Jacob Allen Morley escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Sunday. Authorities have not said exactly when he breached the prison.
Correctional staff discovered Morley was missing at approximately 11:30 p.m. A subsequent review of security footage showed him passing through the facility’s perimeter fence. Tennessee Highway Patrol dispatch audio indicated Morley was last seen at the prison around 4 p.m. Sunday.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said surveillance video later showed Morley taking a pickup truck from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, about 2 miles south of the prison, at roughly 1 a.m. Monday. Officers found the vehicle abandoned early Tuesday in Marion, Illinois, but Morley was not there.
Security footage shows convicted murderer Jacob Allen Morley inside the Northwest Correctional Complex before his Sunday escape. Officials said the video captured him breaching the prison fence. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
Tiptonville Police Chief Joe England told News Outlet that his department was not informed that an inmate might be missing until 4:40 a.m. Monday—more than five hours after prison employees realized Morley could not be accounted for.
Officers went to the prison and began assessing the situation with correctional staff. England said that at 5:14 a.m., officers notified the rest of the department that the escape had been confirmed.
Prison officials then contacted Lake County Central Dispatch at 6:20 a.m. to formally report the confirmed escape. The dispatch center handles 911 calls and coordinates law enforcement services.
That alert prompted a wider search in the area around the prison.
Correctional officials said Jacob Allen Morley, 28, was serving a life sentence for the 2022 killing of Cody Birchfield when he escaped from the Tennessee prison Sunday. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
“The Tiptonville Police Department immediately coordinated with the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a search of the surrounding area,” England said. “The Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and numerous other state, local and federal law enforcement agencies also participated in the search efforts.”
England said police were not told about a potentially missing pickup until 2:15 p.m. Monday, nearly 13 hours after the vehicle was taken. The theft was confirmed at 2:30 p.m. He added that the truck was not stolen within Tiptonville city limits.
Jacob Allen Morley fled a Tennessee prison and allegedly took a pickup truck that was later discovered abandoned in Illinois. (Fox News)
Escape Timeline:
- 4 p.m.: Tennessee Highway Patrol dispatch audio obtained by News Outlet identified the prison as Morley’s last known location.
- 11:30 p.m.: Northwest Correctional Complex staff determined that Morley was unaccounted for, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction.
- 1 a.m.: A pickup truck was taken from Keystone Drive in unincorporated Lake County.
- 4:40 a.m.: Lake County Central Dispatch received the first report of a potentially missing inmate and notified officers. It was the first notification received by Tiptonville police.
- 5:14 a.m.: Tiptonville officers at the prison informed the rest of the department that the escape had been confirmed.
- 6:20 a.m.: Prison officials formally notified Lake County Central Dispatch of the confirmed escape. Tiptonville police began coordinating the search with TDOC and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. The Tennessee Highway Patrol, TBI and other state, local and federal agencies joined the effort.
- 2:15 p.m.: Tiptonville police learned for the first time that a truck might be missing.
- 2:30 p.m.: Authorities confirmed the truck had been stolen.
- 10 a.m.: Marion, Illinois, police were notified that the truck had been found abandoned.
A map identifies major locations in the search for escaped Tennessee murderer Jacob Allen Morley, including the prison, the site of the alleged truck theft, a reported sighting and the Illinois location where the vehicle was abandoned. (Google Maps)
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson told News Outlet that the agency was notified of the escape Monday morning but did not provide a specific time.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to questions from News Outlet about when it was first informed. The Tennessee Department of Correction also did not answer multiple requests for comment.
Cameron Lindsay, a former federal prison warden, called the delay in alerting police “100% unacceptable.”
“Part of any correctional facility’s basic tenets of operations should include emergency plans. And one of those plans that you have for an emergency is an escape. And part of your escape plans entails notifying law enforcement, local law enforcement, state law enforcement, U.S. Marshals Service and everybody in the community. You need to get that word out immediately. So, for them to have that kind of delay raises a huge red flag,” Lindsay said.
“And it begs the question, why, why did they delay? Because it is 100% unacceptable in the profession of corrections.”
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Authorities said the Ford F-350 driven by escaped Tennessee inmate Jacob Morley after his prison breakout was found abandoned in Marion, Illinois. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Lindsay said local police should have been contacted as soon as prison staff determined that Morley was missing.
Jonathan Gilliam, a retired FBI special agent, said residents should also have received an alert much earlier.
“That community should put out an emergency text to everyone to make sure none of their family members are missing as he could have killed or kidnapped someone after ditching the truck,” Gilliam said.
The TBI announced Wednesday afternoon that the reward for information leading to Morley’s capture had risen to $15,000. The total includes $7,500 from the governor’s office, $5,000 from the U.S. Marshals Service and $2,500 from the TBI.
Morley is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs about 240 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes. The TBI warned that he should be considered dangerous and said he had been added to Tennessee’s most-wanted list.
Along with his first-degree murder conviction, Morley was convicted of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest.
He was 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 that a “violent crime” had taken place inside his home, according to WJHL.
Morley was arrested March 2, 2022, following a police pursuit that reached the North Carolina state line. After his arrest, authorities found Birchfield’s body beneath Morley’s home.
Landree Sheperd, Morley’s former girlfriend, testified at his trial that he once said, “he f—— killed him.”
The escape adds to a period of turmoil for the Tennessee Department of Correction, coming less than a month after the state’s failed execution attempt involving death row inmate Christa Pike.
Pike survived the Sept. 30 execution attempt after the state administered two doses of pentobarbital and took her to a hospital. Gov. Bill Lee subsequently suspended Tennessee’s remaining scheduled execution for the year and ordered an independent review of what went wrong.
Convicted killer Christa Gail Pike listens to proceedings in April 2008 at Knox County Criminal Court while seeking a new trial in the 1995 killing of fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer. (USA Today Network via Reuters Connect)
Phil Keith, the former Knoxville police chief who handled the case, previously told News Outlet that Pike displayed “no remorse” during questioning after an attack a psychiatrist later described at trial as involving “satanic elements.”
“She represents pure evil,” Keith said of Pike.
Anyone with information about Morley’s whereabouts is asked to call 844-832-3463.
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