Latest news with #CherylTillman
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Arkansas mayor, murder victim's sister reacts to Grant Hardin's escape
The town where Arkansas prison escapee and convicted murderer Grant Hardin once served as police chief remains on edge, according to its mayor who is also the sister of Hardin's victim. "Anxiety is still high," Cheryl Tillman, the mayor of Gateway, Arkansas, told USA TODAY in an interview May 28. "I think everybody's still on alert, being vigilant, doing every precaution that they can." Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25, wearing a "makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement," according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Hardin had been serving time for the 2017 murder of James Appleton, Tillman's brother, in Gateway and the 1997 rape of a school teacher in nearby Rogers. He was sentenced to 80 years on the combined convictions, according to court records. Tillman described Hardin, who served as Gateway's police chief while Tillman was on the city council in 2016, as "very arrogant" and "angry." "He's an evil person," Tillman said. Hardin remains at large as of Wednesday night, with the FBI, Department of Corrections, Arkansas State Police and local police were working to find Hardin, officials said earlier in the day. Hardin pleaded guilty to in 2017 to murder in the first degree for shooting and killing Appleton in February of the same year, according to court records. Appleton's brother-in-law and Cheryl's husband, Andrew Tillman, told Benton County Sheriff's investigators that he was on the phone with Appleton when he was shot, according to a probable cause affidavit. Andrew was the Gateway's mayor at the time of the shooting. Cheryl described Appleton as a "very good brother" with a strong civic sense who obtained a license to work for the Gateway Rural Water Authority when asked by his brother-in-law. "Everybody in this town knew James. They knew that they could call James if they needed help on anything," Tillman said. Tillman said that learning of Hardin's escape brought back memories of the murder. "Everything was happening all over again. From the time he shot my brother and the time we had to go to court with him," Tillman said. The 1997 rape was the focus of a 2023 documentary titled "Devil in the Ozarks," for which Tillman was interviewed. She said that the interview was "tough to do." "We've since been in touch with the subjects of that film and law enforcement and are praying for Hardin's immediate capture in the name of justice and the victims and their families' peace of mind," Ari Mark, one of the executive producers of the documentary, told USA TODAY in a statement May 28. Tillman emphasized the need for residents of Gateway, a place she described as "a very quiet town" where "everybody knows everybody," to remain vigilant while Hardin remained at-large. "Lock their doors. If they need to, load their guns," Tillman said. "Whatever they need to do, just stay vigilant and watch your backs." Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Michael Loria, Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Arkansas mayor: Town on edge after Grant Hardin's escape
CNN
29-05-2025
- General
- CNN
A former police chief was in prison for murder and rape. His escape has left a small town on edge and reopened old wounds
Crime Gun violenceFacebookTweetLink Follow The town of Gateway lies on US Highway 62, a two-lane highway in the northwest corner of Arkansas, less than a mile from the Missouri border in the Ozarks. As of the 2020 census, only 436 people lived there. It's the kind of town where everybody knows everybody, locals say. Which might explain how, in 2017, when a detective responded to reports of a man who had been shot and killed sitting in his truck on the side of the road, a witness was able to immediately identify the shooter. 'His name is Grant Hardin,' the witness told the Benton County Sheriff's Office detective, according to a probable cause affidavit. The witness told the detective that Hardin used to work for the Gateway police department and that he'd known Hardin all his life. 'To know that he is out on the loose is very scary,' Cheryl Tillman said. Hardin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of Tillman's brother, James Appleton, in February 2017, according to court documents. He was serving a 30-year sentence for the murder of Appleton as well as two 25-year sentences for two counts of rape when he escaped the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock on Sunday afternoon. Calico Rock and Gateway are less than a three-hour drive apart and separated by miles of fields and tree-lined roads. For Tillman, news of the jailbreak brought back bad memories of her brother's murder and was 'like reliving it all over again,' she said. 'He's just an evil, evil man,' Tillman said. 'I'm sure the people here in Gateway are worried about him breaking out of prison after what he's done.' 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. Appleton had been on the phone with Tillman's husband, Andrew Tillman, who was the mayor of Gateway at the time. Andrew Tillman told the detective investigating the murder that on his brother-in-law's end of the call he heard what sounded like a loud slammed door and 'that was it,' according to a probable cause affidavit. Hardin's escape has been tough on him, according to his wife. 