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 fled the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Oct. 25 and was captured Tuesday. Authorities arrested him without incident after using FLOCK cameras to trace his movements, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
“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 Sunday, correctional officials said. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
Investigators believe Morley spent time in a shed near Marion, Illinois, used occasionally by hunters. The location 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 split 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 said he believes Morley walked about three miles after abandoning another truck he had used following the prison escape.
“How he ended up in Marion is kind of a mystery,” Diederich said.
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Officials previously said Morley stole a pickup truck from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, about 2 miles south of the prison, at approximately 1 a.m. on Oct. 26, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Law enforcement found the truck abandoned early the following morning in Marion, Illinois, but Morley was not there.
Along with the 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 Northwest Correctional Complex before his escape. Authorities said he was captured on video breaching a prison fence. (Tennessee Department of Correction)
Morley is 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. Investigators with the Carter County Sheriff’s Office found signs that a “violent crime” had taken place inside his home, according to WJHL.
Authorities said the stolen Ford F-350 driven by escaped Tennessee inmate Jacob Morley was found abandoned in Marion, Illinois. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Morley was arrested on March 2, 2022, after a police chase that ended at the North Carolina state line. His arrest was followed by the discovery of Birchfield’s body beneath Morley’s home.