(NewsNation) — Almost no one could have suspected that Vicky White, the longtime assistant director of corrections in Lauderdale County, Alabama, had such a secret dark side.

Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly has worked with Vicky for 16 years. He didn’t think White would ever help a prisoner like Casey White escape, then go into hiding with him, as police believe she did.

“Solid, was my word for her. So when this happened it was such a shock. She was not a big talker. But got things done,” Connolly said. “It is like the stages of grief. You say, “This is unbelievable. This didn’t happen.’ Then you get to the point, where I am now, and I am mad that she did this.”

Inmates inside the jail are also shocked.

“I never thought she would break any rules or anything like that. She is the person you would go to if you had a problem and she would fix it,” an ex-inmate said.

Detectives are piecing together the days before Vicky vanished with inmate Casey White.

There have been reports Vicky was spotted inside a department store buying men’s clothing. Workers inside told NewsNation’s Brian Entin they could not comment.

Others report seeing Vicky at an adult store before she took off. A woman working inside told Entin that her lawyer advised her not to talk about whether or not Vicky was a customer.

Investigators confirmed to NewsNation that the escaped Alabama inmate and his corrections officer do share a “special relationship.”

Vicky lived in a house 18 miles from the Lauderdale County jail, but sold the house days before she disappeared, well under market value.

Vicky’s mom, Pat, lives right next door to the house Vicky lived in. She did not want to go on camera, but told NewsNation that this is not the daughter she knew, and that everything has come as a total shock.

However, there are some people who knew Vicky who are not as surprised.

“Nobody is surprised. Nobody that worked there with her is surprised,” Tyson Johnson said.

Vicky was Tyson Johnson’s boss for seven years at the jail before he says he was wrongfully terminated.

He says she is smart and cunning.

“Honestly, I don’t think she will be found. She is calculated enough that she has thought this entire thing through. She definitely outsmarted the sheriff. She outsmarted the administrator of the jail,” Johnson said.

The U.S. Marshals Service recently released rendered photos, showing Casey White’s tattoos and also what Vicky might look like with brown hair and no bangs.

Investigators say Casey White and Vicky White are believed to be armed and dangerous, carrying a shotgun and an AR-15-style rifle. Anyone who sees the pair is urged not to approach them, but instead call 911 immediately.