Surveillance footage showed Morley breaching the perimeter fence in uniform
The Tennessee Department of Correction announced Monday that Jacob Morley, 28, had escaped the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville on Sunday evening. Tennessee officials mounted a manhunt after the escape from the state prison.
Local outlets reported that staff noticed Morley was unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday. WATE reported that staff then conducted an emergency headcount.
WATE reported that, after the headcount, surveillance footage showed Morley breaching the perimeter fence and escaping the prison in his TDOC uniform.
The Tennessee Department of Correction described Morley as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 240 pounds, with green eyes and brown hair.
The department said in a statement, “Do not attempt to apprehend this fugitive,” and asked anyone with information about Morley’s whereabouts to report it at (844) 832-3463.
Morley was serving life imprisonment for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield, a Tennessee man who was initially reported missing in February 2022.
Birchfield’s body was discovered buried beneath Morley’s home about a month after he was reported missing.
Morley was also convicted of aggravated burglary, evidence tampering, evading arrest and vandalism.
The Guardian reported that Morley’s escape came more than a year after a manhunt followed the breakout of 10 detainees from a New Orleans jail, which the outlet described as one of the largest such breakouts in recent memory. The 10 detainees escaped through a hole in a wall behind a toilet, and all 10 have since been recaptured, according to The Guardian.