Escaped Tennessee inmate captured, authorities say
Jacob Allen Morley, the convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison, is in custody, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday.
He was captured more than a week after he escaped on Oct. 25 from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville — a town of about 3,500 people roughly 100 miles north of Memphis — and, according to authorities, stole a truck that was later found abandoned in Illinois.
The TBI announced that Morley was captured near Kansas City, Missouri, and was in custody Tuesday.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a statement that it received information from the TBI at around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday that Morley may have been traveling west on Interstate 70 near Independence. Morley’s vehicle was located by Flock Safety cameras, the statement said.
Officers from multiple agencies moved into the area, as it “was believed the suspect was armed with multiple weapons,” the statement said. A police helicopter then spotted Morley’s car and followed it.
Security video of escaped inmate Jacob Allen Morley.
Morley’s car “attempted to travel off the roadway and became stuck, at which time a trooper with the Patrol confronted Morley and took him into custody without incident,” the statement said.
He was taken into custody around 11:34 a.m., police said.
Prison officials discovered Morley, 28, was missing around 11:30 p.m. Oct. 25. Security video showed he had breached a perimeter fence, the Tennessee Correction Department said in a statement.
“He has been added to the Tennessee Most Wanted list and should be considered dangerous,” it said.
Morley was convicted in 2025 of murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and aggravated burglary in the killing of co-worker Cody Birchfield, 34, in 2022, according to court documents shared by the Carter County Clerk’s Office in Tennessee.
In an interview with NBC News, Birchfield’s sister, Carrie Norman, called her brother’s killer “a very dangerous man.”
“And if he gets ahold of any kind of weapon, he will kill somebody,” she said.
Morley shown in a booking photo on July 24, 2025.Tennessee Department of Corrections
In a statement Tuesday afternoon after Morley was taken into custody, Norman thanked authorities and everyone who followed the case.
The white Ford F-350 truck Morley is accused of stealing had passed the Hornbeak Fire Department in the town of Hornbeak, Tennessee, shortly after the theft early Monday. Hornbeak is 12 miles east of Tiptonville.
The fire department posted timestamped still images on its Facebook page from security video showing the truck driving by.
The TBI said Tuesday that the truck was found abandoned in Marion, Illinois, about 123 miles north of Hornbeak. It was left behind a business, police there and in Tennessee said.
Morley was accused of shooting Birchfield in the back of the head. Birchfield’s body was found in a large metal box under Morley’s residence in northeast Tennessee, court documents say.
A motive was unclear, and Morley claimed self-defense at his trial. He reported that he had been hospitalized multiple times for mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, and he had no previous felony offenses, according to the records.
Morley was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The Associated Press, Matt Lavietes, Joe Kottke, Dan Gallo and Emanuella Grinberg contributed.