Jacob Morley Captured in Missouri After Nine Days on the Run
The convicted murderer stole a second vehicle in Illinois, triggering a multi-state search that ended in Kansas City.
By Bianca Ricci ·
Jacob Allen Morley was taken into custody on Tuesday near Kansas City, ending a nine-day manhunt for the Tennessee inmate who escaped on October 25.
Missouri State Highway Patrol officers stopped the 28-year-old as he drove through the area. Officials with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois confirmed his arrest occurred without incident.
The breakthrough came early Tuesday morning in rural Williamson County. Deputies responded to a report at 7:34 a.m. regarding a stolen white 2005 Ford pickup truck used for farm work. Investigators determined Morley had stolen the vehicle and was heading west from southern Illinois.
The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office shared vehicle descriptions and route data with the Illinois State Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and Missouri authorities. This coordination led directly to his stop by state troopers.
Morley originally escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Lake County, Tennessee, on October 25. An inmate falsely accounted for him during a 9:30 p.m. headcount. An officer discovered him missing at 10:00 p.m. Searchers found that Morley had cut through perimeter fences after hiding among pallets and a trash cart behind the prison's main kitchen.
He stole a 2008 Ford F-350 utility truck around 1:00 a.m. on October 26 to drive to Illinois. Surveillance footage showed him abandoning that first truck in Marion, Illinois, at approximately 4:40 a.m. He evaded law enforcement searches in the region for more than a week before taking the farm truck on Tuesday.
Morley serves a life sentence with the possibility of parole for the 2022 murder of coworker Cody Birchfield in Carter County, Tennessee. Friends and family of the victim issued public warnings describing him as a dangerous killer. Authorities also investigated a potential link to an armed bank robbery in Dane County, Wisconsin. Extradition details and formal escape charges have not been announced.
Source: WOIO
