30-05-2025
'I shuddered': 'Devil in the Ozarks' producer reacts to Grant Hardin prison escape
'I shuddered': 'Devil in the Ozarks' producer reacts to Grant Hardin prison escape
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Ex-Arkansas police chief imprisoned for murder escapes prison
Grant Hardin, a former Gateway, Arkansas, police chief serving time for murder and rape, escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25.
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LOS ANGELES – Arkansas prison escapee and subject of the 2023 documentary "Devil in the Ozarks" Grant Hardin remains at large for a fifth day as the executive producer of the project told USA TODAY that he "really trembled" when he heard the news of the escape.
"We've done a lot of these types of stories, and the idea that somebody like him is walking around somewhere is pretty scary," Ari Mark, co-founder of AMPLE Entertainment and executive producer of "Devil in the Ozarks," told USA TODAY in an interview May 29. "He was somebody who really believed, to use his wife's words, (he was) really invincible when he had the status as an officer."
Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit on May 25 while wearing a "makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement," the Arkansas Department of Corrections said.
He was convicted of the 2017 murder of James Appleton and the 1997 rape of a school teacher. Hardin served as police chief in Gateway, Arkansas, and had previous law enforcement experience, officials said.
"He was able lead this sort of weird double life because it didn't seem like people in his life were aware of who he was and what he was capable of," Mark said. "Those are obviously the guys that are the scariest."
Mark previously said in a statement that the company had been in touch with the subjects of the documentary.
"It's just insane that they have to now re-experience this," Mark told USA TODAY. "Even just seeing the guy's face on the news again, I shuddered. I can only imagine what the victims and the victims' families felt."
How to watch 'Devil in the Ozarks': Grant Hardin documentary streaming as convicted murderer on the run
'Devil in the Ozarks' producer says documentary can provide context for search
Mark told USA TODAY that the documentary would, among other things, help the public understand the environment where both the crime took place and where the search is being conducted.
"These types of stories being set where they are ... has a deeper impact beyond just the victims, and it has more of a collective impact," Mark said.
Cheryl Tillman, the current mayor of Gateway and sister to Appleton, told USA TODAY May 28 that "anxiety is still high" in the town where the murder was committed.
The Howell County Sheriff's Office reported in a May 29 Facebook post that it has received multiple reports of sightings from southern Missouri to Faulkner County, Arkansas.
The FBI announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Hardin's arrest.
What was Grant Hardin convicted of?
Hardin pleaded guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2017 to murder in the first degree for shooting and killing Appleton in February of the same year, according to court records.
A DNA test conducted following the murder conviction connected Hardin to the 1997 rape of a school teacher in Rogers, Arkansas, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.
Hardin pleaded guilty to two counts of rape in 2019 and was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison for each count consecutively, according to the plea agreement.
Contributing: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
