Tennessee Authorities Search for Escaped Inmate Serving Life Sentence for Murder
Jacob Allen Morley, 28, was found missing from the Northwest Correctional Complex late Sunday night after breaching the perimeter fence, and remained at large Monday afternoon as local, state and federal agencies searched for him.
A manhunt was underway Monday for an inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree murder who escaped from a prison in northwest Tennessee late Sunday night, according to the state corrections department.
Staff at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Lake County found Jacob Allen Morley, 28, unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. on October 25, and an emergency count and facility search began at that time, the Tennessee Department of Correction said. Security camera footage later showed Morley breached the perimeter fence and left the facility in his department uniform.
The complex sits in the far northwestern corner of the state, near the Missouri border and about 100 miles north of Memphis, according to USA Today. Morley remained at large as of Monday afternoon, according to the department.
Second escape from state custody in less than a week
Morley is the second inmate in less than a week to escape from state corrections custody, according to USA Today. Gregory Redden, 63, was at Nashville General Hospital for a weekly treatment on October 21 when he slipped his handcuffs and leg shackles and walked out, according to Metro Nashville Police. He remained free for several hours before he was recaptured.
Conviction history and the search
Morley was convicted of the 2022 Carter County death of Cody Birchfield, according to online records cited by USA Today. The Carter County Sheriff’s Office had investigated Birchfield as a missing person in February 2022 after he was last seen in Elizabethton, and Morley was arrested in North Carolina in early March 2022. Court records say Birchfield’s body was found hidden under Morley’s house. Morley was sentenced to life in prison last year, and was convicted of additional charges of evading arrest, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence and vandalism, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Morley has been added to the state’s most wanted list, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to his arrest, according to USA Today. The corrections department said it is working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to apprehend him and asked the public to contact law enforcement with any sightings or information.
Reporting based on coverage by the Tennessee Department of Correction and USA Today.
