Timeline: How a murder suspect escaped an Alabama jail

Multiple law enforcement agencies are continuing their search for a murder suspect who escaped jail by apparently feigning a trip to the courthouse.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are continuing their search for a murder suspect who escaped an Alabama jail by apparently feigning a trip to the courthouse with a corrections officer, according to authorities.

Vicki White, the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office assistant director, was last seen escorting inmate Casey White to the local courthouse on Friday morning for an "alleged mental health evaluation," Sheriff Rick Singleton told reporters on Saturday. The two are not related, the sheriff said.

Casey White, 38, was arrested in 2020 and charged with two counts of capital murder that authorities said was a murder for hire in a case that went cold for nearly five years, AL.com reported at the time.

"Indications are" that Vicki White, who has worked for the sheriff's office for 25 years, assisted in the escape, but it is unclear whether she did so willingly or if Casey White coerced her into doing so "by threatening her and/or her family or other means," the sheriff's office said in a statement.