Alabama authorities are searching for a corrections officer and inmate who never made it to court

Lacking Assistant Director of Corrections Vicki White broke protocol when she escorted inmate Casey White from jail this morning to apparently take him to the courthouse in Lauderdale County, mentioned Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton. The inmate and the corrections officer are usually not related.

Authorities stated Casey White was being held on capital homicide charges and two sworn deputies ought to have been with him at all times, including during transportation to court.

Vicki White coordinates all transports from the detention middle to court and due to this fact knew the protocol, the sheriff added.

Singleton mentioned that although Casey White was supposedly being transported for a mental well being evaluation on the courthouse, they've since realized that no such evaluation or different court hearing for him was scheduled for Friday.

"Realizing the inmate, I feel she's at risk whatever the circumstances... He was in jail for capital murder, and he had nothing to lose," Singleton stated.

Authorities are actually all possibilities of what occurred, together with if the corrections officer helped Casey White escape.

"Whether or not she assisted him or not, we don't know, and we can't deal with that till we have now absolute proof that that is what happened. We are assuming at this point that she was taken towards her will, until we can completely show otherwise," Singleton added.

Authorities stated they are still searching and investigating any interaction between the corrections officer and Casey White, in addition to any phone calls he had acquired.

When Vicki White escorted Casey White out of the jail, she informed the guard she was going to drop him off on the court after which go search medical consideration because she wasn't feeling effectively.

The sheriff mentioned Casey White was never dropped off at court docket and Vicki White did not make it to the place where she stated she was going to seek medical attention.

Authorities didn't understand they had been missing till a number of hours later.

Her vehicle, a 2013 Ford Taurus patrol automobile, was first spotted in a shopping mall car parking zone round 11 a.m. by someone who was on a lunch break, Singleton said.

Around 3:30 p.m., officers on the jail have been involved and tried to achieve her, but her cellphone kept going straight to voicemail. They then realized Casey White had not been returned to the jail.

Vicki White has been with the department for 25 years and is eligible for retirement -- which she has talked about doing in the previous few months, Singleton added.

"All precautions have been in place. The question we now have for Director White is why she violated coverage," Singleton mentioned.

Casey White is 6'9" tall is being thought of armed and dangerous. Vicki White "was armed with a 9 mm handgun, which means we are assuming he's armed," Singleton added.