Life Sentence Inmate Steals White F-350 After Escaping Tennessee Prison

Jacob Allen Morley, a 28-year-old serving a life sentence for murder, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Sunday night. The Tennessee Department of Correction confirmed the breakout and released a description of the white 2008 Ford F-350 pickup truck Morley stole during his getaway.

Prison staff discovered Morley was missing during an emergency headcount at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. Security footage captured the inmate breaching a perimeter fence while still wearing his prison uniform. By 1:00 a.m. on Monday, video from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, located roughly two miles south of the facility, showed him stealing the heavy-duty truck. The vehicle carries Tennessee license plate 138BBQV and displays the name Lindamood Planting Company on its side. An air compressor is secured in the truck bed.

Morley was convicted in 2025 of the first-degree murder of Cody Birchfield. The killing took place three years before the conviction. In addition to the murder charge, a jury found him 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 indications of a violent crime inside his home. Morley was arrested on March 2, 2022, following a police chase that extended to the North Carolina state line. Birchfield's body was later recovered from underneath Morley's residence.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has placed Morley on the state's most wanted list and advised the public to consider him dangerous. He is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 240 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes. Federal and state law enforcement agencies are assisting in the search.

During the trial, Landree Sheperd, Morley's former girlfriend, took the stand. She testified that Morley once told her, "he f, ing killed him." Officials are urging anyone with information about his whereabouts to call 844-832-3463.