Notorious Fugitive, Previously Convicted for Homicide and Sexual Assault, Apprehended After Evading Arkansas Penitentiary
A Fugitive Ex-Cop's Dramatic Escape:
After close to two weeks on the run, Grant Hardin, a notorious ex-police chief of Arkansas convicted of heinous crimes, has finally been recaptured.
Last Friday, Hardin, now 56, was apprehended roughly 1.5 miles west of the North Central Unit, the very prison he managed to escape from wearing an odd, prison-fabricated uniform resembling a law enforcement outfit[4][1]. The Arkansas Department of Corrections confirmed the news.
A team of U.S. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement officers tracked him down to an Izard County creek following a scent trail picked up by tracking dogs in the area[5]. He was swiftly apprehended.
His identity was positively confirmed through fingerprint analysis by the Izard County Sheriff's Office[3]. Secretary of Corrections Lindsay Wallace expressed heartfelt gratitude to all the officers involved, praising their relentless efforts in safely concluding the manhunt[3].
Hardin took advantage of a secure gate by impersonating a corrections officer on May 25, just before 3 p.m., and strolled out of the North Central Unit[6].
Hardin carries a history of law enforcement, having served at the Fayetteville Police Department before moving on to the Gateway police chief position in early 2016 for a brief stint. However, Rangers Champion, a Corrections Department spokesperson, noted that Hardin's background in law enforcement made the search more challenging[2].
Beyond his law enforcement career, Hardin was born in Bentonville and grew up in Garfield and Pea Ridge[2]. Most unfortunately, his life took a dark turn when he was convicted of the brutal murder of Gateway city water employee James Appleton in 2017 and the rape of teacher Amy Harrison in 1997[2]. He was sentenced to 30 years for Appleton's murder and 50 years for Harrison's sexual assault[2].
Both cases gained national attention, featuring in the 2023 Max documentary "Devil in the Ozarks."
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- Despite his escape from a high-security prison, Grant Hardin's past finally caught up with him in a creek in Izard County, bringing to an end his maximum-security lockdown.
- Amid the general news, the arrest of the fugitive ex-cop, a former Gateway police chief, has also raised questions about the politics surrounding prison security and war-and-conflicts within the correctional system.
