murder for the 2015 stabbing murder of 58-year-old Connie Ridgeway.

His trial is expected to begin on 13 June.

The 38-year-old was charged in 2020 after confessing to the cold case crime before changing his plea from guilty to not guilty, sending the case to trial.

If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

Prior to his prison break, he was also already serving a 75-year prison sentence after being convicted of a 2015 crime spree where he tried to kill his ex-girlfriend, shot another woman, held several victims at gunpoint and shot a dog dead.

The Whites, who were not related or married, led officials on a nationwide manhunt when the 56-year-old corrections officer picked the inmate up from the jail where she worked, claiming that she was taking him for a mental health evaluation.

She told her coworkers that once she had escorted him to court she was going to seek medical attention for herself as she felt unwell.

The pair never arrived at the courthouse and White had no scheduled court appearance or appointments that day.

Several hours later, the alarm was raised when Ms White failed to return to the jail and could not be reached by her colleagues.

Investigators later learned that the couple had been having a “jailhouse romance” for the last two years and that Ms White had asold her home, withdrawn $90,000 in cash from her bank accounts and filed for retirement in the days and weeks before the pair vanished.

The couple were finally tracked down 10 days later to Evansville, Indiana, after they switched vehicles four times and travelled across at least four states to try to evade capture.

Following a brief police chase, officers rammed the couple’s getaway car off the road into a ditch.

White surrendered to authorities while the 56-year-old corrections officer shot herself in the head, officials said.

She died from her injuries hours later and her death has been ruled a suicide.