Marshals say 'Devil in the Ozarks' who escaped Arkansas prison has likely fled state
A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Little Rock against Grant Hardin, who escaped prison last month, was released this week. Authorities have said Hardin escaped the Calico Rock prison in Arkansas by donning an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform.
In the complaint, Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert J. Hammons cites two previously publicized unconfirmed sightings of Hardin — one in central Arkansas and another in southern Missouri.
'Based on this information, investigators believe Hardin has fled the state of Arkansas to avoid recapture,' the filing said. 'He has extensive knowledge of the Ozark Mountain region, where he is believed to be possibly hiding in caves or rugged terrain that he is familiar with.'
The complaint, first reported by The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, does not detail any other sightings of Hardin or evidence of him fleeing the state. Arkansas authorities have previously said they're focusing on north-central Arkansas and tips of sightings elsewhere so far have not panned out.
Hardin, a former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape. He was the subject of the TV documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.'
Hardin was housed in a maximum-security wing of the primarily medium security prison, formally known as the North Central Unit. Officials are investigating whether a job Hardin held in the kitchen helped in his escape, including whether it gave him access to materials he could have used to fashion his makeshift uniform.
The Arkansas Department of Corrections this week released a new photo rendering of Hardin, depicting what he may look like now.
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‘Devil in the Ozarks' used Sharpie, kitchen aprons and empty food can to craft disguise for escape
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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.
