Alabama inmate pleads guilty to jailbreak with help from guard he had affair with

An Alabama jail detainee charged in the death of a high-ranking guard who helped him escape while he engaged in an affair with her pleaded guilty Thursday to the escape in exchange for having the murder case dismissed.

Casey Cole White, 39, entered the plea agreement in Lauderdale county court, avoiding a June trial on the charge of felony murder in the death of Vicky White, the assistant director of corrections at the local jail. He continues to await trial on a separate murder charge.

An 11-day manhunt for the pair ended in Indiana as authorities caught up with them. Police recaptured Casey White while Vicky White died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Casey White faced charges in her death because Alabama law allows someone to be charged with murder if someone else is killed in the commission of a felony.

On the day of the escape, the 56-year-old Vicky White told co-workers she was taking Casey White to a mental health evaluation. That was supposed to be her last day on the job after she had filed her retirement papers in advance.

Authorities later learned no such appointment for Casey White existed.

Casey White is separately scheduled to go on trial this summer for murder in the 2015 stabbing death of a woman named Connie Ridgeway in the Lauderdale county community of Rogersville. If convicted, he would receive life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.