Search continues over a week for escaped Arkansas inmate Grant Hardin
Authorities have been using any and every resource possible to locate 56-year-old Grant Hardin, a convicted murderer and rapist.
Who is Grant Hardin, the 'Devil in the Ozarks'?
Hardin is a former police chief in northwest Arkansas who escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25. He was serving a sentence for rape and murder convictions.
According to court documents, Hardin was reportedly let out by a corrections officer. A spokesperson with the Arkansas Department of Corrections said Hardin escaped by disguising himself in an 'ADC-type uniform.'
Logan Barnes is the owner of Knowles True Value Hardware Store in Calico Rock. he says the community is remaining cautious as each day passes.
'At first I was spooked.I think everyone was a little leery.' Barnes goes on to say, 'We have a bunch of people that hunt and fish and they know how to protect their property.'
Officials say the rocky terrain, past rainy weather and his police background has made it difficult to find him. The rural area creates hiding places like caves.
'There's a lot of places to hide here. You could go off-grid here and no one would find you,' said Charlie Allen, owner of Lindsey Trout Dock.
A spokesperson with the Arkansas Department of Corrections says the manhunt includes helicopters, drones, horseback, ATVs, police checkpoints and more.
'We're the safest place on earth right now because there are cops everywhere,' said a local.
FBI offering $10,000 reward for information on Arkansas inmate escapee Grant Hardin
Charlie Allen has owned Lindsey Trout Dock on the White River for years, he says they have a lot of tourists that come out to fish and some have already asked about Hardin but adds the water wouldn't be easy to swim across.
'Since he has escaped this river has been really high and it's cold water so you would die of hyperthermia.' Allen goes on to say he believes Hardin will be captured because, 'I got friends that are involved in the prison and they're in the K9 unit out there so I have faith in that.'
Some of the community say they're keeping the faith that he will be arrested.
'This community is like a family where everyone is looking out for each other,' said Bambi Bowden, executive director of Main Street Calico Rock.
Allen hopes the 'Devil in the Ozarks' time on the run will finally end soon.
'He is not only a rapist but he is a murderer he needs to be in prison,' Allen said.
Authorities increase reward for information on Arkansas inmate escapee Grant Hardin to $25,000
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Marshals Service have increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of Arkansas prison escapee Grant Hardin to a combined $25,000 after five days of searching.
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
‘Devil in the Ozarks' used Sharpie, kitchen aprons and empty food can to craft disguise for escape
A convicted murderer and rapist who broke out of an Arkansas prison over the summer had planned his escape for six months, quietly collecting items while working in the kitchen and stashing them in areas rarely checked by staff. The Arkansas Department of Corrections' critical incident review committee detailed Grant Hardin's elaborate escape in a report released two months after he was captured in the woods about 1.5 miles from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock. Hardin, a former police chief who was convicted of murder and rape, was taken into custody on June 6 by U.S. Border Patrol agents and state law enforcement officers after tracking dogs picked up his scent. He pleaded not guilty to an escape charge and is scheduled to go on trial in November. He's currently housed at Varner Supermax prison in Gould, Arkansas. Hardin told Arkansas Division of Correction Director Dexter Payne in an interview that he used black Sharpie markers he took from the kitchen and laundry to color the clothes he wore when he fled, according to the report. He told the committee in a separate interview that he left the world "POLICE" outlined on his white T-shirt before coloring the rest of it. He said he molded the top of an empty food can into the shape of a police badge and used black aprons from the kitchen to craft an officer's body armor vest, according to the report, released Friday. Officials said Hardin was wearing a makeshift law enforcement uniform and pushing a cart with wooden pallets on it when he walked out the prison gate. Hardin said that the markers had been left lying around "because staff were not keeping up with them," the report stated. Hardin said he hid the clothes and other items in the bottom of a kitchen trash can because it was never checked by staff, it said. He also said that the staff did not monitor him while he was working on the back dock near the kitchen. On May 25, the day of his escape, Hardin said he overheard a deputy warden tell a kitchen supervisor that inmates would no longer be allowed to go on the dock by themselves. Despite rainy weather, Hardin said he decided to try to escape. The report said that Hardin "gathered up everything he had been hiding, including his clothes and food from various areas around the kitchen and dock area," and made his way toward the gate. Hardin, according to the documents, walked up to the gate and directed the guard to "open the gate." Without checking for proper identification, the guard let him out. The documents allege that on the first night of the escape, Hardin stayed in one area in the woods and "dodged the K-9 team that was searching for him." The second night, he moved around some more and became separated from the bag he used to store his food. Hardin told Payne that he survived on berries, bird eggs, and ants and drank water from the creek, the documents stated. He also had some distilled water with him that he got from the infirmary for his CPAP machine, it said. During his interview with committee members, Hardin allegedly said that he was initially able to avoid capture because of the rainy weather, dense vegetation and landscape. His escape left the small Arkansas town on edge and angered the family of the man he killed in 2017. The murder, as well as the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher, were featured in the 2023 HBO Max documentary "Devil in the Ozarks." He planned to hide in the woods for six months if he needed to and then move west out of the area. But after becoming concerned by the lack of food available to him and how close the search teams were getting, he tried to leave the area sooner. "This is what led to the search teams spotting him and capturing inmate Hardin," officials wrote in the report. The committee said that, considering the nature of Hardin's crimes, he was incorrectly classified and should have been held at a more secure prison. But several procedural issues at the facility contributed to Hardin's escape, the committee found. It issued recommendations for corrective actions the facility should take, including the removal of all black kitchen aprons, additional surveillance cameras for blind spots, and changing the electric locks at the prison gates. The committee also suggested that all side rooms and mechanical rooms need to be checked during searches. A spokesperson for the Department of Corrections said Tuesday that it has reviewed the report "and will implement the suggestions made in regards to the findings." Ultimately, the employee who worked in the gate tower and the employee who left Hardin unsupervised on the kitchen dock were fired for policy violations. Several other employees were suspended, demoted or faced disciplinary action, according to the report.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sharpie markers and a handmade badge: How officials say the ‘Devil in the Ozarks' planned a prison escape over several months
Soon after the convicted murderer and rapist known as the 'Devil in the Ozarks' was recaptured after evading police for more than 10 days in the rocky terrain and dense vegetation of rural northwest Arkansas, officials say they interviewed him at least five times about how he pulled off the prison break. Grant Hardin, a one-time Arkansas police chief and the subject of the 2023 HBO Max documentary series 'Devil in the Ozarks,' was serving a 30-year sentence for murder and two 25-year sentences for two counts of rape when he began the six-month process of planning and preparing to break out, he allegedly told Arkansas Division of Correction Director Dexter Payne. HBO Max and CNN share a parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. Hardin ultimately walked out of the Calico Rock prison on May 25. He has pleaded not guilty to an escape charge and is set to go on trial in November. Following his capture, Hardin, 56, told the committee in separate interviews how he colored his clothing and a hat and wore what appeared to be a law enforcement stab vest made from black aprons from the facility's kitchen, according to a report released Friday from the state Department of Corrections' critical incident review committee, which details procedural issues at the facility that likely contributed to Hardin's success in escaping. 'Inmate Hardin was inconsistent and deceptive in answering all questions' to committee members, the report stated. However, investigators said they were able to verify certain details provided by Hardin that were included in their report. Hardin planned his escape for six months, report says Hardin was assigned to work in the prison kitchen and allegedly told Payne that kitchen supervisors didn't monitor him when he worked on the back loading dock. Hardin allegedly told committee members he utilized his access to supplies and unsupervised time to fashion a law enforcement costume using black aprons, and he used black Sharpie markers he took from the kitchen and nearby laundry to color black a regular white inmate uniform and hat, according to the report. The would-be fugitive allegedly told the committee he left the word 'POLICE' in white on the back as he colored the rest of the shirt with the black markers, the report said. To make the uniform more believable, the report alleges Hardin said he used black kitchen aprons to fabricate an officer's stab vest and he molded a lid from a can of food to resemble a shiny silver badge. 