Convicted murderer got over 5-hour head start after prison escape before local police were notified: official
FIRST ON FOX: The convicted murderer who escaped from a Tennessee prison had at least a five-hour head start before local police were notified he was missing, the local police chief told Fox News Digital.
Jacob Allen Morley broke out of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, Sunday, although authorities have not disclosed the exact time of his escape.
Staff at the prison noticed Morley was unaccounted for at around 11:30 p.m., and a review of surveillance footage subsequently revealed him crossing through the prison's perimeter fence. According to Tennessee Highway Patrol dispatch audio, Morley was last seen at the prison around 4 p.m. Sunday.
Surveillance footage recorded Morley taking a pickup truck from the 400 block of Keystone Drive, a location roughly 2 miles south of the prison, at around 1 a.m. Monday, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. The truck was found abandoned by law enforcement officials early Tuesday morning in Marion, Illinois, but Morley wasn't located.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Tiptonville Police Department Chief Joe England said his department wasn't notified about a potentially missing inmate until 4:40 a.m. on Monday, over 5 hours after prison staff first realized Morley was unaccounted for.
Officers responded to the prison and worked with staff to assess the situation. At 5:14 a.m., England said, officers alerted the rest of the department that the inmate's escape had been confirmed.
At 6:20 a.m., prison officials formally notified Lake County Central Dispatch, which handles 911 calls and coordinates law enforcement services, that an inmate escape had been confirmed.
The notification set off a broader search for Morley in the area surrounding the prison.
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"The Tiptonville Police Department immediately coordinated with the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Lake County Sheriff's Office to conduct a search of the surrounding area," England said. "The Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and numerous other state, local and federal law enforcement agencies also participated in the search efforts."
While Morley stole the pickup truck at around 1 a.m. Monday, England said his department wasn't made aware of a potentially missing truck until 2:15 p.m. Monday, which was confirmed missing at 2:30 p.m. He noted that the pickup truck wasn't stolen within city limits.
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In a statement to Fox News Digital, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson said the agency was notified of the prison escape on Monday morning but didn't elaborate on an exact time.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office didn't respond to Fox News Digital when asked when the agency was first alerted of the prison escape. The Tennessee Department of Correction didn't respond to multiple requests for comment to Fox News Digital.
Former federal prison Warden Cameron Lindsay told Fox News Digital the delay in notifying police of an inmate escaping prison is "100% unacceptable."
"Part of any correctional facility's basic tenets of operations should include emergency plans. And one of those plans that you have for an emergency is an escape. And part of your escape plans entails notifying law enforcement, local law enforcement, state law enforcement, U.S. Marshals Service and everybody in the community. You need to get that word out immediately. So, for them to have that kind of delay raises a huge red flag," Lindsay said.
"And it begs the question, why, why did they delay? Because it is 100% unacceptable in the profession of corrections."
Lindsay said local law enforcement should have immediately been contacted once prison staff realized the inmate was unaccounted for.
Retired FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam told Fox News Digital the community should have been notified much sooner.
"That community should put out an emergency text to everyone to make sure none of their family members are missing as he could have killed or kidnapped someone after ditching the truck," Gilliam said.
TBI said Wednesday afternoon that the reward in the search for Morley is now $15,000 — $7,500 from the governor’s office, $5,000 from the U.S. Marshals and $2,500 from TBI.
Morley is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, and 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said he should be "considered dangerous," adding Morley is now on the state's most wanted list.
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In addition to the first-degree murder conviction, he was also found guilty of burglary, vandalism, tampering with evidence and evading arrest.
Morley was serving a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield.
Birchfield disappeared in early February 2022 after he was last seen in Elizabethton, Tennessee. According to WJHL, investigators from the Carter County Sheriff's Office saw indications that a "violent crime" had occurred inside his house.
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WATCH: Escaped Tennessee inmate seen on video stealing truck, officials say
On March 2, 2022, Morley was arrested after a police chase that went to the North Carolina state line. After the arrest, Birchfield's body was found underneath Morley's home.
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Morley's former girlfriend, Landree Sheperd, testified at Morley's trial and claimed that the defendant said at one point that "he f------ killed him."
The prison escape comes at a tumultuous time for the Tennessee Department of Correction, less than a month after the botched execution of death row inmate Christa Pike.
Pike survived the Sept. 30 execution attempt after the state administered two doses of pentobarbital, and she was transported to a hospital. Gov. Bill Lee then suspended Tennessee's remaining scheduled execution for the year and directed an independent review to examine what had gone wrong.
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Former Knoxville Police Chief Phil Keith, who handled the case, previously told Fox News Digital that Pike showed "no remorse" in the interrogation room after an attack that a psychiatrist later said involved "satanic elements" at trial.
"She represents pure evil," he said of Pike.
People with information about Morley's whereabouts are encouraged to call 844-832-3463.
Fox News Digital's Ashley Papa contributed to this report.