A convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison was gone for at least five hours before local police were told he was missing, the Tiptonville police chief told News Media.
Jacob Allen Morley escaped Sunday from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Authorities have not said precisely when he breached the facility.
Prison employees discovered at about 11:30 p.m. that Morley could not be accounted for. A subsequent review of security footage showed him crossing the facility’s perimeter fence. Tennessee Highway Patrol dispatch audio indicated that Morley was last seen at the prison around 4 p.m. Sunday.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said surveillance video captured Morley taking a pickup truck from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, about 2 miles south of the prison, at approximately 1 a.m. Monday. Authorities found the vehicle abandoned early Tuesday in Marion, Illinois, but Morley remained at large.
Security footage shows convicted murderer Jacob Allen Morley inside Northwest Correctional Complex before his escape Sunday. Authorities said video captured Morley breaking through a prison fence. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
Tiptonville Police Chief Joe England said in a statement to News Media that his department was not notified of a potentially missing inmate until 4:40 a.m. Monday—more than five hours after prison staff realized Morley was unaccounted for.
Officers went to the prison and began evaluating the situation with correctional staff. England said that at 5:14 a.m., officers notified the rest of the department that Morley’s escape had been confirmed.
At 6:20 a.m., prison officials formally informed Lake County Central Dispatch, the agency responsible for handling 911 calls and coordinating law enforcement services, that an inmate had escaped.
That alert launched a wider search across the area around the prison.
Jacob Allen Morley, 28, was serving a life sentence for the 2022 killing of Cody Birchfield when he escaped from a Tennessee prison Sunday, correctional officials said. (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.”
Although the pickup truck was taken around 1 a.m. Monday, England said police did not learn of a potentially missing vehicle until 2:15 p.m. The truck’s disappearance was confirmed at 2:30 p.m. He added that the vehicle was not stolen inside Tiptonville city limits.
Jacob Allen Morley escaped from a Tennessee prison and allegedly stole a pickup truck that was later found abandoned in Illinois. (Fox News)
Timeline of Events:
A map highlights key locations in the search for escaped Tennessee murderer Jacob Allen Morley, including the prison, the site of the alleged pickup truck theft, a reported sighting and the Illinois location where the vehicle was abandoned. (Google Maps)
A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson told News Media 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 News Media’s request for information about when it was first notified of the escape. The Tennessee Department of Correction also did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Former federal prison Warden Cameron Lindsay called the delay in notifying police about the escape “100% unacceptable” in comments to News Media.
“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.
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“And it begs the question, why, why did they delay? Because it is 100% unacceptable in the profession of corrections.”
The stolen Ford F-350 authorities say escaped Tennessee inmate Jacob Morley drove after fleeing prison was found abandoned in Marion, Ill. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Lindsay said local law enforcement should have immediately been contacted once prison staff realized the inmate was unaccounted for.
Retired FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam told News Media the community should have been notified much sooner.
“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.
TBI said Wednesday afternoon that the reward in the search for Morley is now $15,000 — $7,500 from the governor’s office, $5,000 from the U.S. Marshals and $2,500 from TBI.
Morley is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, and 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said he should be “considered dangerous,” adding Morley is now on the state’s most wanted list.
In addition to the first-degree murder conviction, he was also found guilty of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest.
Morley was serving a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield.
Birchfield disappeared in early February 2022 after he was last seen in Elizabethton, Tennessee. According to WJHL, investigators from the Carter County Sheriff’s Office saw indications that a “violent crime” had occurred inside his house.
On March 2, 2022, Morley was arrested after a police chase that went to the North Carolina state line. After the arrest, Birchfield’s body was found underneath Morley’s home.
Morley’s former girlfriend, Landree Sheperd, testified at Morley’s trial and claimed that the defendant said at one point that “he f—— killed him.”
The prison escape comes at a tumultuous time for the Tennessee Department of Correction, less than a month after the botched execution of death row inmate Christa Pike.
Pike survived the Sept. 30 execution attempt after the state administered two doses of pentobarbital, and she was transported to a hospital. Gov. Bill Lee then suspended Tennessee’s remaining scheduled execution for the year and directed an independent review to examine what had gone wrong.
Convicted killer Christa Gail Pike listens to proceedings in April 2008 in Knox County Criminal Court in a bid for a new trial in the 1995 killing of fellow Job Corps student Colleen Slemmer. (USA Today Network via Reuters Connect)
Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith, who handled the case, previously told News Media that Pike showed “no remorse” in the interrogation room after an attack that a psychiatrist later said involved “satanic elements” at trial.
“She represents pure evil,” he said of Pike.
People with information about Morley’s whereabouts are encouraged to call 844-832-3463.