Casey Cole White today pleaded guilty to his escape a year ago from the Lauderdale County jail.

The plea, according to WAAY, came during a routine hearing on motions in anticipation for his trial, scheduled for next month, on felony murder charges.

WHNT reported that White entered his plea in exchange for the felony murder charge involving Vicky White, the jailer who facilitated his escape, being dropped.

“It wasn’t supposed to happen like that,” White said in court, as members of Vicky White’s family listened. “Things happened…and we was in love.”

According to him, their plan was to make a new life together.

White, 39, was charged with murder in the May 9, 2022 death of Vicky White, the jail officer who walked out with Casey White on April 29, 2022.

The two were at the center of an 11-day manhunt before Casey White was captured in Indiana.

Vicky White, who was not related to Casey, took her own life with a gunshot to the head as police were closing in, according to authorities.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said Casey White was charged with felony murder because Vicky White’s death occurred during the commission of a felony – escaping from jail.

Casey White also faces a capital murder trial set for Aug. 14 for the 2015 slaying of Connie Ridgeway in Rogersville. When he escaped from jail, White was being held for the trial, then just weeks away. That trial was delayed in the aftermath of the escape and White retaining a new team of attorneys.

White is currently serving a 75-year sentence for convictions stemming from an array of 2015 charges, including attempted murder.