Search Underway After Tennessee Inmate Exits Prison Fence, Drives Off in Stolen Truck

Authorities in Tennessee are searching for an inmate who left a correctional facility on foot and then drove away in a stolen work pickup.

Jacob Allen Morley, 28, was reported unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville. Staff ran an emergency count and searched the facility. Security video recorded Morley crossing a fence while still in prison clothing. Around 1 a.m. Monday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said video captured him taking a vehicle on the 400 block of Keystone Drive, about two miles south of the prison.

The vehicle is a white 2008 Ford F-350 with Tennessee plate 138BBQV. It carries the name Lindamood Planting Company on the side and holds an air compressor in the bed. Morley is listed at 5 feet, 11 inches and 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. The bureau said he should be "considered dangerous" and placed him on the state's most wanted list. Federal and state agencies are assisting in the search.

Morley received a life sentence after a 2025 conviction for killing Cody Birchfield, whose disappearance dates to early February 2022. Birchfield was last seen in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Investigators with the Carter County Sheriff's Office reported signs that a "violent crime" had taken place inside his home. Morley was arrested on March 2, 2022, after a chase that reached the North Carolina state line. Birchfield's body was later found beneath Morley's home.

Court proceedings also covered other counts. Morley was found guilty of first-degree murder along with burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest. At trial, his former girlfriend, Landree Sheperd, testified that Morley once said "he f, ing killed him." People with information about his location can call 844-832-3463.