Alabama funeral service held for ex-jail boss Vicky White

Vicky White’s family buried the former jail boss Saturday instead of celebrating her sixth award as Lauderdale County’s Corrections Employee of the Year.

White, 56, the assistant commander of operations at the Lauderdale County Jail, walked out of the north Alabama lockup with capital murder suspect Casey White on April 29, claiming she was taking him to court, before hitting the road in a car authorities say she bought for the escape.

The nation was riveted by the 11-day manhunt, before an Indiana car wash manager called police about an abandoned Ford F-150 truck they stole after Vicky White’s Ford Echo broke down in Tennessee. Casey White was recaptured, but Vicky White shot herself as cops closed in. The two were not related.

The graveside service for Vicky White was held in Center Hill Cemetery, about 25 miles away from the jail where she worked.

Her obituary said only that she died on May 9 and worked at the jail.

She is survived by her parents, two brothers, a nephew and several aunts and uncles. A handful of comments to the obituary expressed condolences to the family. “Praying for Vicky’s family and friends today,” one post said. “Cherish your beautiful memories, which will never pass away.”

Friends and colleagues are still puzzled over what happen to the model employee, who apparently fell in love with a man serving 75 years for a terrifying rampage where he tried to murder his ex-girlfriend, shot another woman and held several other people at gunpoint. Casey White, no relation to Vicky, was awaiting trial for the capital murder of another woman, Connie Ridgeway.

Authorities said Vicky White gave the enormous Casey, who stands 6-foot-7 and weighs more than 300 pounds, extra food and otherwise showed him favor before the escape, Fox News reported.

Casey White is now facing escape charges in addition to the charges related to the 2015 slaying of Ridgeway. Meanwhile, a friend of Ridgeway’s has started a GoFundMe to raise reward money for the car wash manager whose tip led cops to the fugitive couple.

Casey White’s mother, Connie Moore, said the jailer also visited the inmate’s 12-year-old son and 2-year-old grandchild, and sent them Christmas presents. Her son is now mourning the woman he loved and considered his wife, she claimed. “He was calling her his wife even when he was in prison. I just sort of went along with it. I didn’t say, ‘You shouldn’t,’ or whatever. It made him happy.”

“Vicky was really, really good to him — just being there for him, talking with him. They had a real thing,” she said.