Corrections officer Vicky White and escaped inmate Casey White enlisted the help of an unwitting accomplice to rent their love shack hotel, police said.
With their faces plastered all over the news as part of a nationwide manhunt after fleeing Alabama, the partners in crime paid a man $100 to book a motel room for them in Evansville, Ind., according to Vanderburgh County, Ind., Sheriff David Marriage.
Investigators did not name their accidental assistant, but the Evansville Courier & Press identified him as Shawn Eugene Gardner, 51, a homeless convicted sex offender.
In exchange for $100, Gardner used his own ID to rent the room at Motel 41, where the Whites’ car was eventually spotted by police, leading to a car chase, Vicky White’s suicide, and repossession. by Casey White.
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Gardner was not charged with aiding white people, as police do not believe he had any idea who they were, but was arrested on charges unrelated to possession of methamphetamine, possession of a syringe and being a repeat offender, according to the Courier & Press.
After a car wash employee tipped off investigators, Indiana police chased the officer and his lover through Evansville, eventually managing to ram their car and flip it. Before officers could reach her, Vicky White shot herself in the head, later dying in hospital. Casey White was taken into custody and has since been extradited to Alabama.
The inmate, who was serving a 75-year sentence for threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend and other crimes in a multi-state spree, was awaiting trial for the 2015 stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway.