Surveillance video showed Morley stealing a nearby farm truck
Jacob Morley, 28, was recaptured in Missouri on Tuesday after more than a week on the run, authorities said. He had been serving a life sentence for killing co-worker Cody Birchfield in 2022.
Morley escaped Oct. 25 from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, in Tennessee’s far northwestern corner, after slipping through a fence in his prison clothes.
Surveillance video showed him stealing a truck from a farm about 2 miles (3 kilometers) away. The truck was found abandoned last week in Marion, Illinois, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the prison and roughly 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of St. Louis.
After the escape, law enforcement agencies searched buildings and other structures near the prison. Prison officials offered a reward of up to $17,500 for information leading to Morley’s arrest. The Tennessee Department of Correction did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Morley was serving a life sentence for killing Birchfield in 2022. Birchfield’s body was found in a box under Morley’s home after Birchfield had been missing for a few weeks. The two lived in Carter County in eastern Tennessee.
When Morley saw deputies at his home, he led officers on a chase that ended in North Carolina, authorities said. Morley was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, vandalism and evading arrest.
The Northwest Correctional Complex is in Tiptonville, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Memphis, in flat farmland near a bend in the Mississippi River.
Morley’s escape was the latest setback for Tennessee’s prison system. Several violent attacks between inmates and by employees have been reported in recent years at the complex. A grand jury in July returned dozens of indictments for five inmate killings and other violent acts.
The corrections system was also dealing with a leadership change. Following the failed execution of Christa Pike in September, Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada resigned after less than three years on the job.
State Sen. Tom Hatcher said the resignation could not come soon enough. “We need new leadership,” the Republican from Blount County said. “We’re doing oversight work behind the scenes about several of our prisons. We’re just waiting to see who our next governor will be and who is the next commissioner.”
Morley’s recapture ended the flight that began Oct. 25, and Hatcher said officials were waiting to see who would be the next commissioner.