TBI says the reward for Jacob Morley is now $15,000, and he is still missing.

A larger reward is not a capture. Action News 5 and WPSD Local 6 print the same $15,000 total and the same three figures. U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller told Action News 5 the search is not only in Marion, Illinois. The life sentence is the judgment already entered. He can still ask a higher court to review that conviction.

Action News 5 reported Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced the reward for information leading to the arrest of escaped inmate Jacob Allen Morley has risen to $15,000. The station listed $7,500 from the Tennessee Governor's Office, $2,500 from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and $5,000 from the U.S. Marshals Service. WPSD Local 6, citing the bureau, reported the same three figures and the same total, and it named Gov. Bill Lee. Action News 5 did not print his name. It printed "the Tennessee Governor's Office." U.S. Marshal Tyreece Miller, of the Western District of Tennessee, told Action News 5 the Marshals are assisting, that resources are being deployed in Marion, Illinois, and that the search is not focused only there because other leads are coming in. Action News 5 quoted him saying he is hopeful Morley will turn himself in, "because that's really the only way we can ensure his safety." The station reported the bureau says his whereabouts remain unknown. It reported Miller asked the public to lock vehicles, doors, and windows and to check outdoor cameras. It reported the FBI's Nashville field office confirmed it is assisting, and that Illinois and Kentucky state police said they are aware and have offered assistance. Action News 5 reported Marion police said he has been on the run for close to 30 hours, could be anywhere, and that there is no evidence he is still in the area. The station did not date that comment. The escape described below was Sunday night. WPSD reported law enforcement in Marion recovered the vehicle Tuesday morning and told the station there was "no evidence" he was still in the vehicle's vicinity. Action News 5 reported the bureau said a truck he allegedly stole in Obion County was found abandoned Tuesday in Marion, and that Miller said he abandoned a truck stolen from Obion County. The Keystone Drive account already in this file puts the truck in Lake County. Obion County and Lake County are not the same county. WPSD reported law enforcement shared video depicting a man believed to be him stealing a vehicle. Earlier accounts in this file say the video shows the theft. "Believed to be" is WPSD's wording. Action News 5 reported he is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder in 2022, in the killing of Cody Birchfield in Carter County. That station's 2022 is the year conflict already in this file. February 2025 is NBC News's conviction date. No Wednesday account reported an arrest. A $15,000 reward is not a capture.

WBBJ reported on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation confirmed the stolen truck used by escaped inmate Jacob Morley has been located in Marion, Illinois. The station reported officials say his whereabouts are still unknown, that anyone with information should call 1-800-TBI-FIND, and that anyone who sees him should not approach him and should call 911 immediately. ABC7 Chicago reported Tuesday that the truck Morley allegedly stole was found abandoned in Marion, Illinois, and that his location remains unknown. ABC7 Chicago's headline said the truck was stolen. The story said allegedly. WBBJ wrote that TBI confirmed the truck used by him was located. Neither station reported an arrest. The Monday video of a truck leaving Keystone Drive, in the paragraphs below, is the earlier sighting. The Illinois report is where a truck was found. It is not a booking.

WCYB reported Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, that the Tennessee Department of Correction said Jacob Morley escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville. The station reported the department said staff confirmed he was unaccounted for at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, and that security footage showed he breached the fence and left in his department uniform. WCYB reported he was convicted in 2025 of the 2022 murder of Cody Birchfield, an Elizabethton man, and that he was serving life in prison. WBBJ reported he escaped custody from that complex on Oct. 25, 2026. Sunday night at 11:30 and a date of Oct. 25 are the same night. WBBJ did not print the 11:30 time. WCYB did not print the calendar date in digits. ABC News reported the department said staff confirmed Morley was unaccounted for at about 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, and that cameras showed he breached the perimeter fence and left in his department uniform.

WBBJ reported he is serving a life sentence for a Carter County conviction for first-degree murder, and also for aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, evading arrest, and vandalism. The station reported he is 28, 5 feet 11 inches tall, about 240 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. It quoted public information officer Bradley Canada identifying the escape as involving Jacob Morley, Tomis ID 674793, and saying the department is working with law enforcement to apprehend him. WBBJ reported the department asked anyone with information to call 1-844-832-3463 or 911, and said not to try to apprehend him. WBBJ did not name the man who was killed. ABC News reported the same Carter County list: first-degree murder, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, evading arrest, and vandalism.

