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CNN
2 days ago
- 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
2 days ago
- 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
3 days ago
- Health
- CNN
How a controversial type of warrant helped convict a former Arkansas police chief of a decades-old rape
Crime GeneticsFacebookTweetLink Follow DNA evidence has become a cornerstone of modern police work, be it through the use of genetic genealogy or submitting material found before modern advances in testing. One tool, known as a John Doe DNA warrant, has made news after a former police chief serving sentences for murder and rape escaped from an Arkansas prison Sunday. This type of warrant uses DNA recovered from a scene to help identify a suspect not known by name, keeping open cases that might have already hit a statute of limitations, according to the National Institute of Justice, the research branch of the US Department of Justice. 56-year-old Grant Hardin, who escaped from prison Sunday, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of James Appleton in February 2017, according to court documents. When his DNA was entered into the Arkansas DNA database, it triggered a 14-year-old warrant issued in connection to the 1997 rape of a schoolteacher in Rogers, showing him to be a match to the semen sample taken from the scene. He was charged with the woman's rape, and later pleaded guilty to two rape charges associated with the case. Hardin's case is just one example of how these warrants have been used over the last 25 years. While some think this specialized warrant is a new opportunity for justice, legal experts argue that DNA is not infallible — and this practice has the potential to violate the rights of suspects. Here is how John Doe DNA warrants have been used over the last 25 years. In 2000, a Wisconsin prosecutor issued a John Doe DNA arrest warrant on a 1994 sexual assault case, just days before the statute of limitations was about to run out, according to a retelling from the National Institute of Justice. The warrant was based on the perpetrator's DNA profile obtained from evidence, the National Institute of Justice said. While it was a new concept, the prosecutor argued the DNA profile could be accepted by the court as an identification of the person who was to be arrested. About three months later, the system identified the DNA profile as Bobby Dabney, a Wisconsin inmate who was ultimately convicted for the sexual assault at trial, the National Institute of Justice said. A 2003 Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision upheld the use of a John Doe DNA warrant, saying the case didn't violate the statute of limitations, and his due process rights weren't violated. An earlier case took decades to pan out. In March 2000, California authorities issued a John Doe DNA warrant associated with three sexual assault cases in northern California from the 1990s. Since the perpetrator's DNA was not already in state systems, it made it harder to identify, but they were able to narrow down their suspects through genetic genealogy, which blends DNA analysis in the lab with genealogical research. Authorities arrested Mark Jeffery Manteuffel in relation to the case across the country in Georgia in 2019. He pleaded guilty to two charges of forcible rape and one count of sodomy in 2020, the Associated Press reported. In 1997, Amy Harrison, a teacher, went to her school on a Sunday as she prepared for the week ahead. A church service was being held in the nearby cafeteria, so she was aware of others being in the building, a probable cause affidavit in the case said. After being at the school for a bit, she went to the bathroom in the teacher's lounge. But when she came out, she was attacked and raped by a man pointing a gun at her, the document said. While the assault was underway, she wiped a liquid substance off her leg and onto her sweatshirt, which authorities were able to get a DNA profile from, the affidavit says. While investigators spent the next six years trying to find the perpetrator, they had no luck, former Rogers Police Chief Hayes Minor said in an Investigation Discovery documentary on the case. (Investigation Discovery, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.) 'The laws of the state were very different then. And there's something called a statute of limitations, and basically what that means is that after a certain length of time, that case can no longer be prosecuted,' he said, adding that the day the assault happened was when 'the clock starts ticking for us.' After those six years, they wouldn't be able to prosecute the perpetrator even if they found him, Minor said — so they decided to try using a DNA profile on the warrant, as it had been recently used by a Wisconsin prosecutor to keep their case open. 'I typed it up, prosecuting attorney's office approved it, and we go to the judge and he signed it, which gave us then an active arrest warrant. We just had to figure out who it was that had that DNA,' Minor said in the documentary. It took 14 years before the DNA profile was connected to Hardin. While prosecutors continue to use John Doe DNA warrants, some law and professional organizations argue against them. In 2004, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Board of Directors adopted a resolution against the warrants, saying 'those charged in such a manner could be seriously hampered in their ability to mount an effective defense.' They argue that many factors could play into the reliability of DNA samples, including degradation over time, errors in collection and issues in storage. 'DNA is but one tool of many that should be utilized in determining whether an individual is responsible for a particular crime,' the resolution says. CNN has reached out to the organization to inquire if they still hold this position two decades later. The use of John Doe DNA indictments 'subverts defendants' rights by working around legislatively created statutes of limitations,' writes Emily Clarke in her 2019 journal article in the American Criminal Law Review. She argues instead for removing the statute of limitations in rape cases altogether. Not abiding by the statute of limitations could also undermine a fundamental tenet of the criminal justice system, Clarke wrote. 'In a society where defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, courts of law should not be relying on the presumption that whoever left DNA at the scene of a crime is guilty,' the article says.
