El asesino condenado tuvo más de 5 horas de ventaja después de escapar de la prisión antes de que la policía local fuera notificada: oficial

Jacob Allen Morley remained at large on Thursday, nearly four days after escaping from a Tennessee prison. The 28-year-old convicted murderer was serving a life sentence for the 2022 killing of Cody Birchfield when he fled the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville. Local police officials stated that Morley gained a head start of more than five hours before authorities were fully informed of his disappearance. Prison staff discovered Morley was unaccounted for at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. Surveillance footage later showed him crossing the facility’s perimeter fence. However, Tennessee Highway Patrol dispatch audio indicated that Morley was last seen at the prison around 4 p.m. that day. The exact time of the breakout has not been publicly disclosed by correctional officials. Following his escape, surveillance cameras captured Morley stealing a pickup truck from the 400 block of Keystone Drive. This location is situated roughly two miles south of the prison in unincorporated Lake County. The theft occurred around 1 a.m. on Monday. Law enforcement agents located the abandoned vehicle early Tuesday morning in Marion, Illinois, but did not find the fugitive nearby. Tiptonville Police Chief Joe England detailed the communication delays to Fox News Digital. His department received its initial alert regarding a potentially missing inmate at 4:40 a.m. on Monday. Officers arrived at the prison to work with staff and assessed the situation. By 5:14 a.m., those officers confirmed the escape to the rest of the police force. It was not until 6:20 a.m. that prison officials formally notified Lake County Central Dispatch, the entity responsible for coordinating 911 calls and law enforcement services, that an inmate had escaped. England noted that his agency was unaware of the stolen truck until 2:15 p.m. on Monday, with the vehicle officially confirmed missing at 2:30 p.m. He emphasized that the theft did not occur within city limits. Upon receiving the formal notification, the Tiptonville Police Department coordinated immediately with the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to search the surrounding area. The manhunt expanded rapidly to include the Tennessee Highway Patrol, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and numerous other state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies. Despite this multi-agency effort, Morley has not been recaptured. The investigation continues as officials attempt to determine his current whereabouts based on the clues left by the abandoned truck.