An inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree murder at a prison in northwest Tennessee has escaped and remains on the loose as of the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 26, according to the state’s corrections department.
Prison staff at Northwest Correctional Complex in Lake County reported that Jacob Allen Morley, 28, was unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 25 and an emergency count and facility search began at that time, the Tennessee Department of Correction said.
Security camera footage later revealed that Morley left the prison in his prison uniform after breaching the perimeter fence.
Northwest Correctional Complex is located in the far northwestern corner of the state, near the Missouri border and about 100 miles north of Memphis.
Morley was convicted of the 2022 Carter County death of Cody Birchfield, according to online records.
The Carter County Sheriff's Office had originally started investigating Birchfield as a missing person in February 2022 after he was last seen in Elizabethton, according to a social media post made by the department.
Morley was arrested in North Carolina in early March 2022 and was charged with first-degree murder in connection with Birchfield's death, the sheriff's office said in a separate social media post. Court records say Birchfield's body was found hidden under Morley's house.
Morley was sentenced to life in prison last year.
He was convicted of additional charges of evading arrest, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence and vandalism, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Morley is the second inmate in less than a week to escape from state corrections department custody. Gregory Redden, 63, was at Nashville General Hospital for a weekly treatment on Oct. 21 when he slipped his handcuffs and leg shackles and walked out, according to Metro Nashville Police. He remained free for several hours before he was recaptured.
Morley has been added to the state's most wanted list, and TBI is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Sarah Best is a reporter for the Jackson Sun. To support local journalism, subscribe to the Daily Briefing at jacksonsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Manhunt underway after inmate serving life escapes Tennessee prison
