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Tennessee killer serving life recaptured in Missouri after prison escape
Jacob Morley, a 28-year-old serving life for murder, was recaptured in Missouri on Tuesday after escaping from a Tennessee prison more than a week earlier. Authorities said automated number-plate readers showed he was travelling through the state, but gave few details about how they located him.
Morley escaped on 25 October by slipping through a fence in prison clothes, then stole a farm truck, later abandoned in Illinois. He was convicted of killing co-worker Cody Birchfield in 2022, whose body was found in a box under Morley’s home. His escape adds to scrutiny of Tennessee’s prison system, where recent years have seen prisoner killings, other violent incidents and the resignation of the corrections commissioner.
In short
- Jacob Morley was captured outside Kansas City after more than a week on the run.
- Number-plate readers helped track his travel through Missouri.
- His escape renews attention on violence and oversight in Tennessee prisons.
Explained simply
Tennessee’s prison system holds people serving sentences for serious crimes, including life sentences, which mean a person is expected to remain in prison for the rest of their life. Escapes can prompt questions about how prisons are secured and how authorities respond when someone gets out.
Jacob Morley was convicted in 2022 of murdering his co-worker, Cody Birchfield. The case and escape have drawn attention to Tennessee’s corrections system, which has also faced reports of killings and other violence in prisons and the departure of its corrections commissioner.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Convicted murderer who escaped from Tennessee prison captured in Missouri”.