'Hardin stated he would hide the clothes and other items he was going to need in the bottom of a trash can in the kitchen due to no one ever shaking it down,' the report alleged Hardin said during his interview with Payne. How Hardin allegedly left the prison, according to report Hardin allegedly told Payne that on May 25, he overheard a deputy warden tell one of the kitchen supervisors that inmates would no longer be able to go outside on the dock by themselves. When he got to work that day, he gathered up everything he had been hiding as well as food from around the kitchen and dock area, he allegedly told Payne. Despite the heavy rain, he went outside on the dock and then made his way toward the prison gate, the report alleged. A prison employee told colleagues 'he had let an officer out the gate who walked across the parking lot' to the facility's garage, the report said. The employee allegedly said he 'answered a phone call and, when he finished, the man dressed as an officer was gone,' according to the report. 'Open the gate' Prison officials say they reviewed security camera footage and saw that at 2:53 p.m., Hardin could be seen coming out from a blind spot from the camera on the back dock and walking to the sally port gate, according to the report. He was 'pulling a cart, wearing altered clothes (dyed) black, a vest, and a black hat. The cart contained what appeared to be a home-made ladder made of pallets and a box. Hardin walks to the ICC garage and then around the south end where he is not seen again,' the report stated. Hardin allegedly told Payne that the ladder made from wooden pallets was just a backup plan if he had to climb over the fence, but he didn't even need it. The report said he explained to Payne how he walked up to the guarded exit and simply directed the officer to 'open the gate,' and the officer did. Hardin said he pretended to place something in a vehicle parked in the area, but then doubled back, crossed the road to the deputy warden's house and then down a trail into the woods, the report said. On the lam Meanwhile, the prison went on lockdown as officials tried to organize a search for Hardin, according to the report. The cart with the pallet ladder was discovered abandoned, and a K-9 team with a dog named Gracie began to track Hardin to the trail into the woods, the report said. Eventually, Gracie lost his scent, but somewhere along the way, the report said, the K-9 team found Hardin's homemade badge hanging on a bush. On his first night on the lam in the Arkansas woods, Hardin allegedly said he stayed in one spot, hiding from the K-9 teams tracking him, according to the report. He allegedly told members of the committee he had planned to hide in the woods for six months if he had to. Hardin said he began moving west out of the area, but the next night, he set a bag full of food he brought down on the ground while he moved around the area. The search teams cut him off from his supplies, and he couldn't get back to his bag, according to the officials' report. 'He stated he ate whatever he could find including berries, bird eggs and ants. He drank water from the creek in the area. He also had some distilled water he used for his CPAP machine he got from the Infirmary,' the report said. Hardin said he began to get very hungry and worried about how close the search teams were getting to him, so he began trying to leave the area, the report alleged. 'This is what led to the search teams spotting him and capturing inmate Hardin,' the report said. Committee finds multiple problems — and details corrective actions Several procedural issues at the facility contributed to Hardin's successful escape, the critical incident review committee said in the report, including confusion over which agency was overseeing the initial response to Hardin's escape. Some workers were not properly notified that an inmate had escaped, the report added. 'The Escape Notification Checklist was started but, due to the misunderstanding of the communication of the question, 'Have the Notifications been made?' and new staff arriving at the Command Center to assume post it was not completed,' it said. 'Corrective action and policy changes have already taken place. However, this committee feels that a command center drill should be added to the many drills already done during training and practice,' the report added. The committee also recommended that the facility replace the black aprons used by inmates with white aprons, add additional surveillance cameras to avoid blind spots from the guard towers and change the types of locks used on interior and exterior doors. The committee also found Hardin's custody level had been incorrectly classified, and he should have been in a more secure facility with more restrictions. Ultimately, two employees at the prison have been fired for policy violations, corrections officials have said, while others received demotions or disciplinary action for violations of the code of conduct, but officials have said there was no evidence employees knowingly assisted Hardin's escape, and he has denied having any help from other inmates. The DOC declined to provide any additional comment on the report. After his capture on June 6, Hardin was transferred to a maximum-security prison in Varner, Arkansas, about 75 miles southeast of Little Rock. CNN's Zoe Sottile and Taylor Romine contributed to this report.
CNN
21 hours ago
- CNN
A daring prison escape, crypto boom, huge Powerball jackpot: Catch up on the day's stories
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