Tennessee Prison Escape: Jacob Morley Steals Marked Work Truck

Jacob Allen Morley, 28, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Sunday night. He was serving a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield.

Prison staff discovered Morley was missing around 11:30 p.m. Sunday and initiated an emergency headcount of the facility. Security footage reviewed by officials shows him breaching a perimeter fence while still wearing his prison uniform.

At approximately 1:00 a.m. Monday, surveillance cameras recorded Morley taking a vehicle from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, located about two miles south of the prison. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation identified the stolen vehicle as a white 2008 Ford F-350 with Tennessee license plate 138BBQV.

The pickup truck bears the name Lindamood Planting Company on its side and carries an air compressor in the bed, according to investigators. Morley is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has placed Morley on the state's most wanted list and advises the public to consider him dangerous. Federal and state law enforcement agencies are assisting in the search. The public can report information by calling 844-832-3463.

Morley was convicted in 2025 of first-degree murder, burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence, and evading arrest. Birchfield disappeared in early February 2022 after being last seen in Elizabethton. Carter County Sheriff's Office investigators found signs of a violent crime at Birchfield's residence.

Police arrested Morley on March 2, 2022, following a chase that reached the North Carolina border. Birchfield's body was later recovered from underneath Morley's home. During the trial, Morley's former girlfriend, Landree Sheperd, testified that he stated he had killed Birchfield.