Escaped Tennessee Prisoner’s Truck Found as Manhunt Expands
WHO:
NBC News - Jacob Morley is a convicted killer who escaped from a Tennessee prison.
NBC News - Maggie Vespa reported on the manhunt for TODAY.
NBC News - A police chief in the Illinois town where the truck was found said Morley had no known connection to the town.
ABC News - Morley, 28, was convicted of killing his co-worker Cody Birchfield and is serving a life sentence.
ABC News - Marion Police Chief David Fitts said authorities had received no credible tips that Morley remained in Marion and no reports of other vehicles missing there.
ABC News - Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation after less than three years in the role.
ABC News - State Sen. Tom Hatcher, a Republican from Blount County and chairman of a legislative subcommittee investigating the prison system, said, “We need new leadership,” and, “Until we get someone who wants to look at all of this, we're going to keep having problems.”
ABC News - District Attorney Danny H. Goodman Jr. said there was no evidence Morley was involved in prison attacks or that anyone helped him escape.
WHAT:
NBC News - Investigators found abandoned the landscaping truck Morley allegedly stole after escaping.
NBC News - Investigators said Morley was caught on camera walking out of prison.
ABC News - Authorities said Morley escaped in prison clothes, stole a truck from a nearby farm, and abandoned it behind a strip mall.
ABC News - Tennessee prison officials reported 470 vacancies among a workforce of 6,000 and warned that a 2022 law requiring inmates to serve more of their sentences was increasing prison populations and could cause overcrowding.
ABC News - The Northwest Correctional Complex has had violent incidents involving inmates and employees. Goodman was overseeing 19 cases stemming from indictments issued that summer, including five inmate killings and assaults on staff and inmates; former employees were among those named in 50 indictments.
ABC News - Morley is white, 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall, weighs 240 pounds (109 kilograms), and has brown hair and green eyes.
WHERE:
NBC News - The truck was found in Marion, Illinois, more than 140 miles from the prison.
ABC News - Morley escaped from Northwest Correctional Complex near Tiptonville, Tennessee, and was last known to be in Marion, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the prison.
ABC News - Morley and Birchfield lived in Carter County, eastern Tennessee. Birchfield’s body was found in a box under Morley’s home.
WHEN:
NBC News - Investigators said Morley escaped on Sunday.
ABC News - Authorities said Morley was last known to be in Marion on Tuesday; Fitts made his remarks on Wednesday.
ABC News - Morley killed Birchfield in 2022.
WHY:
ABC News - Hatcher identified prison understaffing as a major problem and said prison leadership lacked transparency and did not accept oversight well.
ABC News - Goodman said he suspected understaffing could have contributed to the escape or prison violence but had no proof.
HOW:
ABC News - Authorities said Morley slipped through a fence late Sunday night, walked to a nearby farm, stole a truck, and later abandoned it behind a strip mall.
ABC News - Morley’s escape investigation was ongoing; authorities said there was no evidence anyone helped him.
ABC News - Goodman said staff shortages at the isolated prison meant employees sometimes worked double shifts.
(UPDATED October 29, 2026 13:04 UTC)
A convicted killer serving a life sentence escaped from a Tennessee prison, slipped through a fence and stole a landscaping truck, which investigators later found abandoned in Marion, Illinois, more than 140 miles away. Authorities said Jacob Morley, 28, was last known to be in Marion, but police reported no credible tips that he remained there, and investigators have found no evidence anyone helped him escape. The escape comes amid scrutiny of prison staffing and safety, with 470 vacancies across Tennessee’s prison workforce and the state’s corrections commissioner resigning after less than three years in the role.