A prison escapee from Tennessee is captured in Carroll County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the fugitive who was serving a life sentence for first degree murder was driving a vehicle that was found near Independence with the assistance of license plate reading cameras.
The vehicle was followed by a helicopter from the Kansas City police department until it got stuck on a Carroll County road near Norborne.
The inmate, who was believed to have been armed with multiple weapons, was taken into custody without incident.
News release from the Missouri State Highway Patrol:
On November 3, 2026, at approximately 11:34 a.m., the Missouri State Highway Patrol, along with multiple law enforcement partners, took Jacob Allen Morley, a fugitive who escaped custody in Tennessee, into custody. Morley escaped from the Northwestern Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, TN, on Monday, October 26, 2026. He was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.
On November 3, 2026, at approximately 9:30 a.m., the Patrol’s Missouri Information Analysis Center and Troop A Communications received information from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that Morley may be traveling westbound on Interstate 70 near Independence. The suspect vehicle was located using FLOCK cameras, and officers began to deploy to the area. With additional use of FLOCK cameras, the suspect vehicle was located by undercover officers traveling south on Missouri 291 in Liberty. Officers from multiple agencies began strategically moving into the area and coordinating, as it was believed the suspect was armed with multiple weapons. The Kansas City Police Department was able to locate the suspect vehicle with their helicopter and began to follow it. The suspect traveled east on Missouri 210 to Missouri 10, traveling into Carroll County. The suspect vehicle traveled onto County Road 515 and attempted to travel off the roadway and became stuck, at which time a trooper with the Patrol confronted Morley and took him into custody without incident. At no time during this investigation were any agencies in active pursuit with emergency equipment activated.
The Patrol is appreciative of the assistance from the Kansas City Police Department, Independence Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Career Criminal Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Marshals Service.
