Captured inmate told officers: “My wife… just shot herself in the head”

When police apprehended escaped capital murder suspect Casey Cole White he said that his “wife,” Vicky White, shot herself, according to U.S. Marshals officials. 

“Casey quickly surrendered, and his immediate words to our team was, ‘Please help my wife. She just shot herself in the head,'” Commander of the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force Deputy Marshal Chad Hunt said.

U.S. Marshals told CBS News there is no evidence Casey and Vicky White were ever married. 

Vicky White, who had been hospitalized after the pair was apprehended, died later Monday night, the Vanderburgh County Coroner said. 

Their capture brings a stunning end to the manhunt that captivated the country for nearly two weeks. 

Law enforcement officials caught up with the couple in Evansville, Indiana, more than 200 miles from where they initially disappeared in Lauderdale County, Alabama, after receiving a tip and surveillance photos of a man they believed to be Casey White at an Evansville car wash last Tuesday. They said he’d abandoned that vehicle, a 2006 Ford F-150, there. 

Hunt said law enforcement swept the area for the car. They found it at a nearby hotel, where Vicky White was spotted wearing a wig as she left with Casey White Monday. That discovery turned into the 15-minute chase that culminated in their capture. 

“There are several tragedies, you know, to this story,” Hunt said. “The way this escape ended, but also it stings that somebody entrusted with what she was given as a correctional officer planned, organized, and facilitated this escape.”

Back in Alabama, Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton made a promise about Casey White: “He’s not getting out of this jail again. I’ll assure you of that.”

Casey White is expected to face trial for a capital murder charge next month in Lauderdale County.