Sheriff: Alabama inmate and prison officer were prepared for a shoot-out

A murder suspect and the prison officer who helped him escape from an Alabama jail were prepared for a shoot-out when they were captured, an Indiana sheriff said.

Authorities caught up with the fugitive pair on Monday, more than a week after the break-out and nearly 300 miles away, and rammed their car into a ditch after a brief chase.

Escaped inmate Casey White 38, surrendered, while prison official Vicky White, 56, was found with a gunshot wound to the head and declared dead at hospital, officials said.

They were said to be carrying 29,000 dollars (£23,519) in cash, four handguns and an AR-15 rifle.

Vanderburgh County coroner Steve Lockyear said a post-mortem examination on White showed her death to be a suicide.

The end of the manhunt left authorities trying to piece together what happened during the 11 days that elapsed after she escorted White from prison for what she falsely claimed was a mental health evaluation.

The pair appeared to have had a “jailhouse romance”, Alabama authorities said last week. They were not related.

As for her role in the escape, the sheriff said: “He was not forcing her. It was a mutual relationship.”

At the time of the break-out, Casey White was serving a 75-year prison sentence for attempted murder and other offences and was awaiting trial on charges of stabbing a woman to death during a 2015 burglary.

If convicted, he could get the death penalty.

Investigators believe the pair spent about six days holed up at a motel in Evansville.

Authorities discovered wigs intended to hide their identities.

Vanderburgh County sheriff Dave Wedding said investigators do not believe the two had relatives or other contacts in the city of 120,000 people.

“They thought they’d driven long enough. They wanted to stop for a while, get their bearings straight and then figure out the next place to travel,” he said.

Authorities closed in on them after the manager of a car wash reported that a man closely resembling the 6ft9, 18-and-a-half stone Casey White had been caught on CCTV getting out of a pick-up truck.

Investigators said they located the pick-up, then learned that the pair may have switched to a Cadillac, which was then spotted outside a motel nearby.

When the couple left the motel, police chased them, authorities said.

Casey White told investigators after his capture “he was probably going to have a shoot-out at the stake of both of them losing their lives,” Mr Wedding said.

The inmate appeared by video on Tuesday in an Indiana courtroom, where he waived extradition.

White was brought back to the court in Lauderdale County, Alabama, by police late on Tuesday.

Video showed him ignoring questions shouted by journalists.

A lawyer representing White in the murder case, Jamy Poss, declined to comment.

Vicky White, assistant director of corrections at the Lauderdale County jail, had put in for retirement ahead of the escape, and the day of the break-out, April 29, was her last day at work.

A woman who worked with her for 16 years could barely speak through tears on Tuesday.

“I know she did wrong and made a terrible mistake, but she’s still your friend,” long-time jail employee Sherry Sylvester said.

She said White often tried to help prisoners, particularly ones without family.

But Ms Sylvester said she never saw White do anything that crossed the line, adding: “She did everything by the book.”

Connie Moore, Casey White’s mother, said she last spoke with him by phone the day before the escape.

She said her son may not have known what was about to happen.

“Everything was just as normal as it could be. I doubt he even knew he was leaving when she came in there to get him,” Ms Moore said.

A warrant was issued on May 2 for Vicky White, charging her with permitting or facilitating escape.

Authorities said the plan appeared to have been in the works for some time.

She sold her house for about half its market value and bought an SUV that she stashed at a shopping centre without license plates.