Escaped Alabama inmate Casey White is ‘not a monster,’ mother says

ATHENS, Ala. – The mother of escaped Alabama inmate Casey White defended her son in an interview with The Post – saying the accused killer was innocent and “not a monster”.

“I just have no idea why they portrayed him as a monster,” Connie White said on the phone of her son, who escaped from the Lauderdale County Jail Friday morning with the help of a renegade female correctional officer, police said.

Connie said she spoke to her son the day before he disappeared and “everything was perfectly fine”.

Casey, 38, was led out of jail by Lauderdale County Correctional Services Assistant Director Vicky White, 56, according to police, who released video of the escape on Tuesday.

Officials said Casey and Vicky, who are not related, have a “special bond,” although the inmate’s mother said she was unaware of the connection.

“He never mentioned Vicky White,” Connie said. “He said he had a pen pal, but I had no idea who it was.”

Vicky, who was tasked with transporting prisoners, had said she would take Casey to the courthouse for a mental health evaluation, police said. The appointment was fabricated and the duo left their police car in the parking lot of a local mall and had not been seen since, according to authorities.

Casey was serving a 75-year sentence for attempted murder, burglary, robbery, kidnapping and animal cruelty. He was charged with murder after confessing to the stabbing of Connie Ridgeway, 58.

His mother claimed he committed this crime to get a change of scenery in the rural county jail.

“The only reason he came to Lauderdale County was to get out of the jail he was in,” she said.

“He wrote a letter saying he murdered this woman. But he didn’t actually murder her, he just did it to get back here.

“He just wanted out of that prison because it was so bad and there was no food.”

Casey and Vicky are suspected of being armed and dangerous, according to investigators. An ex-girlfriend of the escaped inmate, who once testified he tried to kill her, told a local outlet she was afraid he would try to find her.

“They have [local police] Promised to step up patrols, but we’re freaking out. We don’t know if he’ll show up and take us out like he tried before,” the unidentified woman told WAAY 13 from an out-of-state hideout.

Despite dire warnings from officials and fears from previous victims, Connie stood by her son when asked if he was dangerous.

“I do not believe that. He’s not a monster, I put it that way,” she said before abruptly ending the conversation.

“He’s not at all the monster they make him out to be.”

Up to $15,000 in reward money was offered for information leading to the suspect’s arrest.