Action News 5 reported the department said Morley escaped from the complex in Lake County and that officers were still looking for him. The station reported he is serving life for first-degree murder in the 2022 killing of Cody Birchfield in Carter County, and that he was also convicted of abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and aggravated burglary. It reported he was found guilty on Feb. 3 and sentenced to life with a chance of parole. It did not print a year next to Feb. 3. WCYB's year is 2025. WBBJ's list has evading arrest and vandalism, and it does not have abuse of a corpse. Action News 5's list has abuse of a corpse, and it does not have evading arrest or vandalism. Those are three accounts of one sentence. The parole language is Action News 5's.

The department said in a release at 1:40 p.m. Monday that it is asking the public to help find inmate Jacob Allen Morley, number 674793, who escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex late Sunday night. It said he has been added to the TBI Most Wanted list, and that a reward of up to $2,500 is available for information leading to his arrest. It asked people to check home security and doorbell cameras, trail and hunting cameras, and other surveillance systems. It said anyone who sees him should not approach him, and should call 911 immediately or TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND. It said the department and partner agencies have searched and cleared buildings and structures nearby, and that the Tennessee Highway Patrol has deployed aviation assets and state troopers. WBBJ's afternoon update quoted that release, including "up to $2,500," and WBBJ's own sentence said there is a $2,500 reward. ABC News reported TBI said he should be considered dangerous. WBBJ also wrote that he should be considered dangerous after reporting the Most Wanted addition. ABC News reported Sheriff Bryan Avery of the Lake County Sheriff's Office asked the public to remain "vigilant and exercise caution," and said anyone who encounters him or believes they have spotted him should not approach, confront, or try to apprehend him, and should dial 911. The afternoon bulletin is a search alert. It is not a capture and not a new conviction. The Carter County life sentence is the judgment already entered. He can still ask a higher court to review that conviction.

WBBJ's 5:30 p.m. update said new video shows Jacob Morley stealing a white 2008 Ford F-350, Tennessee tag 138BBQV, around 1 a.m. Monday from the 400 block of Keystone Drive in Lake County. It said Hornbeak Fire Department cameras showed him driving through Troy at about 1:18 a.m. The station's 4:40 p.m. update said the truck has an air compressor in the bed and is marked Lindamood Planting Company on the side. FOX 13 Memphis, in an update it labeled 4:48 p.m., reported investigators said video shows him stealing a white 2008 Ford F-350 around 1 a.m. Monday from that block, with Tennessee license plate 138BBQV, an air compressor in the bed, and Lindamood Planting Company on the side. FOX 13 Memphis called the vehicle a pickup. NBC News called it a white Ford F-350 flatbed and wrote that he allegedly stole it by 1 a.m. in Tiptonville, which it described as a city of about 3,500 some 100 miles north of Memphis. NBC News said security video of the alleged theft shows a man in a beanie walk from the rear of the truck to the driver's door, the windshield wipers move, and the truck drive away. WBBJ and FOX 13 Memphis wrote the theft as what the video shows. NBC News kept the word allegedly. None of those accounts reported a capture. FOX 13 Memphis's original section of the same story said he was found guilty of murder in northeast Tennessee in 2022 and that a $2,500 reward is offered. NBC News, citing court documents shared by the Carter County Clerk's Office, reported he fatally shot coworker Cody Birchfield, 34, in the back of the head in 2022, that the body was found in a large metal box under Morley's residence, that he was convicted in February 2025 and sentenced to life, and that he was also convicted of abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and aggravated burglary, the last of those for stealing tools from Birchfield. NBC News reported he claimed self-defense. February 2025 is NBC News's conviction date. Action News 5 printed Feb. 3 and no year. FOX 13 Memphis's 2022 is a conviction year the other accounts do not use for the judgment. The truck report is a sighting in the same search. It is not a new sentence and not an arrest. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.