ESCAPED KILLER STILL ON THE RUN — AND PRISON WAITED HOURS TO SOUND THE ALARM

Jacob Allen Morley, serving a life sentence for the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, late on Sunday, October 25, and remained at large as of October 30.

A newly released timeline shows how much time slipped away before the alarm went up. During a routine count on Sunday night, an officer found Morley's cell window covered and accepted another inmate's false claim that two people were inside, rather than having the cover removed.

Prison staff did not conduct an emergency count until around 12:25 a.m. Monday, and by then Morley was already gone. Investigators say he hid among pallets and a trash cart behind the main kitchen, cut through perimeter fences, and stole a white 2008 Ford F-350 utility truck at around 1 a.m.

Staff discovered the breached fences between 3:30 and 4 a.m., but outside state and local agencies were not formally notified until 5:30 to 6:15 a.m. — by which time, according to the district attorney, Morley had already reached Marion, Illinois, where the stolen truck was later found abandoned.

Authorities are also examining a possible connection to an armed robbery at the Bank of Deerfield in Dane County, Wisconsin, on Tuesday evening, in which a gunman restrained two employees, took cash, and fled in a stolen car later found abandoned. That link is unconfirmed — the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has said it is tracking the Wisconsin incident but has not established any formal connection to Morley. Morley is on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's Most Wanted list and is considered dangerous. Authorities are urging anyone who spots him to call 911 and not approach him.