Former Arkansas police chief who escaped from prison has been recaptured, sheriff's office says

Yahoo

a day ago

Grant Hardin, the one-time Arkansas police chief who escaped from prison where he was serving sentences for murder and rape, has been recaptured, according to the Izard County Sheriff's Office.
Hardin, 56, had been on the run for more than 10 days after breaking out of the prison on May 25, wearing what authorities described as a makeshift law enforcement uniform. Once the police chief of the small town of Gateway, Arkansas, he was serving a 30-year sentence for murder and two 25-year sentences for two counts of rape when he escaped.
He was captured Friday afternoon, just 1.5 miles west of the prison grounds, according to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office. Tracking dogs picked up a scent in the area and Hardin was 'apprehended a short time later' by Arkansas law enforcement officers and US Border Patrol, according to a news release from the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
'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,' said Gov. Sarah Sanders in the release. 'I am grateful for all law enforcement who contributed to his capture and give special thanks to the Trump administration and Secretary Kristi Noem, who sent a team from Border Patrol that was instrumental in tracking and apprehending Hardin.'
His escape incited an intense search effort in the difficult, rocky terrain of northern Arkansas near the prison, hampered by heavy rain. The area includes plentiful caves and old outbuildings, offering a fugitive many places to hide. Authorities said earlier in the week they believed he may have left the state.
He had been incarcerated since 2017 after he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of James Appleton, according to court documents.
Officials were using all resources at their disposal, including dogs, drones and aircraft as weather permitted, among other methods, Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, previously said.
Hardin was accused of shooting Appleton, who worked for the City of Gateway's water department, in the head while driving down a road approximately half a mile from his home, documents show.
'He's just an evil, evil man,' Appleton's sister, Cheryl Tillman, told CNN. 'I'm sure the people here in Gateway are worried about him breaking out of prison after what he's done.'
Two years after pleading guilty to murder, Hardin pleaded guilty to two counts of rape after his DNA, which was entered into the Arkansas DNA database following his murder plea, was connected to the 1997 rape of schoolteacher Amy Harrison in the nearby city of Rogers, court documents show.
'He's extremely dangerous,' former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told CNN affiliate KHBS. 'He's already proven that he has no moral core or center that would prevent him from doing anything.'
Hardin had a long career in law enforcement and briefly served as police chief of Gateway, a tiny Arkansas town with a population of just over 400.
But many of his jobs ended with him being fired or forced to resign, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.
At the time of Appleton's murder, Hardin was a corrections officer at the Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville, about an hour south of Gateway, according to the Gazette.
His escape came days after a group of 10 inmates at a New Orleans jail made a similarly brazen escape, prompting a national manhunt. Two inmates are still at large more than two weeks after the jailbreak.
This story has been updated with additional information.