Escaped Tennessee Inmate's Truck Found in Illinois After Leaving Prison Sunday

Jacob Morley, a Tennessee inmate serving a life sentence, slipped through a prison fence late Sunday and drove a stolen truck about 120 miles before it was found abandoned in Marion, Illinois, on Tuesday. Morley, 28, has not been located.

The Northwest Correctional Complex reported Morley missing late Sunday. Surveillance video from a farm near Tiptonville, about a 2-mile walk from the prison, shows Morley open an unlocked driver's side door and drive off around 1 a.m. Monday, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. The farm is located near Tiptonville.

Firefighters in Hornbeak, about 12 miles east of the farm, said on social media that investigators confirmed their cameras captured the truck driving by their station about 15 minutes after it left the farm. The truck was found parked behind a shopping center in Marion, Illinois, about 90 miles southeast of St. Louis. Marion Police Chief David Fitts said surveillance video showed the vehicle appeared to be neatly parked there at 4 a.m. Tuesday. Someone reported it to police around 11 a.m. that day.

"He has vanished," Fitts said. "We haven't had any reports of stolen vehicles or anything else suspicious around here." Tennessee investigators said Morley has not been found.

Authorities said Morley slipped through a fence in his prison clothes. They have not released further details, including whether anyone assisted him. Morley is white, 5 feet 11 inches tall, 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.

Morley is serving a life sentence for killing co-worker Cody Birchfield in 2022. Birchfield's body was found in a box under Morley's home in Carter County, in eastern Tennessee, after he had been missing for a few weeks. Along with first-degree murder, Morley was convicted of aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, vandalism and evading arrest. When deputies approached his home, he led officers on a chase that ended in North Carolina, authorities said.

Prison officials have offered a reward of up to $2,500 for Morley's arrest. Law enforcement agencies have searched buildings and structures near the prison, which sits in flat farmland about 90 miles north of Memphis, near a bend in the Mississippi River. The escape follows a series of issues at Tennessee prisons. Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation after less than three years, following the failed execution of Christa Pike on Sept. 30. A grand jury in July returned dozens of indictments for five inmate killings and other violent acts at Northwest Correctional Complex. In a hearing before a Tennessee Senate subcommittee last month, prison officials said they had 470 open jobs among its 6,000-person workforce.