Jacob Allen Morley, 28, stole a white heavy-duty pickup truck during his getaway. A Tennessee inmate serving a life sentence for murder has escaped from prison, prompting a manhunt.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said that Morley escaped the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee , on Sunday, October 25. Prison staff found he was unaccounted for around 11:30 p.m. Morley was seen on security video Monday, October 26, breaching a fence while in prison clothing. He was seen in video around 1 am, stealing a vehicle on the 400 block of Keystone Drive, roughly two miles south of the prison, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. The car Morley stole is a white 2008 Ford F-350 with Tennessee license plate 138BBQV. Morley is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 240 pounds. “Morley has been added to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted list, and a reward of up to $2,500 is available for information leading to his arrest. Call 911 immediately or contact TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND,” Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a release . Morley was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in 2025 of murdering Cody Birchfield three years ago. In early 2022, Birchfield disappeared after being last seen in Elizabethton, Tennessee. On March 2, 2022, Morley was arrested following a police chase that went to the North Carolina state line.
Sunday and immediately conducted an emergency count and search of the facility, according to a Tennessee Department of Correction statement shared with Fox News Digital. Officials said that it has an air compressor in the bed. “TDOC, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, have searched and cleared buildings and structures in the surrounding area, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol has deployed aviation assets and state troopers to assist with the search,” it added. Investigators from the Carter County Sheriff’s Office saw indications that a “violent crime” took place inside his house, according to WJHL. She revealed that Morlet said at one point that “he f—ing killed him.”
It is marked with the name Lindamood Planting Company on the side. He has brown hair and green eyes. Residents in the area are asked to check home security and doorbell cameras, trail and hunting cameras, and other surveillance systems for possible sightings or activity. Anyone who sees Morley or has information about his whereabouts should not approach him. Along with the first-degree murder conviction, he was also found guilty of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest. Birchfield’s body was found underneath Morley’s home following the arrest. Morley’s former girlfriend, Landree Sheperd, testified at Morley’s trial.
