Manhunt grows for escaped murderer who may have left area where truck was ditched

Jacob Morley, a convicted killer on the loose since Sunday, has no known connection to the small Illinois town where the truck he is accused of stealing was found, the police chief said Wednesday.

“What we have seen kind of leads us in the direction that he’s not still here. But that doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped looking,” Marion Police Chief David Fitts said.

Morley, 28, convicted of killing a co-worker in 2022, was serving a life sentence when he escaped from Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, sometime before 11:30 p.m. Sunday, officials there said.

Morley had stolen a work truck, and early Tuesday that truck was found behind a business in Marion, a town of around 16,000 that is around 100 miles north of Tiptonville, authorities in Marion and Tennessee said.

There have been no reports in Marion of any other stolen vehicles, and there was no evidence around the truck that was found, Fitts said.

There have also been no confirmed sightings, he said.

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“There’s really nowhere for him to go here where he wouldn’t be recognized. His face is all over the news,” Fitts said.

Morley has no known connection to Marion or southern Illinois, he said.

“Have no idea why he would come here, other than I-57 is a major interstate and it runs right through the middle of our town,” Fitts said. “And I don’t know, maybe he was low on gas and just pulled off. I don’t know.”

Morley was convicted of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and aggravated burglary after a trial in February 2025. He also pleaded guilty to theft of property.

He was accused of shooting Cody Birchfield in the back of the head in 2022, according to court documents. Birchfield’s body was found in a large metal box under Morley’s residence, the documents say.

Birchfield’s sister, Carrie Norman, said Wednesday that “it feels like a scary movie.”

The family, she said, “have to go back through the experience — once again. Once again, because you don’t know where he’s at, but you know what he’s capable of.”

Also Wednesday, the reward for information leading to Morley’s arrest increased from $2,500 to $15,000, a combined sum from the Tennessee governor’s office, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service, the bureau said.

Fitts said he wished Morley had been caught, but he urged people not to take things into their own hands.

“This is really frustrating that we can’t find him. Somebody will eventually, I have no doubt in my mind. I wish it was us so we could catch him now,” Fitts said. “But, and I just want to let our people know that, again, don’t approach him. Call 911. We’ll handle it.”

Around 11:30 p.m. Sunday, prison staff members confirmed that Morley was unaccounted for and conducted an emergency count and search of the facility, the Tennessee Department of Correction said.

Security video showed Morley “breached the perimeter fence and exited the facility in his TDOC uniform,” the department said.

The department has not given more details about how the escape occurred, which it said Wednesday is under investigation.