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A former Arkansas police chief convicted of rape and murder has been apprehended after a brazen prison escape that led to nearly two weeks on the run.
Grant Hardin, 56, was taken into custody Friday shortly after 3 p.m. just 1.5 miles west of the North Central Unit, the same facility where Hardin — dubbed the “Devil in the Ozarks” — had been serving out his prison sentence before the breakout, according to the Izard County Sheriff’s Office.
Arkansas law enforcement officers and members of the U.S. Border Patrol found Hardin near Moccasin Creek after using specially-trained tracking dogs, who were able to pick up the fugitive’s scent and lead authorities to his location, per the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
“I’m incredibly appreciative to all of our dedicated law enforcement agencies that spent countless hours, both day and night, sacrificing their time, utilizing their resources and lending their invaluable expertise to this search,” Secretary of Corrections Lindsay Wallace said after Hardin was taken into custody without incident. “To every one of our Department staff that assisted in this manhunt over the last 13 days, I give my heartfelt thank you for your immeasurable contributions to bring this search to a peaceful conclusion.”
How did Grant Hardin escape prison?
Hardin walked out of the prison facility Sunday, May 25, 2025 after the department said he used a “makeshift” outfit to impersonate a corrections officer.
The disguise caused a “corrections officer operating a secure gate to open the gate,” allowing Hardin to walk away from the facility, according to an affidavit obtained by NBC News.
Former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith, who once helped convict the one-time police chief, described him to KHBS/KHOG after he fled the facility as a “sociopath” with no moral compass.
“He’s extremely dangerous,” Smith told the outlet. “He’s already proven that he has no moral core or center that would prevent him from doing anything.”
Grant Hardin’s Crimes
Hardin — whose case was once featured on Cold Justice: Sex Crimes — pleaded guilty in February of 2017 to killing city water worker James Appleton of Gateway, Arkansas, according to previous reporting from Oxygen.
Appleton’s brother-in-law Andrew Tillman, who was serving as the mayor of Gateway at the time, told authorities he had been on the phone with Appleton when the water worker was shot to death in his pickup truck, USA Today reported.
A witness reported seeing Hardin, who served as the town’s police chief for four months in 2016, parked in a white car behind Appleton’s vehicle just moments before the shot went off, according to NBC News. When the witness turned his car around to check on Appleton, he found him slumped over in the seat.
The motive for the murder remains unclear.
Hardin’s DNA was later linked to a 1997 rape of an Arkansas elementary school teacher, who was attacked at gunpoint after leaving a restroom in the school near the teacher’s lounge. The man was wearing sunglasses and a knit stocking cap over his face, according to an affidavit.
In addition to Cold Justice: Sex Crimes, a spin-off of Oxygen’s popular Cold Justice series, Hardin’s case was also featured in the 2023 Max documentary Devil in the Ozarks.
After the bold prison escape, multiple agencies including The Arkansas State Police, U.S. Marshals, FBI, U.S. Border Patrol, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission joined together to capture Hardin.
“Thanks to the great work of local, state and federal law enforcement Arkansans can breathe a sigh of relief and I can confirm that violent criminal Grant Hardin is back in custody,” Governor Sarah Sanders remarked Friday, according to the statement from The Arkansas Department of Corrections.
