Escaped Tennessee inmate caught after 10 days on the run when his truck gets stuck in the mud

An escaped Tennessee prisoner convicted of murder was recaptured Tuesday near Kansas City, Missouri, when his truck got stuck in the mud after troopers used roadside cameras and a helicopter to track him down, ending more than a week on the run, authorities said.

Jacob Morley, who was serving a life sentence for killing a co-worker four years ago, was apprehended at around noon, officials said.

Investigators learned early Tuesday that Morley was believed to have been hiding in a shed at a hunting camp in the Marion, Illinois, area, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A truck was allegedly stolen from the property.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says it was informed Tuesday morning that Morley was possibly traveling west on Interstate 70 in the Kansas City area. The vehicle was located using automated license plate readers and undercover officers traveling on a state highway in western Missouri.

Morley was driving a “metal flatbed work truck” with a white cab, said Sgt. Justin Ewing, a spokesperson for the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Two rifles and a shotgun were recovered from the vehicle, which authorities suspect was stolen in Illinois, according to Ewing.

It’s unclear where Morley was going. Morley may have had connections in the Kansas City area, but authorities don’t think that he stopped at any residences, Ewing said.

A Kansas City police helicopter also followed the vehicle, which made it into Carroll County, a small county in northwest Missouri. Morley drove off the road and got stuck in mud, according to Ewing, and a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper took him into custody without incident, ending a weeklong hunt. Morley was “compliant” when he was arrested, Ewing said.

Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich said that Morley is suspected of stealing a white farm truck from the farm southwest of Marion where the hunting camp is located. The truck had a full tank and extra fuel. Morley is also suspected of stealing clothes and three firearms from the farm, according to Diederich.

Deputies found an apologetic handwritten note in the place where the truck was stolen, according to Diederich. Investigators also found evidence that Morely had prepared garlic bread and other food in the structure.

“He probably came and left from this property at least for a couple of days,” Diederich said of Morely.

Morley, 28, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tennessee’s far northwestern corner on Oct. 25, after he slipped through a fence in his prison clothes.

Surveillance video showed him stealing a truck from a farm near the prison, which he abandoned last week in Marion, Illinois. That is about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the prison.

Morley was serving a life sentence for killing co-worker Cody Birchfield in 2022. Birchfield’s body was found in a box under Morley’s home after he had been missing for a few weeks. The two lived in Carter County, in eastern Tennessee.

When Morley saw deputies at his home, he led officers on a chase that ended in North Carolina, authorities said. Morley was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, vandalism and evading arrest.

After his escape, law enforcement agencies searched buildings and other structures near the prison, which is in Tiptonville, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Memphis in flat farmland near a bend in the Mississippi River. Prison officials offered a reward of up to $17,500 for information leading to Morley’s arrest.

Morley’s escape is the latest blemish for Tennessee’s prison system.

Several violent attacks between inmates and by employees have been reported in recent years at Northwest Correctional Complex. A grand jury in July returned dozens of indictments for five inmate killings and other violent acts.

Following the failed execution of Christa Pike in September, Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada resigned after less than three years on the job.

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Kelety reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Laura Turbay in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed.