CONNIE Ridgeway was an Alabama resident who was murdered in 2015.
Netflix’s documentary Jailbreak: Love on the Run on Netflix details the romance of the man accused of her murder and the corrections officer who helped him escape.
Here’s everything you need to know about Connie before the documentary drops on September 25, 2024.
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Who was Connie Ridgeway?
Connie Ridgeway was Rogersville, Alabama, whose birthday fell on July 4; Independence Day in America.
She was known as a very patriotic woman who was well-known and active in her community.
Connie also had two sons named Cameron and Austin Williams.
Connie was said to have enjoyed going to church, making crafts and spending time with Cameron and Austin.
Reportedly, she would even give her elderly neighbors car rides when they needed them.
Austin described her to Oxygen.com as “a super sweet, typical Christian, southern lady”.
He continued: “She was always smiling, always happy. A person who was in that community where everybody there just loved her.”
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How did Connie Ridgeway die?
Unbeknownst to law enforcement officers and to her neighbours, Connie was stabbed to death in her flat.
On October 23, 2023, officers responded to a welfare check request at her apartment block named Meadowland Apartments.
Once there, they found Connie dead on her floor.
It was an incident that rocked Rogersville, Alabama.
Former Rogersville police officer Mark White told Oxygen.com that an event like “that turns a little town like Rogersville upside down”.
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Who killed Connie Ridgeway?
There was very little evidence left at the scene, which made catching Connie’s killer very difficult.
For five years, her case went unsolved but a breakthrough finally came in 2020.
That year, Casey White confessed to Connie’s murder.
Austin described the confession as like having a huge weight lifted.
Casey later recanted his confession and pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Then, while awaiting trial in Lauderdale County Jail, he allegedly began a relationship with Vicky White, a corrections officer.
Everything changed when it was revealed that Vicky had helped Casey escape prison, launching an 11-day manhunt for the couple.
The chase ended in a car crash in Indiana on May 9, 2022.
Although Casey survived and surrendered, his partner Vicky died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
A year later, Casey pleaded guilty to first-degree escape and was sentenced to life in prison.
The trial for the capital murder charges was dropped, as it would be a significant expenditure of state resources.
Reportedly, Connie’s sons support the decision.
How to watch Jailbreak: Love on the Run
Jailbreak: Love on the Run tells the story of Casey and Vicky’s romance and escape from prison, as well as the shock ending to the manhunt.
The documentary will land on Netflix on Wednesday 25 September, 2024.
It is the latest in Netflix’s huge library of murder and crime documentaries and dramatisations, which cover cases from the Mendendez brother’s crimes and Miami drug boss Griselda Blanco.
