A convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison spent part of his time on the run hiding in a shed, drinking beer and preparing garlic bread, authorities said.
Jacob Allen Morley escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Oct. 25 and was captured Tuesday. Authorities arrested him without incident after using FLOCK cameras to track his movements, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
“On November 3, 2026, at approximately 9:30 a.m., the Patrol’s Missouri Information Analysis Center and Troop A Communications received information from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that Morley may be traveling westbound on Interstate 70 near Independence,” the Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a statement. “The suspect vehicle was located using FLOCK cameras, and officers began to deploy to the area. With additional use of FLOCK cameras, the suspect vehicle was located by undercover officers traveling south on Missouri 291 in Liberty.”
Jacob Allen Morley, 28, was serving a life sentence for the 2022 killing of Cody Birchfield when he escaped from a Tennessee prison, according to correctional officials. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
Investigators believe Morley stayed for some time in a shed near Marion, Illinois, that hunters used occasionally. The shed was about 127 miles from the prison he escaped from.
Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich said investigators found evidence that Morley drank beer and made garlic bread, along with other food, while staying there. Diederich said Morley also left a handwritten apology after taking a truck from the farm. Authorities allege that he took clothing and three firearms from the property.
A side-by-side image shows Jacob Morley before his escape from a Tennessee prison and after his capture in Missouri. (Tennessee DOC, Missouri Highway Patrol)
The Illinois sheriff believes Morley walked about three miles after abandoning another truck he had been using since escaping from prison.
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“How he ended up in Marion is kind of a mystery,” Diederich said.
Authorities previously reported that Morley stole a pickup truck from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, about 2 miles south of the prison, at approximately 1 a.m. Oct. 26, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Law enforcement found the truck abandoned in Marion, Illinois, early the following morning, but Morley was not there.
Beyond his first-degree murder conviction, Morley was found guilty of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest.
Security footage shows convicted murderer Jacob Allen Morley inside the Northwest Correctional Complex before his escape. Authorities said surveillance video captured him getting through a prison fence. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
Morley is serving a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield.
Birchfield vanished in early February 2022 after he was last seen in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Investigators with the Carter County Sheriff’s Office found signs inside his home that a “violent crime” had taken place, WJHL reported.
Authorities found the stolen Ford F-350 that escaped Tennessee inmate Jacob Morley allegedly drove after fleeing prison abandoned in Marion, Illinois. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Morley was arrested March 2, 2022, after a police pursuit that ended at the North Carolina state line. Following his arrest, authorities found Birchfield’s body beneath Morley’s home.