CNN
3 days ago
- Health
- CNN
How a controversial type of warrant helped convict a former Arkansas police chief of a decades-old rape
Crime GeneticsFacebookTweetLink Follow DNA evidence has become a cornerstone of modern police work, be it through the use of genetic genealogy or submitting material found before modern advances in testing. One tool, known as a John Doe DNA warrant, has made news after a former police chief serving sentences for murder and rape escaped from an Arkansas prison Sunday. This type of warrant uses DNA recovered from a scene to help identify a suspect not known by name, keeping open cases that might have already hit a statute of limitations, according to the National Institute of Justice, the research branch of the US Department of Justice. 56-year-old Grant Hardin, who escaped from prison Sunday, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of James Appleton in February 2017, according to court documents. When his DNA was entered into the Arkansas DNA database, it triggered a 14-year-old warrant issued in connection to the 1997 rape of a schoolteacher in Rogers, showing him to be a match to the semen sample taken from the scene. He was charged with the woman's rape, and later pleaded guilty to two rape charges associated with the case. Hardin's case is just one example of how these warrants have been used over the last 25 years. While some think this specialized warrant is a new opportunity for justice, legal experts argue that DNA is not infallible — and this practice has the potential to violate the rights of suspects. Here is how John Doe DNA warrants have been used over the last 25 years. In 2000, a Wisconsin prosecutor issued a John Doe DNA arrest warrant on a 1994 sexual assault case, just days before the statute of limitations was about to run out, according to a retelling from the National Institute of Justice. The warrant was based on the perpetrator's DNA profile obtained from evidence, the National Institute of Justice said. While it was a new concept, the prosecutor argued the DNA profile could be accepted by the court as an identification of the person who was to be arrested. About three months later, the system identified the DNA profile as Bobby Dabney, a Wisconsin inmate who was ultimately convicted for the sexual assault at trial, the National Institute of Justice said. A 2003 Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision upheld the use of a John Doe DNA warrant, saying the case didn't violate the statute of limitations, and his due process rights weren't violated. An earlier case took decades to pan out. In March 2000, California authorities issued a John Doe DNA warrant associated with three sexual assault cases in northern California from the 1990s. Since the perpetrator's DNA was not already in state systems, it made it harder to identify, but they were able to narrow down their suspects through genetic genealogy, which blends DNA analysis in the lab with genealogical research. Authorities arrested Mark Jeffery Manteuffel in relation to the case across the country in Georgia in 2019. He pleaded guilty to two charges of forcible rape and one count of sodomy in 2020, the Associated Press reported. In 1997, Amy Harrison, a teacher, went to her school on a Sunday as she prepared for the week ahead. A church service was being held in the nearby cafeteria, so she was aware of others being in the building, a probable cause affidavit in the case said. After being at the school for a bit, she went to the bathroom in the teacher's lounge. But when she came out, she was attacked and raped by a man pointing a gun at her, the document said. While the assault was underway, she wiped a liquid substance off her leg and onto her sweatshirt, which authorities were able to get a DNA profile from, the affidavit says. While investigators spent the next six years trying to find the perpetrator, they had no luck, former Rogers Police Chief Hayes Minor said in an Investigation Discovery documentary on the case. (Investigation Discovery, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.) 'The laws of the state were very different then. And there's something called a statute of limitations, and basically what that means is that after a certain length of time, that case can no longer be prosecuted,' he said, adding that the day the assault happened was when 'the clock starts ticking for us.' After those six years, they wouldn't be able to prosecute the perpetrator even if they found him, Minor said — so they decided to try using a DNA profile on the warrant, as it had been recently used by a Wisconsin prosecutor to keep their case open. 'I typed it up, prosecuting attorney's office approved it, and we go to the judge and he signed it, which gave us then an active arrest warrant. We just had to figure out who it was that had that DNA,' Minor said in the documentary. It took 14 years before the DNA profile was connected to Hardin. While prosecutors continue to use John Doe DNA warrants, some law and professional organizations argue against them. In 2004, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Board of Directors adopted a resolution against the warrants, saying 'those charged in such a manner could be seriously hampered in their ability to mount an effective defense.' They argue that many factors could play into the reliability of DNA samples, including degradation over time, errors in collection and issues in storage. 'DNA is but one tool of many that should be utilized in determining whether an individual is responsible for a particular crime,' the resolution says. CNN has reached out to the organization to inquire if they still hold this position two decades later. The use of John Doe DNA indictments 'subverts defendants' rights by working around legislatively created statutes of limitations,' writes Emily Clarke in her 2019 journal article in the American Criminal Law Review. She argues instead for removing the statute of limitations in rape cases altogether. Not abiding by the statute of limitations could also undermine a fundamental tenet of the criminal justice system, Clarke wrote. 'In a society where defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, courts of law should not be relying on the presumption that whoever left DNA at the scene of a crime is guilty,' the article says.
