Manhunt grows for escaped murderer who may have left area where truck was ditched

Jacob Morley, a convicted killer on the loose since Sunday, has no known connection to the small Illinois town where the truck he allegedly stole was found, the police chief there said Wednesday. “What we have seen kind of leads us in the direction that he’s not still here. But that doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped looking,” Marion, Illinois, Police Chief David Fitts said. Morley, 28, convicted of killing a co-worker in 2022, was serving a life sentence when he escaped from Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee, sometime before 11:30 p.m. Sunday, officials there said. Morley had stolen a work truck, and early Tuesday that truck was found behind a business in Marion, a town of around 16,000 that is around 100 miles north of Tiptonville, authorities in Marion and Tennessee said.

There have been no reports in Marion of any other stolen vehicles and there was no evidence around the truck that was found, Fitts said. There have also been no confirmed sightings, he said. “There’s really nowhere for him to go here where he wouldn’t be recognized. His face is all over the news,” Fitts said. Morley has no known connection to Marion or southern Illinois, he said. “Have no idea why he would come here, other than I-57 is a major interstate and it runs right