Nearly a week after Jacob Morley escaped from a West Tennessee prison, state officials are asking residents to look around their own property for anything out of place.
The Tennessee Department of Correction and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Monday that the search continues. Morley escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Lake County in the early hours of Monday, Oct. 26. Officials say he stole a white Ford truck with a flatbed marked with the name of Lindamood Planting Company. The truck was later found abandoned in Marion, Illinois.
Who he is
Morley is serving a life sentence, with the possibility of parole, for the 2022 killing of Cody Birchfield in Carter County. He was convicted of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and aggravated burglary. Authorities describe him as about six feet tall or a little under, weighing 240 to 270 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. The combined reward for information leading to his capture has been reported at $17,500.
The Illinois and Wisconsin angles
Investigators are asking truck drivers and travelers who were at or near the Pilot Travel Center at 2611 Vernell Road in Marion, Illinois, between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, to check any dash camera video. Officials said even something that seemed minor at the time could be a critical piece of information.
Tennessee and Wisconsin authorities are also looking at a possible link between Morley and an armed robbery at the Bank of Deerfield in Dane County, Wisconsin, in which a gunman restrained two employees, took cash and stole a car from the parking lot. The TBI says it is aware of that robbery but has not confirmed any connection to Morley.
What officials want you to do
Residents are urged to check vacation homes, lake houses, hunting cabins, sheds, barns, garages and other outbuildings for anything unusual, and to check on elderly relatives and neighbors. Anyone with information should call 1-800-TBI-FIND or 911 immediately. Officials consider Morley dangerous, and the public should not approach him.
Sources: WSMV, WBBJ, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation statements as reported by Patch