After escaping from a Tennessee prison and spending a week on the run, a man serving a life sentence for murder was captured on Tuesday in Missouri, according to the authorities.
A trooper for the Missouri State Highway Patrol took the fugitive, Jacob Allen Morley, 28, into custody around 11:30 a.m., the agency said in a statement.
Mr. Morley was convicted of first-degree murder in 2025 for the 2022 death of a co-worker, Cody Birchfield. He was serving a life sentence at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tenn., near the southeastern Missouri Bootheel region, when he escaped.
On Tuesday around 9:30 a.m., officials from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported to authorities in Missouri that the getaway vehicle Mr. Morley had been traveling in had possibly been spotted using Flock camera technology, the statement said. It was traveling westbound on Interstate 70 near Independence, Mo., just outside Kansas City.
That vehicle, according to Sgt. Justin Ewing of the Missouri patrol, was a white Ford F-350. “It was a flatbed truck with a metal toolbox attachment, a work-style struck,” he said in an interview. He said it was unclear how Mr. Morley had obtained the vehicle.
Officers from various agencies began coordinating and moving into the area to locate the truck. Officers in a helicopter from the Kansas City Police Department spotted it traveling east on Missouri 210 before moving down Missouri 10, according to the statement.
After entering Carroll County, about 60 miles east of Kansas City, Mr. Morley turned onto a small county road and veered off path, where his vehicle got stuck. A highway patrol trooper then took Mr. Morley into custody. There was no confrontation and no active pursuit during the capture, according to the statement, even though it was believed that Mr. Morley was armed. Sergeant Ewing said it was unclear if weapons were recovered.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said via email that it would release more details soon.
Mr. Morley was more than 450 miles from the Tiptonville prison when he was captured.
His escape was discovered close to midnight on Sunday, Oct. 26, and security footage later revealed that Mr. Morley had breached a fence.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had placed him on its Most Wanted list, with a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to his capture.
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