Man serving life sentence for murder escapes Tennessee prison, slips through fence, officials say | Crime in the United States

Authorities in Tennessee were still searching Tuesday for a convicted murderer who investigators say escaped from a state prison by slipping through a fence and fleeing in a stolen truck.

The state Department of Correction (TDOC) said in a statement that officials realized Jacob Morley, 28, was missing around 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee.

Investigators watched security cameras and saw Morley escape through a fence while wearing his prison uniform, officials said. They did not release any other details, including how Morley got over the fence.

Surveillance video also allegedly showed Morley stealing a truck around 1 a.m. Monday. He was in the truck when video also recorded him driving past firefighters in Hornbeak — about 15 miles from the correctional complex — around 1:18 a.m., the department said.

Prison officials have offered a reward of up to $2,500 for Morley’s arrest. They said law enforcement officials across the region searched buildings and other structures near the prison, about 90 miles (145 km) north of Memphis, in a remote rural area near a bend of the Mississippi River near the Missouri River.

Morley is 1.8 meters (5 feet 11 inches) tall and weighs 109 kg (240 lbs). He has brown hair and green eyes.

Morley was sentenced to life in prison for killing co-worker Cody Birchfield in 2022. Birchfield’s body was found in a box under Morley’s Carter County, Tennessee home after he went missing for a few weeks.

In addition to first-degree murder, Morley was also convicted of aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, vandalism and evading arrest. Morley had led police on a chase that ended in North Carolina when he saw officers at his home in 2022 in connection with Birchfield, authorities said.

The Northwest Correctional Complex has been the scene of several violent attacks between inmates and by employees. In July, a grand jury returned dozens of indictments in the murders of five inmates, assaults on staff and inmates and other violent acts that occurred at the complex.

The prison can accommodate 1,776 men and juveniles sentenced as adults, according to TDOC. In 2023, an audit of Tennessee prisons found that TDOC struggled to fill vacancies at the Northwest Complex and had a 61% vacancy rate for correctional officers during that fiscal year.