Authorities in Tennessee are searching for a prison inmate serving a life sentence for murder after he broke out of a correctional facility and stole a pickup truck to get away.
The Tennessee Department of Correction said Jacob Allen Morley, 28, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville on Sunday. He was convicted in 2025 of the murder of Cody Birchfield, which took place three years earlier.
According to a statement the department provided to Fox News Digital, staff realized Morley was unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday. They immediately carried out an emergency count and a search of the facility. Security video showed Morley getting through a fence while still dressed in prison clothing.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said that at roughly 1 a.m. Monday, video captured Morley taking a vehicle on the 400 block of Keystone Drive, about two miles south of the prison. The stolen truck is a white 2008 Ford F-350 with Tennessee license plate 138BBQV. It carries the name Lindamood Planting Company on its side and has an air compressor in the bed, officials said.
Morley is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said he should be "considered dangerous" and noted that he has been added to the state's most wanted list. Federal and state law enforcement agencies are helping in the search.
Besides first-degree murder, Morley was found guilty of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest.
Birchfield vanished in early February 2022 after he was last seen in Elizabethton, Tennessee. WJHL reported that investigators from the Carter County Sheriff's Office saw signs that a "violent crime" had taken place inside his home.
Morley was arrested on March 2, 2022, following a police chase that reached the North Carolina state line. After his arrest, Birchfield's body was found underneath Morley's home.
At trial, Morley's former girlfriend, Landree Sheperd, testified that the defendant once said "he f, ing killed him."
Anyone with information about Morley's whereabouts is encouraged to call 844-832-3463.
