Manhunt: Tennessee fugitive captured in Missouri

Jacob Allen Morley was arrested near Kansas City on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old fugitive was taken into custody without incident by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Authorities had been searching for Morley following his escape from a Tennessee prison on Oct. 25. He was placed on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted list with a reward of up to $17,500 for his arrest.

Morley fled the Northwest Correctional Complex in Lake County on the night of Oct. 25. He hid among pallets and a trash cart behind the prison’s main kitchen and cut through perimeter fences. An inmate falsely covered for him during a 9:30 p.m. headcount before an officer noticed he was missing at 10:00 p.m. By 1:00 a.m. on Oct. 26, Morley had stolen a 2008 Ford F-350 utility truck and driven into Illinois. Surveillance footage showed him abandoning that vehicle in Marion, Illinois, around 4:40 a.m.

For over a week, Morley eluded law enforcement searches in the region. The investigation broke early Tuesday morning in rural Williamson County, Illinois. At 7:34 a.m., deputies responded to a report of a stolen white 2005 Ford pickup truck used for farming. Investigators confirmed Morley had stolen the vehicle and was heading west. The Williamson County Sheriff’s Office coordinated with the Illinois State Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and Missouri authorities to track his route.

Morley was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for the 2022 murder of coworker Cody Birchfield in Carter County, Tennessee. Following the escape, friends and family of Birchfield issued public warnings describing Morley as a dangerous killer. Authorities also investigated whether Morley was linked to an armed bank robbery in Dane County, Wisconsin, during his time on the run.

Extradition details and formal charges regarding his escape and vehicle thefts have not yet been announced.