Escaped Tennessee killer recaptured in Missouri after hiding in an Illinois shed

Jacob Allen Morley, a convicted killer who escaped from a prison in the US state of Tennessee, has been recaptured in Missouri. Officials said he was arrested without incident and that information from FLOCK cameras helped track him down.

In a statement, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said that at about 9:30am on November 3, 2026, it received information from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that Morley may be travelling westbound on Interstate 70 near Independence.

According to the statement, the suspect vehicle was located using FLOCK cameras and officers began to deploy to the area. With further use of FLOCK cameras, undercover officers then located the vehicle travelling south on Missouri 291 in Liberty.

Morley, 28, broke out of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on October 25. Correctional officials said he was serving a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield.

Investigators believe that after escaping, Morley sheltered for a period in a shed near Marion, Illinois. The shed was used occasionally by hunters and was roughly 127 miles from the prison he escaped from.

Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich said evidence indicates Morley consumed beer and prepared garlic bread along with other food during his time in the shed.

According to the sheriff, Morley wrote a handwritten letter of apology after taking a truck from the farm. He is also alleged to have taken clothes and three firearms from the property.

Diederich said he believes Morley covered roughly three miles on foot after leaving behind a separate truck he had used following the prison escape. 'How he ended up in Marion is kind of a mystery,' the sheriff said.

Officials previously said that, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Morley stole a pickup truck from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, roughly two miles south of the prison, at around 1am on October 26. The truck was found abandoned early the next morning in Marion, Illinois, but Morley was not located at that time.

In addition to the first-degree murder conviction, Morley was also found guilty of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest.