Killer on run with cougar prison officer could try suicide by cop claims lawyer

A fugitive killer who escaped from prison with a cougar prison officer could attempt suicide by police, his former lawyer has warned.

Casey Cole White, 38, fled Lauderdale County Jail with Vicky White, 56, who was second in command at the US prison.

The convicted killer suffers from severe mental illness and addiction issues, according to Dale Bryant, who represented him following a crime spree in 2015

Mr Bryant said White “wanted to die” after being arrested and fears he could be a danger to himself and others after the jail break on April 29.

He told WAFF48 : “He was trying to get the officers to shoot him and that is kind of my fear, how this situation is going to end.

“Casey may try to shoot [cops] to try and get them to shoot him. I want to say in his interview after his arrest and in my conversations with him, he wanted to die that day.”

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Casey White ( Image: US MARSHALS/AFP via Getty Images)

Vicky White

The lawyer explained how White is “a decent person” when he is taking medication and in a supervised environment.

But when he is not incarcerated, he is “unable to stay on his medication and he even self medicates by smoking methamphetamine or taking other illegal substances.”

Mr Bryant said that White has admitted that he cannot function in the real world because he “can't get his medication and he doesn't do well free.”

The lawyer raised concerns of White's comments not being able to function outside of incarceration, and of his sheer size standing at 6ft 9in and weighing 18st.

Casey White escaping from Lauderdale County Jail with the help of Vicky White ( Image: Lauderdale County Sheriff's Depa)

Vicky met White in 2020 when he was brought in for questioning after writing a letter confessing to the murder of Connie Ridgeway.

The former assistant director of corrections told colleagues she was taking White for a mental health check-up at a courthouse three minutes' drive away.

But she drove off with the violent inmate, from Alabama, the day before she was due to retire after 25 years.

Sheriff Rick Singleton, leading the hunt for the pair, urged Vicky to hand herself in.

Vicky told colleagues she was taking White for a mental health check-up at a nearby courthouse ( Image: Lauderdale County Sheriff's Depa)

Vicky contacted White by phone while he was at Donaldson prison, according to investigators who said that the pair had a “special relationship.”

Singleton said the relationship was not physical and Vicky ensured that White had enough food while Mr Bryant said White never spoke about her.

The former attorney said he was not shocked that White escaped but that he was shocked by “who he escaped with.”

He claimed that White repeatedly asked to be moved from Donaldson and that he hated the prison.

Vicky has been urged to hand herself in ( Image: Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office)

“I’m not saying he didn’t commit the murder of Ms Ridgeway, but I’m saying the reason he confessed to the murder was to get out of Donaldson prison,” he added.

Ms Ridgeway, 59, was found stabbed to death at her home in Rogersville, Alabama, in October 2015.

White said he was a paid hitman, but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity.

He was already serving a 75-year sentence for a one-night crime spree in December 2015 which included a burglary, two carjackings and multiple shootings in North Alabama and South Tennessee.

The spree left a woman injured and dog dead.