Tennessee authorities are searching for Jacob Morley, 28, serving a life sentence for murder, who breached the fence at the Northwest Correctional Complex on October 25 and stole a truck later found in Marion, Illinois.
A manhunt is under way in Tennessee for a convicted murderer who escaped from a state prison by breaching its perimeter fence and stealing a truck, and who remained at large on Tuesday.
Jacob Morley, 28, is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder and was discovered missing from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville at about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 25. Security camera footage showed him breaching the perimeter fence and leaving in his prison uniform, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction. He then stole a white 2008 Ford F-350 with Tennessee plates, belonging to the Lindamood Planting Company, at about 1 a.m. on October 26, and was filmed passing the Hornbeak Fire Department, about 15 miles from the prison, at about 1:18 a.m. The truck was found on Tuesday afternoon in Marion, Illinois, but Morley's location remained unknown. He is on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted list, with a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to his arrest.
Morley was convicted in 2025 of the first-degree murder of Cody Birchfield, whose body was found beneath Morley's home weeks after Birchfield was reported missing in February 2022, and was also convicted of aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, evading arrest and vandalism. His escape is the second from Tennessee Department of Correction custody in a week, raising questions about prison security that officials have not yet answered. Law enforcement has searched buildings and structures near the prison, about 90 miles north of Memphis, and the bureau has urged residents in the area where the truck was stolen to check home security, doorbell and trail cameras.
The department's and the bureau's statements confirm the timeline, the fence breach, the stolen truck and its recovery in Illinois, as reported by CNN and CBS News. How Morley got through the fence remains unclear in the official account, and no authority has said where he went after abandoning the truck, so both points remain unconfirmed rather than explained.
The search now turns on the Illinois trail: investigators will work from where the truck was found to establish whether Morley had help, transport or a destination, while residents in both states are warned not to approach him and to call 911 if they see him.