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FLORENCE, Ala. – Investigators are working to determine if a vehicle discovered in Evansville, Indiana, is linked to the Alabama prison escapee and fugitive prison guard who fled from an Alabama jail late last month.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshal Service confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday that agents are investigating a possible link between the pair and the abandoned vehicle. Local news station WAAY 31 suggests it is the same vehicle reported stolen from Tennessee shortly after the couple ditched the getaway car used earlier in escape.
Additional details about the vehicle were not immediately available.
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Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said he was “glad” to hear of the news of the new possible development in the case.
“I hope it pans out,” he told Fox News Digital. “That’s what we need right now, is the car description, so maybe it’ll pan out.”
Monday marked Day 11 of the manhunt for the pair, who are not related. Vicky, 56, and Casey, 38 had been in the throes of a “jailhouse romance” when they slipped away from the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, Alabama, on April 29, Singleton previously told reporters.
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IMAGES OF GETAWAY CAR:
On Friday, the USMS revealed they had received a tip around 11 p.m. Thursday about a vehicle matching the description of the 2007 Ford Edge, and had since been able to confirm the SUV was the same one used by the fugitive pair.
With the help of the tip, they were able to track the vehicle to a tow lot in Williamson County, Tennessee, about two hours north of where the manhunt first began, the office said.
Tennessee’s Williamson County Sheriff’s Office said in a Friday tweet that the fugitive vehicle had been reported abandoned “a week ago” in Bethesda. “There is NO sign the two are still in our area,” the tweet stated.
ALABAMA PRISON FUGITIVES CASEY WHITE, VICKY WHITE ‘WOULD BE FOOLS TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY:’ LONGTIME USMS BOSS
Authorities later shared images showing that the SUV’s rear bumper had been spray-painted a distinct green color before it was discovered. The SUV was returned to Alabama investigators just after 12:30 p.m. Monday for further investigation.
The vehicle was pulled by a truck with Alabama license plates into the Lauderdale County courthouse parking lot, where investigators with cameras took pictures and confirmed the VIN number before towing it to a storage facility.
Image shows the SUV believed to have been used by fugitives Vicky White and Casey Cole White. The vehicle was discovered on April 29 in Bethesda, Tennessee, and was brought back to Florence, Alabama on May 9, 2022.
(Fox News Digital )
Singleton said his office is investigating whether the pair ditched the Ford SUV because the vehicle broke down.
“I think that vehicle was abandoned,” he said. “I don’t think as part of the plan.”
He said his office has already received hundreds of tips so far, and he is “confident” that investigators would track the fugitives down.
“Every day we get new leads. I’m confident that’s how we’re gonna catch them,” he said. “Somebody is gonna call in a tip, and it’s gonna be the tip.”
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Dave Katz, CEO of Global Security group and a former DEA special agent who took part in the 1990 manhunt for the mobster Constabile “Gus” Farace, previously told Fox News Digital that the public should “assume” that Casey’s White’s history of carjackings “allows them to change transportation easily.”
Officials are now offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads law enforcement to the couple. Anyone with information on their whereabouts is asked to call the U.S. Marshals at 1-800-336-0102.