Escaped murderer out of Tenn. arrested in Mo.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Heartland News) - A convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison in late October was taken into custody in Missouri.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Jacob Allen Morley is in custody near Kansas City, Mo.

According to the Williamson County, Ill. Sheriff’s Office, they responded to a report on Tuesday morning, Nov. 3 of a stolen vehicle in a rural part of the county, southwest of Marion.

Investigators believe that vehicle, a 2005 Ford pickup used as a farm vehicle, had been stolen by Morley.

Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich said they worked with Illinois State Police and law enforcement agencies across multiple jurisdictions to track Morley’s movements leading to his arrest by the Missouri State Highway Patrol as he traveled through the Kansas City area.

Morley, 28, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville on Sunday, October 25, at around 11:30 p.m.

He was added to the TBI Most Wanted List. He was considered armed and dangerous.

Corrections officials say Morley was serving a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield in east Tennessee. He was also convicted of aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, evading arrest and vandalism.