Law enforcement officials are intensifying a multistate manhunt for 28-year-old Jacob Morley, a convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison over the weekend and left few traces behind after allegedly abandoning a stolen vehicle roughly 100 miles away in southern Illinois.
Morley was serving a life sentence following a February 2025 conviction for first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and aggravated burglary, alongside a guilty plea for theft of property. Court documents show he was convicted in the 2022 shooting death of co-worker Cody Birchfield, whose body was discovered hidden inside a large metal box beneath Morley’s residence.
Prison officials at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, first confirmed Morley was missing shortly before 11:30 p.m. Sunday during an emergency count and facility search. According to the Tennessee Department of Correction, surveillance footage captured Morley breaching the perimeter fence while wearing his state correctional uniform. Authorities have stated that the exact mechanics of the breach remain under investigation.
Following his escape, Morley allegedly stole a work truck. Early Tuesday morning, authorities in Tennessee and Marion, Illinois, located that vehicle abandoned behind a commercial business in Marion, a community of approximately 16,000 residents situated roughly 100 miles north of the Tiptonville facility. Subsequent security footage reviewed by investigators showed Morley driving away from the area in a flatbed truck.
Marion Police Chief David Fitts stated Wednesday that Morley has no known ties to Marion or the surrounding region of southern Illinois. Investigators have found no physical evidence around the recovered truck, received no local reports of additional stolen vehicles, and recorded no confirmed sightings of the fugitive within the town.
“What we have seen kind of leads us in the direction that he’s not still here. But that doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped looking,” Fitts said, noting that Interstate 57 runs directly through the municipality. “Have no idea why he would come here, other than I-57 is a major interstate and it runs right through the middle of our town. And I don’t know, maybe he was low on gas and just pulled off.”
Fitts added that in a town the size of Marion, a recognized face would stand out immediately, especially given widespread media coverage. However, law enforcement continues to urge local residents to exercise caution.
“This is really frustrating that we can’t find him. Somebody will eventually, I have no doubt in my mind. I wish it was us so we could catch him now,” Fitts said. “I just want to let our people know that, again, don’t approach him. Call 911. We’ll handle it.”
The ongoing search effort received a financial boost Wednesday as the combined reward for information leading to Morley’s arrest climbed from $2,500 to $15,000. The updated sum is funded jointly by the Tennessee governor’s office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
For the victim’s family, the fugitive’s disappearance has reignited the trauma of the 2022 killing. Carrie Norman, the sister of Cody Birchfield, expressed the family’s distress on Wednesday.
“It feels like a scary movie,” Norman said, adding that relatives are forced “to go back through the experience — once again. Once again, because you don’t know where he’s at, but you know what he’s capable of.”
