Tennessee authorities continued searching after a sighting at about 1:18 a.m.
The Hornbeak Fire Department said a video recorded Morley, 28, passing in front of the department in a truck at about 1:18 a.m. Monday. The department placed the location about 15 miles from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Tennessee authorities were still searching for the escaped inmate on Tuesday.
A screenshot of security-camera footage credited to the Hornbeak Fire Department shows what authorities allege was a stolen truck driven by the escaped inmate Jacob Morley. The Hornbeak account said Morley was in the truck as it passed the department.
TDOC said officials realized Morley was unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Northwest Correctional Complex, a state prison in Tiptonville. Investigators said Morley escaped the state prison by slipping through a fence and fleeing in a stolen truck. Security cameras showed him escaping through the fence while wearing his prison uniform, officials said.
Officials did not release any other details, including how Morley got through the fence. Surveillance video reportedly showed Morley stealing a truck at about 1 a.m. Monday. Prison officials offered a reward of up to $2,500 for Morley’s arrest and said law enforcement officials throughout the area had searched buildings and other structures near the prison.
Morley is 5 feet 11 inches, or 1.8 meters, tall and weighs 240 pounds, or 109 kilograms. He has brown hair and green eyes.
Morley was sentenced to life for killing co-worker Cody Birchfield in 2022. Birchfield’s body was found in a box under Morley’s home in Carter County, Tennessee, after Birchfield had been missing for a few weeks.
In addition to first-degree murder, Morley was convicted of aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, vandalism and evading arrest. Authorities said Morley led police on a chase that ended in North Carolina when he saw officers at his home in 2022 in connection with Birchfield.
The Guardian reported that the Northwest Correctional Complex had been the site of several reported violent attacks between inmates and by employees. In July, a grand jury handed up dozens of indictments for five inmate murders, assaults against staff and inmates, and other violence at the complex.
TDOC said the prison can house 1,776 men and minors who have been convicted as adults. A 2023 audit of Tennessee prisons found that TDOC was struggling to fill open positions at the complex and had a 61% vacancy rate for correctional officers that fiscal year.
The complex is about 90 miles, or 145 kilometers, north of Memphis, in an isolated, rural area of flat land near a bend in the Mississippi River and close to Missouri.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.