'He just wants it to end,' Cheryl Tillman said. 'It's a lot on him since he was on the phone with James when the gun went off.' Hardin's court-appointed attorney in the murder case, Shane Wilkinson, told CNN he hasn't heard from Hardin since his escape but has been in contact with local law enforcement, who have been conducting safety checks on his home and business since Hardin broke out. Documents show Hardin was frustrated with Wilkinson following his guilty plea, saying he had wanted to withdraw it. 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. Hardin's attorney in that case declined to comment to CNN about the escape. While in prison in 2019, Hardin completed a program on anger management, prison records show. 'He's a sociopath,' former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told CNN affiliate KHBS. Smith was prosecutor during both the murder and rape convictions. 'He's extremely dangerous,' Smith said. 'He's already proven that he has no moral core or center that would prevent him from doing anything.' Hardin, 56, was briefly the police chief of Gateway in 2016 and had a slew of various law enforcement jobs in the region – many of which ended with him being fired or forced to resign, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. At the time of the murder, he was a correctional officer at the Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville, about an hour south of Gateway, according to the Gazette. After four months as Gateway's police chief, the city council recommended he be relieved of duty, according to Cheryl Tillman. Now Gateway's mayor, Cheryl Tillman was on the city council when Hardin was dismissed. 'We needed to let him go because of the way that he was treating the citizens here in Gateway,' she said. Hardin didn't take criticism well and was quick to anger, she added. 'He was very hard to get along with. I felt like he held grudges a lot,' Tillman said. 'You never knew what he was going to do.' As of Wednesday morning, Hardin was still on the loose. 'The search is still primarily focusing on the north central part of the (state) with leads being followed up on wherever they are received,' said Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Officials are also investigating the events that led up to the escape, which includes an internal investigation, Champion said. Tillman said she was glad Benton County authorities are helping patrol the town while Hardin is on the lam. 'I'm very concerned for our citizens,' she said. While she is sure that 'everybody in the town is a little nervous,' she said she's also sure authorities will capture Hardin eventually. The mayor's message for the people of Gateway is to be vigilant, lock doors and call the police if they see anything suspicious. Her message to Hardin is, 'Don't come around here, because it won't be pretty.' CNN's Taylor Romine and Rebekah Reiss contributed to this report.
CNN
29-05-2025
- General
- CNN
A former police chief was in prison for murder and rape. His escape has left a small town on edge and reopened old wounds
Crime Gun violenceFacebookTweetLink Follow The town of Gateway lies on US Highway 62, a two-lane highway in the northwest corner of Arkansas, less than a mile from the Missouri border in the Ozarks. As of the 2020 census, only 436 people lived there. It's the kind of town where everybody knows everybody, locals say. Which might explain how, in 2017, when a detective responded to reports of a man who had been shot and killed sitting in his truck on the side of the road, a witness was able to immediately identify the shooter. 'His name is Grant Hardin,' the witness told the Benton County Sheriff's Office detective, according to a probable cause affidavit. The witness told the detective that Hardin used to work for the Gateway police department and that he'd known Hardin all his life. 'To know that he is out on the loose is very scary,' Cheryl Tillman said. Hardin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of Tillman's brother, James Appleton, in February 2017, according to court documents. He was serving a 30-year sentence for the murder of Appleton as well as two 25-year sentences for two counts of rape when he escaped the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock on Sunday afternoon. Calico Rock and Gateway are less than a three-hour drive apart and separated by miles of fields and tree-lined roads. For Tillman, news of the jailbreak brought back bad memories of her brother's murder and was 'like reliving it all over again,' she said. 'He's just an evil, evil man,' Tillman said. 'I'm sure the people here in Gateway are worried about him breaking out of prison after what he's done.' 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. Appleton had been on the phone with Tillman's husband, Andrew Tillman, who was the mayor of Gateway at the time. Andrew Tillman told the detective investigating the murder that on his brother-in-law's end of the call he heard what sounded like a loud slammed door and 'that was it,' according to a probable cause affidavit. Hardin's escape has been tough on him, according to his wife. 