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Tennessee inmate serving life for murder caught near Kansas City after seven-day escape
Developing story first seen 2 hours ago
Jacob Allen Morley, a Tennessee inmate serving life for murder, was captured near Kansas City on Tuesday after seven days on the run. His arrest ends a multi-state search and leaves questions about how he escaped from prison and travelled so far before being caught.
Officials said Morley was seen leaving Northwest Correctional Complex at about 6pm on 25 October, but his absence was not noticed until around 11.30pm. Investigators said he stole a pickup truck, later found in Illinois, and had travelled about 800 miles by the time he was captured. He was convicted in February 2025 of killing coworker Cody Birchfield, whose body was found buried beneath Morley’s home, and sentenced to life that June.
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In short
- Morley was captured near Kansas City after seven days on the run.
- He had travelled about 800 miles from the Tennessee prison.
- How he breached prison security remains unclear.
How this story developed
- 2 hours ago Jacob Allen Morley, a 28-year-old Tennessee inmate serving life for murder, was captured near Kansas City after seven days on the run.
- 2 hours ago Jacob Allen Morley, a Tennessee inmate serving life for murder, was captured near Kansas City on Tuesday after seven days on the run. His arrest ends a multi-state search and leaves questions about how he escaped from prison and travelled so far before being caught.
Full account
Jacob Allen Morley, 28, who was serving a life sentence for murder, was recaptured in Missouri on Tuesday after escaping from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tennessee. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said he was found near Kansas City, around a week after prison staff discovered he was missing. The precise circumstances of his arrest have not been made public in the reports provided.
Morley was seen leaving the prison at about 6pm on 25 October, but officials did not realise he was gone until around 11.30pm. He had been wearing prison clothing and was reported to have got through a security fence; authorities have not explained how he passed the perimeter or why the breach was not detected sooner. A search initially focused on buildings and other structures near the prison in Tiptonville, before investigators traced his movements beyond Tennessee.
Investigators said Morley took a pickup truck from a farm roughly two miles from the prison. The white Ford F-350, marked with the name of a planting company, was later found abandoned in Marion, Illinois. The reports give different measures of the distance between the prison and Marion: one says about 500 miles by road, while the other puts it at roughly 120 miles. The first report says Morley had travelled about 800 miles by the time of his capture. A reward of up to $17,500 had been offered for information leading to his arrest, according to the second report.
Morley was convicted of killing his co-worker Cody Birchfield, whose remains were found in a box buried beneath Morley’s home after Birchfield went missing. He was convicted of first-degree murder in February 2025 and sentenced to life in prison that June; the second report describes the killing as having taken place in 2022, while the first says Morley was sentenced in June 2025. The first report notes that Morley claimed self-defence at trial and lists additional convictions, including evading arrest. The second places the escape in the context of wider scrutiny of Tennessee’s prison system, citing violence at the complex and the correction commissioner’s recent resignation; that broader institutional context is not covered in the first report.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
The first outlet says Morley was captured near Kansas City and estimates he had travelled about 800 miles; the second says only that he was apprehended in Missouri.
The outlets give substantially different distances from the prison to Marion, Illinois: about 500 miles by road in the first report and roughly 120 miles in the second.
The first report foregrounds the unresolved security breach and details of Morley’s murder case. The second adds the offered reward and criticism of conditions and leadership in Tennessee’s prison system.
The second report says Birchfield was killed four years before the escape; the first dates the murder to February 2022. Both place Morley’s conviction in February 2025 and his life sentence in June 2025.
Explained simply
Northwest Correctional Complex is a prison in Tennessee. People serving life sentences are expected to remain in custody for the rest of their lives, unless a legal decision changes that sentence.
Jacob Allen Morley was convicted of murdering his coworker, Cody Birchfield. Birchfield’s body was found buried beneath Morley’s home; the case led to Morley receiving a life sentence in 2025.
A prison escape can prompt searches across state lines when someone is believed to have travelled beyond the state where they were held. The case raises questions about prison security and how authorities track a person moving between states.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Murderous inmate that escaped Tennessee jail is finally found on the run 7 days later in Missouri – sporting the same beard and glasses he fled in”.