Suspected killer Casey White planned to engage in a shootout with authorities who were chasing him and Alabama corrections official Vicky White in Indiana but the escaped inmate was prevented from doing so because officers rammed the fugitives' car into a ditch, a sheriff said Tuesday. Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding told reporters Tuesday authorities found several guns in their car after they were captured.
"He said that he was probably going to have a shootout at the stake of both of them losing their lives," Wedding said, referring to Casey White. "Their plan was pretty faulty. They're criminals, their plan was faulty, and it failed, thank God."
The chase brought an end to a nationwide manhunt. Vicky White, who was accused of helping the capital murder suspect escape from jail last month, died hours later from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to authorities.
"Casey quickly surrendered, and his immediate words to our team was … 'Please help my wife. She just shot herself in the head,'" U.S. Deputy Marshal Chad Hunt told CBS affiliate WTVF-TV.
During Tuesday's press conference, Wedding said the two weren't married but that Casey White and Vicky White had a "mutual" relationship. "He was not forcing her," the sheriff said.
Authorities don't believe Casey White shot Vicky White, and Wedding said an autopsy would be conducted later Tuesday.
Wedding said the couple had about $29,000 in cash, multiple wigs, at least four handguns and an AR-15 rifle when they were captured. The sheriff said authorities were investigating how they obtained the weapons.
Wedding provided few details of Casey White's interview with investigators, but the sheriff said White signed a waiver of extradition and would be heading back to Alabama, facing no charges in Indiana.
The couple had paid for a 14-day stay at a nearby hotel, the sheriff said. "He said that he was just trying to find a place to hide out and lay low," Wedding said. "They thought, you know, they'd driven long enough that they wanted to stop for a while, get their bearings straight and then figure out their next place to travel."
The couple weren't believed to know anyone in the area, Wedding said.
An Evansville, Indiana, police officer on Monday spotted the most recent vehicle the pair were believed to be using, a Cadillac, in the hotel's parking lot, and authorities then started conducting surveillance on the hotel, Wedding said.
The couple then fled from the parking lot, starting the chase that led to their capture. Casey White suffered "a couple bumps and bruises" from the crash, Wedding said.
Authorities became aware of the Cadillac after a Ford F-150 pickup truck Wedding said they purchased was found at a car wash. Casey White and Vicky White were seen in surveillance video leaving the car wash in the Cadillac, which Wedding later said in a statement was purchased while they were staying in Evansville.
Wedding said he wouldn't disclose when Alabama authorities would be picking up Casey White for safety reasons.