The motel room in Indiana used as a hideout by a former corrections officer from Alabama and the capital murder suspect she allegedly helped escape has generated a waiting list and is drawing higher prices, a motel receptionist said Monday.
The former corrections officer, Vicky White, and the inmate, Casey White, fled together from the Lauderdale County Jail in Florence, Alabama, on April 29 and managed to elude trailing authorities for 11 days.
Authorities said the two had a relationship for at least two years. Vicky White, 56, and Casey White, 38, are not related.
Their time as fugitives ended on May 9 in Evansville, Indiana, about 300 miles north of the Alabama jail, when authorities tracked them down at the Motel 41 and a short car chase ensued.
Casey White was driving a Cadillac sedan when authorities rammed it and it tipped on its side in a ditch. Shortly after, Vicky White took her life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound and Casey White was arrested.
Casey White had planned on getting in a shootout with police, officials said.
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The couple had stayed at the Motel 41 in room 150 for a week, with the intention of staying there another week, before their plan was foiled. The pair initially checked into the motel with the help of a transient man who they paid to book the room.
A desk receptionist, who asked not to be named, told NBC News on Monday that people are interested in renting room 150.
“It’s quite a few people,” the receptionist said about the waiting list. “It’s pretty strange.”
The average room costs $63 per night, the receptionist said. But room 150, on the ground floor, now costs between $75 and $100 to book. The receptionist noted interest from the media has also been high.
“I’m getting like a million phone calls for it.”
Casey White is facing capital murder charges in the stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway. He was already serving time in state prison on other convictions when he was indicted in the 2015 killing, officials said. He has been extradited back to Alabama and it was unclear Monday if he had retained an attorney.
The day they disappeared, Vicky White cleared out from the jail deputies who transported inmates, officials said.
She then escorted Casey White by herself, even though policy required that two deputies transport such inmates, said Lauderdale Sheriff Rick Singleton.
Their cover story was that Casey White had to go to court for a mental health evaluation. But no such evaluation was ever scheduled.
After they were located in Indiana, investigators found a cache of weapons. The pair had four handguns and several semi-automatic weapons, including an AR-15, that were recovered from their car, the sheriff said. Officials also discovered about $29,000 in the car and multiple wigs.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
