Tennessee Life-Sentence Murderer Jacob Morley Escapes Prison, Steals Truck: TBI Most Wanted, $2,500 Reward
A life-sentence inmate escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, in Lake County, Tennessee: Jacob Morley, 28, breached the prison's perimeter fence late on October 25 wearing his prison uniform and remained at large as of the afternoon of October 26. According to the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), staff discovered Morley unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. on October 25 and began an emergency count and facility search; security footage later showed him leaving after breaching the perimeter fence, and how he got through the fence remains unclear.
Video obtained by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) shows Morley stealing a white 2008 Ford F-350 pickup, Tennessee plate 138BBQV, from the 400 block of Keystone Drive in Tiptonville at about 1 a.m. on October 26. The truck carries an air compressor in its bed and is marked with the name Lindamood Planting Company. The Hornbeak Fire Department, about 15 miles from the prison, said its cameras captured the truck passing at 1:18 a.m.; the vehicle was also seen in Troy.
The TBI has placed Morley on its Most Wanted list, offering up to $2,500 for information leading to his arrest, and says he should be considered dangerous. He is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall, about 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. Tips can be called in to 911, the TDOC at (844) 832-3463, or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND; officials urge the public not to approach him.
Morley was convicted in the 2022 Carter County killing of Cody Birchfield, who was reported missing in February 2022 after last being seen in Elizabethton; Birchfield's body was found weeks later in a box under Morley's house, and Morley was arrested in North Carolina in early March 2022. He was convicted of first-degree murder as well as aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, evading arrest and vandalism, and was sentenced to life in prison in 2025.
The Northwest Correctional Complex can house up to 1,776 male inmates. Morley is the second inmate to escape TDOC custody within a week: Gregory Redden, 63, slipped his handcuffs and leg shackles and walked out of a Nashville hospital during a weekly treatment on October 21, and was recaptured several hours later.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：从西侧远望的田纳西州西北惩教综合体（Northwest Correctional Complex），Morley 即从该监狱逃出（资料图）。图片：Nyttend 摄，公共领域（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: The Northwest Correctional Complex in Tennessee, seen from the west (file photo). Credit: Nyttend, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2026-10-26Life-sentence inmate escapes late on Oct. 25; Tennessee agencies mount full-scale manhunt on Oct. 26
- 2026-10-27Tennessee Life-Sentence Murderer Jacob Morley Escapes Prison, Steals Truck: TBI Most Wanted, $2,500 RewardThis story
- 2026-10-28Follow-Up: Stolen Truck of Escaped Tennessee Inmate Morley Found in Marion, Illinois; Manhunt Continues as Combined Reward Reaches $15,000
- 2026-10-31Follow-up: Escaped Murderer Morley Had Crossed State Lines Before Local Police Were Alerted, Prosecutor Says; Reward Rises to $17,500