'He just wants it to end,' Cheryl Tillman said. 'It's a lot on him since he was on the phone with James when the gun went off.' Hardin's court-appointed attorney in the murder case, Shane Wilkinson, told CNN he hasn't heard from Hardin since his escape but has been in contact with local law enforcement, who have been conducting safety checks on his home and business since Hardin broke out. Documents show Hardin was frustrated with Wilkinson following his guilty plea, saying he had wanted to withdraw it. 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. Hardin's attorney in that case declined to comment to CNN about the escape. While in prison in 2019, Hardin completed a program on anger management, prison records show. 'He's a sociopath,' former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told CNN affiliate KHBS. Smith was prosecutor during both the murder and rape convictions. 'He's extremely dangerous,' Smith said. 'He's already proven that he has no moral core or center that would prevent him from doing anything.' Hardin, 56, was briefly the police chief of Gateway in 2016 and had a slew of various law enforcement jobs in the region – many of which ended with him being fired or forced to resign, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. At the time of the murder, he was a correctional officer at the Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville, about an hour south of Gateway, according to the Gazette. After four months as Gateway's police chief, the city council recommended he be relieved of duty, according to Cheryl Tillman. Now Gateway's mayor, Cheryl Tillman was on the city council when Hardin was dismissed. 'We needed to let him go because of the way that he was treating the citizens here in Gateway,' she said. Hardin didn't take criticism well and was quick to anger, she added. 'He was very hard to get along with. I felt like he held grudges a lot,' Tillman said. 'You never knew what he was going to do.' As of Wednesday morning, Hardin was still on the loose. 'The search is still primarily focusing on the north central part of the (state) with leads being followed up on wherever they are received,' said Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Officials are also investigating the events that led up to the escape, which includes an internal investigation, Champion said. Tillman said she was glad Benton County authorities are helping patrol the town while Hardin is on the lam. 'I'm very concerned for our citizens,' she said. While she is sure that 'everybody in the town is a little nervous,' she said she's also sure authorities will capture Hardin eventually. The mayor's message for the people of Gateway is to be vigilant, lock doors and call the police if they see anything suspicious. Her message to Hardin is, 'Don't come around here, because it won't be pretty.' CNN's Taylor Romine and Rebekah Reiss contributed to this report.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Escape of ex-police chief known as ‘Devil in the Ozarks' has Arkansas residents on edge
CORRECTS SOURCE This image provided by the Arkansas Department of Corrections shows Grant Hardin, a former police chief and convicted killer, escaping the North Central Unit prison wearing a disguise in Calico Rock, Ark. (Arkansas Department of Corrections via AP) As law officers search Arkansas' rugged Ozark Mountains for a former police chief and convicted killer who escaped prison this weekend, the sister of one of his victims is on edge. Grant Hardin, the former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape and became known as the 'Devil in the Ozarks.' Hardin escaped Sunday from the North Central Unit — a medium-security prison also known as the Calico Rock prison — by disguising himself and wearing a 'makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement,' state prison officials said in a statement. 'That was not a standard inmate uniform, not a standard correctional uniform,' said Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Corrections. 'There's nothing inside the prison that looks like that, so that's one of the challenges we're going through to find out what that was and how he was able to get that or manufacture it.' Hardin's escape comes just weeks after 10 men fled a New Orleans jail by going through a hole behind a toilet. Eight of those fugitives have since been captured. Cheryl Tillman, whose brother James Appleton was killed by Hardin in 2017, said she and other relatives are alarmed by Hardin's escape since they were witnesses in his court proceedings. 'We were there at his trial when all that went down, and he seen us there, he knows,' she told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Authorities are using canines, drones and helicopters to search the rugged northern Arkansas terrain, Champion said. 'Everything we've got, we're using,' he said. The search area has expanded as the hours have gone on, though Champion didn't discuss exact details of the search area. 'Where this facility is located, the topography does provide challenges,' he said. 'At the same time, it kind of limits where he is able to get.' 'It's called Calico Rock for a reason, because it's very rocky,' he added. Complicating the search effort is the heavy rain that's fallen in recent days in the area, he said. 