Convicted murderer Jacob Morley escapes Tennessee prison and steals truck; manhunt underway

Jacob Allen Morley, 28, a convicted murderer, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, after breaching a perimeter fence late Sunday, prison officials said. He was reported missing at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, and by 1 a.m. Monday he allegedly stole a white Ford F-350 flatbed truck in Tiptonville, a city of about 3,500 people roughly 100 miles north of Memphis, state officials said. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation placed Morley on its most-wanted list and asked residents to check doorbell and trail cameras for sightings of him or the truck. Security video of the alleged theft shows a man in a beanie walking to the driver's door before the truck drives away. Morley is 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds, the Tennessee Department of Correction said.

Left-leaning sources, NBC News and CBS News, open with the manhunt and the public appeal for camera footage. NBC gives the most detail, including the prison's statement that Morley left the facility in his prison uniform, the truck-theft video and his physical description. CBS's brief report, by Tom Hanson, centers on residents checking their home cameras. Alternative sources, represented by TMZ, lead with the escape as a "prison break" and the Monday evening video of the truck theft. Right-leaning sources, represented by the Daily Mail, lead with the case history: a victim's body was discovered buried beneath Morley's home in 2022. They also feature the $2,500 reward and a warning not to approach him, details absent from the left-leaning excerpts. All sides agree on the escape, the stolen truck and the manhunt, but the right-leaning account puts more weight on his criminal past.