Escaped Tennessee killer 'vanishes into thin air' after stolen truck is found dumped in Illinois

A truck taken by a convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison turned up abandoned in southern Illinois, authorities said on Tuesday.Jacob Morley, 28, was still at large, with Tennessee investigators saying he still hasn't been found.Authorities found the vehicle in Marion, Illinois, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the prison and roughly 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of St. Louis.Jacob Morley, who was serving a life sentence for killing a co-worker four years ago, was found to be missing from the Northwest Correctional Complex late on Sunday (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)Marion Police Chief David Fitts said surveillance video showed the truck parked neatly behind a shopping center at 4 a.m. Tuesday.Someone reported it to police at about 11 a.m.“He has vanished,” Fitts said. “We haven’t had any reports of stolen vehicles or anything else suspicious around here.”Morley had been discovered missing from the Northwest Correctional Complex late Sunday.This image from security video provided by John Lindamood shows escaped inmate Jacob Allen Morley, bottom right, stealing a white Ford F-350 from the Lindamood Planting Company early Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in Lake County, Tenn. (John Lindamood (AP)Authorities said Morley slipped through a fence in his prison clothes.They haven't released additional details, including whether they think anyone helped him.The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has released surveillance video from the farm where the truck was taken.The farm is near Tiptonville, about a 2-mile (3-kilometer) walk through fields from the prison.The footage shows Morley open the truck's unlocked driver's side door and drive off at about 1 a.m. Monday.The truck was found abandoned Tuesday in Marion, Illinois, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of the prison (AP)Firefighters in Hornbeak, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of the farm, said on social media that investigators confirmed their cameras captured footage of the truck driving by their station about 15 minutes later.In an interview with NewsNation, a woman who grew up with Morley’s victim described herself as being “absolutely horrified” to hear of his escape and called him “extremely dangerous.”“I want people to recognize his face and understand what he is capable of. Someone could unknowingly cross paths with him without realizing the danger they may be in,” the unnamed woman said.Morley is white, 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall and weighs 240 pounds (109 kilograms).He has brown hair and green eyes.Morley is serving a life sentence for killing co-worker Cody Birchfield in 2022.Authorities said Morley, 28, slipped through a fence in his prison clothes, but they haven’t released additional details, including whether they think anyone helped him (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)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.Along with first-degree murder, Morley was convicted of aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, vandalism and evading arrest.When Morley saw deputies at his home, he led officers on a chase that ended in North Carolina, authorities said.A friend of Birchfield's, Daniel Russell, told WMC in Memphis that Morley's escape has reminded the victim's loved ones of the pain of the murder.“He was full of life. He would take his shirt off his back, even if it was his last shirt, and give it to you. He had a heart of gold... I was never going to have to see his face again, and then wake up yesterday morning, and it’s everywhere for all of us to see again and knowing he’s out on the street and he may do it to somebody else’s family,” Russell said of his friend.“If he will kill somebody the way he killed Cody, he’s a monster. He will do it again when the first opportunity comes,” Russell added.Morley is white, 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall and weighs 240 pounds (109 kilograms). He has brown hair and green eyes (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)While another friend, Diana Reid, told the station, “We felt like justice, to a certain degree, was in place with him being incarcerated. It doesn’t bring Cody back, but at least justice was served in that aspect/”“But now he’s out. So where’s Cody’s justice? Where’s the peace that his family had just knowing that he wasn’t roaming the streets?,” she continued.Prison officials have offered a reward of up to $2,500 for Morley's arrest.They said law enforcement agencies have searched buildings and other structures near the prison, which is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Memphis in flat farmland near a bend in the Mississippi River.The escape is the latest of a string of problems in Tennessee prisons.Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation after less than three years on the job following the failed execution of Christa Pike on Sept. 30.Pike remained alive after being given two massive doses of pentobarbital, the drug Tennessee uses in lethal injections.Her lawyers said it appears the IVs in her arms were never properly inserted into her veins or blew out quickly, keeping the drugs from entering her bloodstream.Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada announced his resignation after less than three years on the job following the failed execution of Christa Pike on Sept. 30 (Reuters)The state is conducting an independent investigation into its death penalty system and what happened to Pike.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.In a hearing before a Tennessee Senate subcommittee last month, prison officials said they had 470 open jobs among its 6,000-person workforce.They also warned a 2022 law requiring inmates to serve more of their sentences was increasing prison populations and could lead to overcrowding.