'You take that rain and combine it with the terrain, and it makes for a tough situation.' Hardin's escape into a rural part of the state isn't necessarily an advantage, according to Craig Caine, a retired inspector with the U.S. Marshals who has handled many cases involving escaped prisoners throughout his nearly 30-year career with federal law enforcement. 'At some point in time, he's going to run out of provisions,' said Caine. 'In more rural areas, most people know one another,' Caine said, making it more likely that someone will identify Hardin and turn him in. 'In that aspect, it could be detrimental to him.' Although Caine isn't involved with the search for Hardin, he said investigators are likely poring over old court documents in Hardin's cases and tracking people who might be helping him. Izard County Sheriff Charley Melton urged residents to lock their homes and vehicles and call 911 if they notice anything suspicious. Other sheriffs also issued similar warnings about Hardin, who was the focus of a 2023 documentary, 'Devil in the Ozarks.' Gateway, the town of about 450 people where Hardin briefly was the police chief in 2016, is in the same large county as the headquarters of retail giant Walmart in Bentonville. But Gateway and the northeast part of the county is far more rural and remote than Bentonville. The landscape only gets more rugged to the east, into the heart of the Ozarks and the Buffalo National River, toward Izard County where the escape happened. Tillman said she wasn't surprised when she heard that Hardin had escaped. But the news suddenly added fresh pain for her and other family members after dealing with the grief from the killing. 'He's just an evil man,' she said. 'He is no good for society.' Hardin pleaded guilty in October 2017 to first-degree murder for fatally shooting Appleton, 59. Appleton worked for the Gateway water department when he was shot in the head on Feb. 23, 2017, near Garfield. Police found Appleton's body inside a car. Investigators at the time did not release a motive for the killing and Hardin was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is also serving 50 years in prison for the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher in Rogers north of Fayetteville. Hardin had been held in the Calico Rock prison since 2017. The facility has a capacity of about 800 inmates, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Associated Press writer Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed. Jeff Martin, The Associated Press
The Guardian
27-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Arkansas residents on edge after escape of ex-police chief ‘Devil in the Ozarks'
As law officers search Arkansas' rugged Ozark mountains for a former police chief and convicted killer who escaped prison this weekend, the sister of one of his victims is on edge. Grant Hardin, the former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape and became known as the 'Devil in the Ozarks'. Hardin escaped on Sunday from the north central unit in Calico Rock by disguising himself and wearing a 'makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement', state prison officials said in a statement. Cheryl Tillman, whose brother James Appleton was killed by Hardin in 2017, said she and other relatives are alarmed since they were witnesses in his court proceedings. 'We were there at his trial when all that went down, and he seen us there, he knows,' she told the Associated Press on Tuesday. Sheriff's deputies in multiple northern Arkansas counties have been working with state prison officials to follow leads and search the rugged terrain in the Ozarks, Izard county sheriff, Charley Melton, said in an update late Monday. 'To the citizens of Izard county and surrounding counties, please stay vigilant, lock your house and vehicle doors and report any suspicious activity by calling 911 immediately,' Melton said. Other sheriffs were issuing similar warnings about Hardin, who was the focus of a 2023 documentary, Devil in the Ozarks. Gateway, the town of about 450 people where Hardin briefly was the police chief in 2016, is in the same large county as the headquarters of retail giant Walmart in Bentonville. However, Gateway and the north-east part of the county is far more rural and remote than Bentonville. The landscape only gets more rugged to the east, into the heart of the Ozarks and the Buffalo National River, toward Izard county where the escape happened. Tillman said she wasn't surprised when she heard that Hardin had escaped. But the news suddenly added fresh pain for her and other family members after dealing with the grief from the killing. 'He's just an evil man,' she said. 'He is no good for society.' Hardin pleaded guilty in October 2017 to first-degree murder for fatally shooting Appleton, 59. Appleton worked for the Gateway water department when he was shot in the head on 23 February 2017, near Garfield. Police found Appleton's body inside a car. Investigators at the time did not release a motive for the killing and Hardin was sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is also serving 50 years in prison for the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher in Rogers north of Fayetteville. Hardin had been held in Calico Rock since 2017.