CNN
3 days ago
- Health
- CNN
How a controversial type of warrant helped convict a former Arkansas police chief of a decades-old rape
DNA evidence has become a cornerstone of modern police work, be it through the use of genetic genealogy or submitting material found before modern advances in testing. One tool, known as a John Doe DNA warrant, has made news after a former police chief serving sentences for murder and rape escaped from an Arkansas prison Sunday. This type of warrant uses DNA recovered from a scene to help identify a suspect not known by name, keeping open cases that might have already hit a statute of limitations, according to the National Institute of Justice, the research branch of the US Department of Justice. 56-year-old Grant Hardin, who escaped from prison Sunday, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of James Appleton in February 2017, according to court documents. When his DNA was entered into the Arkansas DNA database, it triggered a 14-year-old warrant issued in connection to the 1997 rape of a schoolteacher in Rogers, showing him to be a match to the semen sample taken from the scene. He was charged with the woman's rape, and later pleaded guilty to two rape charges associated with the case. Hardin's case is just one example of how these warrants have been used over the last 25 years. While some think this specialized warrant is a new opportunity for justice, legal experts argue that DNA is not infallible — and this practice has the potential to violate the rights of suspects. Here is how John Doe DNA warrants have been used over the last 25 years. In 2000, a Wisconsin prosecutor issued a John Doe DNA arrest warrant on a 1994 sexual assault case, just days before the statute of limitations was about to run out, according to a retelling from the National Institute of Justice. The warrant was based on the perpetrator's DNA profile obtained from evidence, the National Institute of Justice said. While it was a new concept, the prosecutor argued the DNA profile could be accepted by the court as an identification of the person who was to be arrested. About three months later, the system identified the DNA profile as Bobby Dabney, a Wisconsin inmate who was ultimately convicted for the sexual assault at trial, the National Institute of Justice said. A 2003 Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision upheld the use of a John Doe DNA warrant, saying the case didn't violate the statute of limitations, and his due process rights weren't violated. An earlier case took decades to pan out. In March 2000, California authorities issued a John Doe DNA warrant associated with three sexual assault cases in northern California from the 1990s. Since the perpetrator's DNA was not already in state systems, it made it harder to identify, but they were able to narrow down their suspects through genetic genealogy, which blends DNA analysis in the lab with genealogical research. Authorities arrested Mark Jeffery Manteuffel in relation to the case across the country in Georgia in 2019. He pleaded guilty to two charges of forcible rape and one count of sodomy in 2020, the Associated Press reported. In 1997, Amy Harrison, a teacher, went to her school on a Sunday as she prepared for the week ahead. A church service was being held in the nearby cafeteria, so she was aware of others being in the building, a probable cause affidavit in the case said. After being at the school for a bit, she went to the bathroom in the teacher's lounge. But when she came out, she was attacked and raped by a man pointing a gun at her, the document said. While the assault was underway, she wiped a liquid substance off her leg and onto her sweatshirt, which authorities were able to get a DNA profile from, the affidavit says. While investigators spent the next six years trying to find the perpetrator, they had no luck, former Rogers Police Chief Hayes Minor said in an Investigation Discovery documentary on the case. (Investigation Discovery, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.) 'The laws of the state were very different then. And there's something called a statute of limitations, and basically what that means is that after a certain length of time, that case can no longer be prosecuted,' he said, adding that the day the assault happened was when 'the clock starts ticking for us.' After those six years, they wouldn't be able to prosecute the perpetrator even if they found him, Minor said — so they decided to try using a DNA profile on the warrant, as it had been recently used by a Wisconsin prosecutor to keep their case open. 'I typed it up, prosecuting attorney's office approved it, and we go to the judge and he signed it, which gave us then an active arrest warrant. We just had to figure out who it was that had that DNA,' Minor said in the documentary. It took 14 years before the DNA profile was connected to Hardin. While prosecutors continue to use John Doe DNA warrants, some law and professional organizations argue against them. In 2004, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Board of Directors adopted a resolution against the warrants, saying 'those charged in such a manner could be seriously hampered in their ability to mount an effective defense.' They argue that many factors could play into the reliability of DNA samples, including degradation over time, errors in collection and issues in storage. 'DNA is but one tool of many that should be utilized in determining whether an individual is responsible for a particular crime,' the resolution says. CNN has reached out to the organization to inquire if they still hold this position two decades later. The use of John Doe DNA indictments 'subverts defendants' rights by working around legislatively created statutes of limitations,' writes Emily Clarke in her 2019 journal article in the American Criminal Law Review. She argues instead for removing the statute of limitations in rape cases altogether. Not abiding by the statute of limitations could also undermine a fundamental tenet of the criminal justice system, Clarke wrote. 'In a society where defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, courts of law should not be relying on the presumption that whoever left DNA at the scene of a crime is guilty,' the article says.
