The fugitives paid him $100 to use his ID card to book a room at the Motel 41 in Evansville, Indiana, Vanderburgh County Sheriff David Wedding said.
The man did not commit a crime by taking the money and booking the room, Wedding told CNN. “To our knowledge, we don’t think he knew they were criminals,” he said.
Casey White told investigators about the transaction during an interview following his arrest, Wedding said.
The man was arrested on unrelated drug charges May 12 and is being held on a $500 bond. He corroborated White’s story while behind bars, Wedding said. Police have said he is a sex offender and is currently homeless.
Casey White, 38, is now being held at the William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, a state prison in Bessemer, Alabama.
He allegedly confessed to killing Ridgeway in 2020, but later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Pursuit ended in dramatic crash
The manager of the Indiana motel told CNN he never saw the fugitives and didn’t know they were staying there.
Investigators believe they had been in Evansville since at least May 2, when a city police officer proactively checked the license plate of a 2006 Ford F-150 truck, Evansville Police Chief Billy Bolin said last week.
Authorities now believe the pair had bought the truck in Tennessee — but the May 2 check did not indicate any connection between the truck and the fugitives, Bolin said.
Hours before the pursuit, US marshals announced surveillance images from the car wash showed Casey White there with the truck on May 3. Investigators learned that the pair left the car wash in a Cadillac, Wedding said, adding he didn’t know how they obtained that vehicle.
The same day, an Evansville police officer noticed the Cadillac in the motel’s parking lot and “notified us immediately,” Wedding said.
Law enforcement officers saw Vicky White exit a room wearing a wig, US Marshal Marty Keely said. Then, she and Casey White got into the Cadillac and drove away.
Authorities gave chase. The pair “fled out of the hotel parking lot, northbound on US Highway 41 (and) turned in at an industry known as Anchor here in Evansville,” Wedding said last week.
“They went through the parking lot (and) went through a grass field. The members of the US task force basically rammed the vehicle and pushed it into a ditch,” Wedding said at a news conference.
The car wrecked and rolled over, Keely said. Casey White was driving the car, according to the US Marshals.
Casey White reportedly told authorities to help “his wife” who had shot herself in the head and told them he didn’t do it, according to Keely. Casey White and Vicky White were not married to investigators’ knowledge, Keely said.
Authorities preliminarily believe that Vicky White shot herself “once the vehicle crashed,” Wedding said.
