A copper-colored car matching one that an Alabama corrections officer purchased before disappearing with an inmate was found Thursday in Tennessee, officials said Friday.
The U.S. Marshals Service on Thursday released pictures of the 2007 Ford Edge they said Vicky White bought before allegedly helping capital murder suspect Casey White escape from the Lauderdale County Detention Center last month.
A spokesperson for the Williamson County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Office said a car of that description was found abandoned there Thursday after the office got a tip. Williamson County is located just south of Nashville.
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Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said during a Friday afternoon press conference that the vehicle was abandoned on the side of road in Williamson County on April 29, the day the two disappeared.
“That means about a two-hour drive from here, so, about three-hours-and-fifty minutes after they left Lawrence, Alabama, they abandoned that vehicle,” Singleton said.
“We’re assuming … they probably had mechanical problems with it, because it was abandoned pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, on the side of the county road, where it would obviously draw attention and be found.”
Singleton added that investigators are canvassing the area where the car was found, looking for witnesses and also investigating if any vehicles were stolen in the area.
The vehicle was spray painted “in a botched up job,” Singleton said.
He said the Ford Edge was towed before investigators even realized the two had disappeared together, adding, “There is no fault or blame on anyone.”
Singleton said on Friday authorities are almost at square one again. He noted the two had a head start on authorities. Reports that Vicky White withdrew $90,000 from multiple banks before she disappeared were accurate, and investigators assume the two could be armed with guns that she owned, Singleton said.
