Jacob Allen Morley, the convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison, is in custody, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday.
The capture came more than a week after he escaped Oct. 25 from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville — a town of about 3,500, about 100 miles north of Memphis — and allegedly stole a truck that was later found abandoned in Illinois.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Morley was captured near Kansas City, Mo., and was in custody Tuesday.
Prison authorities discovered Morley, 28, had gone missing around 11:30 p.m. on October 25. Security video showed he climbed through a perimeter fence, the Tennessee Department of Corrections said in a statement.
“He has been added to Tennessee’s Most Wanted list and should be considered dangerous,” the release said.
Morley was convicted in 2025 of murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and aggravated burglary in the 2022 killing of co-worker Cody Birchfield, 34, according to court documents shared by the Carter County Clerk’s Office in Tennessee.
In an interview with NBC News, Birchfield’s sister, Carrie Norman, called her brother’s killer “a very dangerous man.”
“And if he gets his hands on any type of weapon, he will kill someone,” she said.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon after Morley’s arrest, Norman thanked authorities and everyone who followed the case.
The white Ford F-350 truck that Morley allegedly stole passed the Hornbeak Fire Department in the town of Hornbeak, Tennessee, shortly after the theft early Monday. Hornbreak is 12 miles east of Tiptonville.
The fire department posted time-stamped still images from security video showing the truck passing by on its Facebook page.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday the truck was found abandoned in Marion, Illinois, about 123 miles north of Hornbeak.
He was left behind a business, state and Tennessee police said.
Morley was accused of shooting Birchfield in the back of the head. Birchfield’s body was found in a large metal box beneath Morley’s residence in northeast Tennessee, according to court documents.
The motive was unclear and Morley claimed self-defense during the trial. He said he had been hospitalized several times for mental health issues, including bipolar disorder, and had no prior criminal offenses, records show.
Morley was sentenced to life in prison following his conviction.
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