Hardin escaped Sunday from the North Central Unit — a medium-security prison also known as the Calico Rock prison — by impersonating a corrections officer “in dress and manner,” according to a court document.
Hardin’s escape happened days after 10 men fled a New Orleans jail by going through a hole behind a toilet.
Video surveillance shows Hardin escaped at approximately 2:55 p.m. on Sunday, Champion said.
Hardin’s escape into a rural part of the state isn’t necessarily an advantage, according to Craig Caine, a retired inspector with the U.S.
Investigators at the time did not release a motive for the killing and Hardin was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
The sister of one of his victims is on edge as police search the untamed Ozark Mountains of Arkansas for a convicted killer and former police chief who escaped prison this weekend by posing as a guard and leaving through a gate a guard opened for him.
The “Devil in the Ozarks” was Grant Hardin, the former police chief of Gateway, a small town close to the Arkansas-Missouri border, who was serving long sentences for rape and murder. “.
In order to get out of the North Central Unit, a medium-security facility also called Calico Rock prison, Hardin posed as a corrections officer “in dress and manner,” according to a court filing on Sunday. He was able to exit the facility when a prison guard unlocked a secure gate.
The clothing, according to Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesperson Rand Champion, is not typical of an inmate or correctional uniform.
One of the difficulties we’re facing is figuring out what that was and how he was able to obtain or make it, he stated. “There’s nothing inside the prison that looks like that,” he said.
Champion stated that “assessments” of Hardin’s offenses and “needs of the various facilities and inmates” were taken into consideration when deciding to place him in a medium-security facility.
Days before Hardin’s escape, ten men broke out of a New Orleans jail by inserting themselves through a hole behind a toilet. Since then, eight of those fugitives have been apprehended.
Make your way into unpaved areas.
Being present at Hardin’s court proceedings, Cheryl Tillman, whose brother James Appleton was killed by him in 2017, said she and other family members are concerned about Hardin’s escape.
On Tuesday, she told The Associated Press, “We were there at his trial when all that went down, and he seen us there, he knows.”.
According to Champion, authorities are searching the rocky terrain of northern Arkansas with dogs, drones, and helicopters.
Although Champion didn’t go into specifics, the search area has grown over the course of the hours.
He stated, “The topography does present challenges where this facility is located.”. However, it also somewhat restricts his options. “..”.
He went on to say, “Calico Rock is named so for good reason—it’s really rocky.”.
According to video surveillance, Hardin fled at around 2:55 p.m. m. on Sunday, according to Champion. At around five o’clock in the afternoon, authorities declared his escape. M. during the evening.
According to him, the intense rain that has been falling in the area lately is making the search more difficult.
According to retired U.S. inspector Craig Caine, Hardin’s escape into a rural area of the state isn’t necessarily advantageous. A. Throughout his nearly 30-year career with federal law enforcement, Marshals has dealt with numerous cases involving escaped inmates.
According to Caine, “he’s going to run out of provisions at some point.”.
Caine stated that “in more rural areas, most people know one another,” increasing the likelihood that someone will recognize Hardin and report him. In that sense, it might work against him. “,”.
A community that is shaken.
Sheriff Charley Melton of Izard County and other local sheriffs advised citizens to lock their houses and cars and to dial 911 if they see anything fishy.
Bryan Sexton, the prosecutor for Hardin’s murder and rape charges, stated that his office has contacted the officers who looked into Hardin as well as the families impacted by his crimes, which were the subject of the documentary “Devil in the Ozarks” in 2023. “..”.
Making those connections with people who have been living their lives for the past ten years and having to be the one to call them and remind them of what has happened to them is something that is very difficult for me, Sexton said.
The 450-person town of Gateway, where Hardin briefly served as police chief in 2016, is located in the same large county as Bentonville, home of Walmart’s corporate headquarters. However, compared to Bentonville, Gateway and the county’s northeast are much more isolated and rural. As one moves eastward toward Izard County, the scene of the escape, the terrain only becomes rougher as one approaches the Buffalo National River and the heart of the Ozarks.
Prior to his conviction, Hardin was known to her sons as a quiet individual, according to Darla Nix, a local cafe owner in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, which is close by.
Nix remarked, “He was always just one of the kids, a member of the community,”.
According to Nix, who called Hardin a “very, very smart man,” she expects the police search for Hardin to be difficult.
“He is aware of the locations of the caves. All he is is a survivor. He is capable of making it. They will be very busy attempting to apprehend him,” Nix remarked.
When she learned that Hardin had gotten away, Tillman claimed she wasn’t shocked. However, after coping with the grief of the murder, the news abruptly caused her and other family members to experience new suffering.
“He’s just an evil man,” she declared. “He does not benefit society. “.”.
When Hardin shot Appleton, 59, to death in October 2017, he entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder. When Appleton was shot in the head in February, he was employed with the Gateway Water Department. March 23, 2017, close to Garfield. Appleton’s body was discovered by police inside a vehicle.
Hardin was given a 30-year prison term, and investigators at the time did not disclose a motive for the murder. In addition, he is serving a 50-year prison sentence for the rape of an elementary school teacher in Rogers, north of Fayetteville, in 1997.
Hardin had been incarcerated at Calico Rock since 2017. The Arkansas Department of Corrections estimates that the facility can house up to 800 prisoners.
