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HISTORY: Grant Hardin's 12-day escape joins the state's most infamous escapes
ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) — Grant Hardin's 12-day escape ended just 1.5 miles from prison—joining a list of infamous Arkansas escapes, from violent prison breaks to men who vanished without a trace.
A convicted child rapist who escaped from an Arkansas prison in 2022—allegedly using jet skis to flee across the Mississippi River—was captured more than a year later in West Virginia.
Samuel Hartman, now 39, had been serving a life sentence since 2013 for raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter. In August 2022, he escaped from a work detail near the East Arkansas Regional Unit at Brickeys.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Hartman's wife, Misty Hartman, and his mother, Linda White, drove up to the field where he was working and opened fire toward officers while Hartman climbed into their truck. The group then fled to the river, where two jet skis were staged.
A witness on the Mississippi side reported seeing them cross the river by jet ski. Investigators later found the abandoned watercraft, a phone, and a set of keys at a boat ramp in Tunica County.
Hartman remained on the run until late 2023, when he was captured at a motel in Lewisburg, West Virginia. His wife, mother, and White's boyfriend, Rodney Trent, were also arrested.
Larry Porter Chism of Forrest City, Arkansas is a former law student and Vietnam veteran who escaped custody twice in 1978. Chism remains a fugitive to this day.
During a supervised outing, he staged an armed escape from a Tennessee bowling alley, hijacked a plane to Arkansas, and was recaptured after a shootout, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Weeks later, he broke out of jail again and vanished.
In late 1978, Chism escaped from the Lonoke County jail by breaking through an air vent and stealing a guard's vehicle. While his accomplices were caught, he disappeared and spent the next decade living under aliases.
Chism resurfaced briefly in 1990 when he was featured on Unsolved Mysteries, prompting him to flee Charlotte, North Carolina. He was last confirmed seen in Atlanta later that year and remains one of the longest-running fugitives in U.S. history. His current status is unknown.
Grant Hardin taken into custody, Izard County Sheriff's Office says
Joe Hilderbrand's escape from prison in 1960 led to one of the largest manhunts in Arkansas history, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Born in Dover (Pope County), he was convicted in 1958 of robbing a honeymooning couple and sentenced to three years at Cummins Prison Farm. In 1960, he was granted a furlough to visit his ill father but failed to return.
Hilderbrand fled into the Ozark Mountains, living off the land and receiving help from family and locals. His case gained wider attention when 18-year-old Frances Standridge, his wife's niece, joined him in hiding.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, the pair evaded authorities for nine months before being captured in Pope County by a multi-agency task force.
He was sent to the Arkansas State Hospital for evaluation but escaped again using bedsheets to climb from a second-story window. He remained at large for over a year before being recaptured in 1962 and paroled in 1964.
In 1972, Hilderbrand escaped from the Pope County Jail after being charged with rape, leaving a note promising to return for his hearing, which he did, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. The charge was later dropped.
Hilderbrand lived the rest of his life in Dover, working as a mechanic. He died in 1998 and is buried in Bradley Cemetery.
On the night of Jan. 1, 1979, 10 inmates escaped from the maximum-security East Unit of Cummins Prison after overpowering guards during a televised football game.
The incident began when inmates, led by Ronnie Pucilowsky and John Wiggins, seized control of the unit and freed others, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Despite a rapid and armed response by prison officials, all escapees were recaptured within 15 hours, some suffering frostbite.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, this breakout prompted reforms, including improved fencing, guard training and creation of an internal affairs unit.
On Labor Day, Sept. 2, 1940, thirty-six inmates escaped from Cummins Prison in what remains Arkansas's largest prison break, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
The escape began when armed trusties and other inmates disarmed guards in a field, killed a trusty, and fled, some robbing and kidnapping along the way. Several escapees were killed in shootouts or recaptured within days, while others fled as far as California and Texas.
Four were executed in Louisiana for murdering a deputy during their flight. By May 1941, all escapees had been accounted for.
According to the Arkansas Department of Corrections website, two inmates are currently on the loose following Hardin's capture on June 6:
Hugo Campagne, 59, ADC# 116811
Escaped March 3, 2001.
Convicted of manufacturing, delivery and/or possession of controlled substances.
Billy Eaton ADC, 97 #060320
Escaped July 26, 1969.
Convicted of aggravated assault.
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