Prison guard Vicki White vanishes with murderer Casey White

A manhunt is underway after a corrections officer and a prisoner, described as “armed and dangerous”, mysteriously disappeared.

A manhunt is underway for a corrections officer and a prisoner who was charged with murder after the pair went missing.

Assistant director of corrections at the Lauderdale County Sheriff‘s Office Vicki White was last seen around 9.30am on Friday when taking the prisoner, Casey White, to a mental health evaluation.

The pair are not related.

A sheriff in Alabama said the officer had helped the inmate escape, the New York Times reports. It’s unclear however, if she did so willingly.

Casey White and Vicki White. Picture: Supplied.

CNN reported that Ms White told another officer she was dropping Mr White off at the courthouse and then going to get medical care as she was not feeling well.

Members of staff at the jail were firstly concerned when they tried to reach Ms White and she would not answer her phone. It was only after this they realised Casey White had not returned to the jail.

Casey White is 6-foot-9 and considered armed and dangerous.

However, Vicki White “was armed with a 9mm handgun, which means we are assuming he is armed,” Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton told CNN.

“Knowing the inmate, I think she‘s in danger whatever the circumstances. He was in jail for capital murder, and he had nothing to lose,” Singleton said.

The escapee, White, is serving a 75-year-long sentence for a crime spree committed in 2015.

He was arrested in 2015 in relation to a homicide but it was behind bars where he found further trouble. In 2020, he planned to escape prison and take a person hostage. This idea was discovered and canned by authorities.

However, it forced the office to create a new rule which meant two officers had to be with the inmate when he was out of his cell.

Police are investigating all aspects of the incident, including whether Ms White helped the criminal escape.

County Sheriff Singleton said his office is approaching the case from three angles: Whether Vicki White was overpowered and kidnapped; whether she assisted inmate Casey White in escaping; and if she assisted him, whether she did so willingly or was coerced or threatened to do so.

“Whether she assisted him or not, we don‘t know, and we won’t address that until we have absolute proof that that’s what happened. We are assuming at this point that she was taken against her will unless we can absolutely prove otherwise,” Singleton said Friday.

Before this incident, Ms White’s performance in the role had been described as exemplary.

Originally published as Prison guard Vicki White vanishes with murderer Casey White