Tennessee fugitive sought in white Ford after prison escape

Jacob Morley is on the run in Tennessee after escaping a prison in Tiptonville on Sunday and stealing a white Ford F-350. The 28-year-old man is serving a life sentence for murder and has been added to the state's most wanted list. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation advises that he should be considered dangerous.

Prison staff noticed Morley was missing around 11:30 p.m. Sunday. They immediately searched the Northwest Correctional Complex. Security footage showed Morley cutting through a fence while still wearing his prison uniform. About an hour later, at 1 a.m. on Monday, video from the 400 block of Keystone Drive captured him taking a vehicle. That location is roughly two miles south of the prison.

The stolen truck is a 2008 Ford F-350 with the license plate 138BBQV. It is marked for Lindamood Planting Company and carries an air compressor in the bed. Morley is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall and 240 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes.

Morley received his sentence in 2025 for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield. He was also found guilty of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence, and evading arrest. Birchfield disappeared in early February 2022 after being last seen in Elizabethton. Investigators from the Carter County Sheriff's Office found signs of a violent crime inside Birchfield's house. Morley was arrested in March 2022 after a chase that reached the North Carolina state line. Birchfield's body was later found beneath Morley's home.

During the trial, Morley's former girlfriend, Landree Sheperd, testified that he once said, "he f, ing killed him." Federal and state law enforcement are now assisting in the search for Morley.

Anyone with information can call 844-832-3463.