A convicted murderer serving a life sentence has seemingly vanished after escaping from a Tennessee prison, stealing a pickup truck and traveling more than 100 miles before the vehicle was discovered abandoned in Illinois, triggering an urgent multi-state manhunt.
Jacob Allen Morley, 28, remains on the run after slipping through a security fence at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville late Sunday night. Now, with his getaway vehicle recovered but no sign of the fugitive, authorities are racing to determine where he went next.
The search took a troubling turn Tuesday when police discovered the white 2008 Ford F-350 parked behind a shopping center in Marion, Illinois, approximately 120 miles from the prison. Surveillance footage showed the truck had been left there around 4 a.m., but investigators found no evidence that Morley was still nearby.
“He has vanished,” Marion Police Chief David Fitts told The Associated Press, adding that authorities had received no reports of additional vehicle thefts or other suspicious activity in the area.
Morley’s escape began sometime before 11:30 p.m. Sunday, October 25, when prison staff realized he was missing during a security check. A review of surveillance footage revealed that he had breached the facility’s perimeter fence and fled while still wearing his prison uniform.
Just hours later, around 1 a.m. Monday, cameras at a nearby farm captured Morley climbing into an unlocked pickup truck and driving away. The vehicle was subsequently spotted traveling through another Tennessee community before resurfacing across state lines.
The circumstances are particularly alarming given Morley’s criminal history.
He was serving life in prison for the 2022 murder of his coworker, Cody Birchfield, whose disappearance sparked an investigation in eastern Tennessee. Birchfield’s body was eventually discovered concealed inside a box beneath Morley’s home, a disturbing revelation that helped unravel the murder case.
Morley was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, evading arrest and vandalism. During the original investigation, he also led authorities on a pursuit that ended in North Carolina.
For Birchfield’s family, news that his convicted killer is back on the streets has reopened painful wounds.
Carrie Norman, Birchfield’s sister, told ABC News that she was “reliving this horrible tragedy all over again.”
She expressed disbelief that she was once again asking the public to help locate the man responsible for her brother’s death, despite his life sentence.
The escape has also raised fresh questions about security in Tennessee’s correctional system. Morley is the second inmate to escape state correctional custody within a week, although the other prisoner was recaptured within hours.
Meanwhile, law enforcement agencies in multiple states have been alerted, with local police, state investigators and federal authorities working to track Morley’s movements.
The reward for information leading to his arrest has now climbed to $15,000, with contributions from the Tennessee governor’s office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Morley is described as approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. Authorities warn that he should be considered dangerous and that anyone who encounters him should not attempt to approach or detain him.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
For now, investigators have recovered the truck that carried Morley out of Tennessee, but the question remains unanswered: Where did he go after leaving it behind?
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