NETFLIX has added another true crime documentary to its roster, this time looking at the prison escape of Casey White.
Jailbreak: Love on the Run will look at the nationwide manhunt that followed and the unexpected person who helped White flee. Here’s what we know about it so far.
Casey Cole White was awaiting trial in a capital murder case when he had help escaping the Lauderdale County Jail in Alabama, US, on April 29, 2022.
Considered highly dangerous, he was moved to the Lauderdale County Detention Center in August 2020 to serve a 75-year sentence for multiple violent offences.
During his imprisonment, he admitted to another murder, hence he was transferred to await further trial.
He allegedly confessed to an investigator for the 2015 stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway, a 59-year-old resident of Rogersville, Alabama.
He was subsequently charged with two counts of capital murder.
However, after being transferred, White recanted his confession and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Both staff and fellow inmates noted that Casey was friendly and charming, especially when he had something he wanted.
“You have to be very strong-minded as a woman to work in a jail with male inmates,” field training officer Sergeant Renee Lewis says in the doc.
She recalled a time when Casey brazenly asked her for a hug, citing the fact that it had been years since he’d touched a woman.
Former officer Joyce Brawly adds: “You can’t cross that fine line.
“You don’t want to be [the residents’] enemy, but they can’t be your friend.”
He already had a criminal record that stretched for at least a decade.
In 2012, he received a three-year sentence for assaulting his brother with an axe-sledgehammer handle.
By March 2016, he faced a 75-year sentence for seven charges, including attempted murder and robbery.
He was 38 years old at the time of his escape.
On the morning of April 29, 2022, at 9:30am, Lauderdale County Jail assistant director Vicky White, was seen escorting inmate Casey White to a police vehicle and departing the facility.
Surveillance footage captured Casey in handcuffs and leg shackles.
Vicky informed her colleagues that she was taking him to the county courthouse for a psychological evaluation.
She also mentioned she would visit her physician afterwards due to feeling unwell.
The procedure raised concerns among the staff, as protocol requires that inmates be escorted by two deputies when taken to the courthouse.
It is believed that Vicky’s senior position, having worked at the facility for 17 years, prevented any immediate challenge to her actions.
However, the pair never returned to the detention centre.
Shortly after their departure, the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department obtained a surveillance video from a local gas station.
It showed Vicky’s patrol car just eight minutes after they left the jail.
Deputies then found no scheduled hearings or evaluations at the courthouse on that day, leading to suspicions that Vicky might have been coerced into aiding Casey’s escape.
This prompted a statewide manhunt, with authorities aiming to safely locate Vicky and recapture Casey.
However, upon closer inspection, Vicky had a very different side to her.
The corrections officer had been married once, but that relationship ended in divorce.
In 2021, the 58-year-old confided to some of her co-workers that she was dating two men at once, one of whom she said was a man 20 years younger than her.
But beyond that, they didn’t know his identity.
Suspicion arose at the detention centre when residents noticed Casey handing Vicky letters to mail, conspicuously lacking written addresses on the envelopes.
Vicky was set to retire the day she left with Casey, but never finalised the paperwork.
Prior to helping Casey escape, she sold her four-acre property for $95,550, significantly less than the property’s assessed value of $235,600.
She had also bought several items including firearms, men’s clothing, and vehicles.
Vicky told certain coworkers that she would go out with a bang.
They didn’t know what she meant, but the details became clear on her last day on the job.
Officers uncovered that Vicky had been providing the 6 foot 9 prisoner with special treatment, such as extra food and privileges.
Guards observed Casey’s attempts to gain sympathy from staff.
This favouritism eventually evolved into a romantic relationship, possibly starting in 2020.
Following these revelations, Vicky’s employment was terminated, and arrest warrants were issued on May 2 and May 6, 2022, for helping Casey escape.
The manhunt for Casey and Vicky expanded nationwide after their Ford Edge was abandoned in Tennessee.
They switched to a blue 2006 Ford F-150 and stayed in various motels.
In Evansville, Indiana, they paid a homeless man to book a motel room for them.
The couple was spotted washing the truck and later seen in a grey Cadillac.
After a police chase, their vehicle flipped, leading to their capture.
Vicky suffered a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound and died in hospital.
Casey surrendered without incident.
A $5,000 reward was given to an anonymous informant who helped capture them.
On July 11, 2022, Casey was charged with felony murder for the death of Vicky.
In May 2023, the defendant reached a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to first-degree prison escape.
In exchange, he would not be tried or executed for felony-murder in her death.
In Jailbreak: Love on the Run, Vicky’s friends and former colleagues try to figure out how a detainee and a jail employee developed a romantic relationship.
They also look at how they orchestrated a major prison escape.
Jailbreak: Love on the Run premieres on Netflix on September 25.
