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Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Hindustan Times
Arkansas authorities say additional employees disciplined at prison where ex-police chief escaped
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Additional employees at an Arkansas prison have been disciplined for not following procedures after a convicted murderer known as the 'Devil in the Ozarks' escaped earlier this summer, a state prison system official told lawmakers Monday. Arkansas authorities say additional employees disciplined at prison where ex-police chief escaped Arkansas Division of Correction Director Dexter Payne said several employees at the Calico Rock prison had been suspended and another demoted for allowing inmates to use an outdoor kitchen dock unsupervised. Payne did not specify how many employees had been suspended, and did not give their names. 'Those employees have also been disciplined for their actions,' Payne told members of the Legislative Council's Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions Subcommittee. The dock had played a key role in the May 25 escape of Grant Hardin from the prison, formally known as the North Central Unit. Two employees at the facility, including one who allowed Hardin on the dock unsupervised, had previously been fired in the weeks following his escape. Hardin held a job in the prison's kitchen. Hardin was captured 1.5 miles northwest of the Calico Rock prison on June 6. Authorities said he escaped by donning an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform. The outfit was crafted from an inmate uniform and a kitchen apron dyed black using a marker, while a soup can lid and a Bible cover were fashioned to look like a badge, corrections officials told the panel last month. The other employee who had been fired earlier had opened the gate that Hardin walked through without confirming his identity. Payne said corrections officials have nearly completed the report on their critical incident review of the escape. A report on the State Police's investigation into the escape has also been sent to the governor's office, the Department of Public Services said. Payne said the review also found that Hardin had been incorrectly classified as eligible to be housed at Calico Rock, which is primarily a medium-security facility. Hardin had been held at the Calico Rock prison since 2017. Payne said he didn't know why Hardin wasn't correctly classified. 'Without an override, he should not have been there,' Payne said. After he was captured, Hardin was taken to a maximum-security prison. Hardin has pleaded not guilty to an escape charge and is set to go on trial in November. Hardin, a former police chief in the small town of Gateway, near the Arkansas-Missouri border, is serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape. He was the subject of the TV documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.' One change that has been made at the facility since the escape is an increase in searches outside the facility, Payne said. Officials have previously said Hardin fashioned a ladder out of wooden pallets that he kept on the dock. 'The back dock area was not searched enough, or they would have found he was hiding items on that back dock,' he said. Payne faced further pushback from lawmakers who said the escape points to a more systemic issue than two employees not doing their job. 'Yeah, people didn't do their job, but also there should be checks and balances to ensure that people do their job,' Republican Sen. Ben Gilmore said. 'Where are those checks and balances?' This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
NBC News
15-06-2025
- NBC News
A disguise and a prison guard's mistake helped 'Devil in the Ozarks' escape
Dressed in all black and pushing a cart with wooden pallets, a former police chief turned convicted murderer and rapist walked past a guard and out the back gate of an Arkansas prison before disappearing into the woods. Grant Hardin's escape from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock last month involved detailed planning, perfect timing, and a makeshift outfit designed to mimic a law enforcement uniform. Hundreds of state, local and federal agents swarmed the small town, battling severe weather and rugged terrain to search for the man known as the 'Devil in the Ozarks.' After nearly two weeks on the run, he was found near an Izard County creek — about 1.5 miles west of the prison. The brazen prison break, which occurred a little more than a week after 10 inmates escaped a New Orleans jail, exposed a security lapse at the facility that houses about 800 inmates. But Hardin, who was described as a model inmate who never caused trouble, ultimately escaped because of one employee's error. 'This was not an instance where there wasn't proper protocol or proper policy,' Arkansas Department of Corrections board member William 'Dubs' Byers said in an interview. 'It was a matter of the protocol not being followed. One person in particular just didn't pay attention as he should have and questioned this fellow when he walked out the back door.' Urgent manhunt for 'Devil in the Ozarks' It was just before 3 p.m. on May 25 when Hardin, disguised in a black T-shirt, black pants and a black baseball cap, strolled across the prison grounds. He was wheeling a cart carrying a box and wooden pallets. Byers said employees swipe their badges to exit the prison's front gate. Hardin left through a back sally port gate, which is typically used for vehicle traffic. The officer on duty was in a control tower and, based on preliminary information, assumed Hardin was an employee. 'He didn't pay close enough attention. He just thought that the person walking up was an officer because he looked like an officer,' Byers said. 'He didn't talk to him, he didn't question him, he didn't check him closely. He just opened the gate and assumed that he was an officer taking some things outside the fence.' About 20 minutes had passed before a routine head count revealed that Hardin was missing. By then, he was long gone. Brian Scheerer, owner of Calico Cold Creek Manor, said people were on edge as law enforcement set up a perimeter around the prison. 'You could tell that there was certainly a different vibe in the air. The streets were all closed where they were stopping just about everybody. They weren't taking any chances,' he said in an interview. His manor, which he rents out during the summer, is about four miles from the prison. 'People were hunkering in, even myself,' Scheerer said. 'Where my property is, it's very secluded. When I went to check my place after renters, I was very cautious." Prison break opens old wounds for victims Hardin was in prison for fatally shooting Gateway, Arkansas, city water employee James Appleton, and sexually assaulting teacher Amy Harrison. Both cases were featured in the Max documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.' According to an affidavit filed in the case, a passerby was driving home from work on Feb. 23, 2017, when he saw Appleton's truck stopped on the side of the road. Appleton was on the phone with his brother-in-law, then Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, and had pulled over so he would not lose the connection. Hardin's white car was stopped behind the truck, the passerby told police. After driving about a few hundred yards up the road, the passerby said he heard a loud bang and saw Hardin's car driving quickly up the street and turn down a dirt road, the affidavit states. The passerby turned around to check on Appleton and found him dead in the driver's seat. Hardin, the former police chief of Gateway, was arrested that night as he returned home from having dinner with his wife and daughter. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the crime. DNA taken after his arrest linked him to the Nov. 9, 1997, sexual assault of Harrison at Frank Tillery Elementary School. According to an affidavit filed in that case, several people were in the school's cafeteria for a Sunday church service. Harrison was at the school to prepare for the week. Harrison told police she left her classroom and went to the lounge to use the restroom. When she came out, she said a man was standing in front of the door, pointing a gun at her. The affidavit states that she said she was sexually assaulted in the bathroom and then forced to move to a classroom, where she was raped. Hardin asked if she was going to tell anyone and then left the room, according to the affidavit. She found a janitor and had him call 911. Harrison declined to comment to NBC News. Appleton's sister, Gateway Mayor Cheryl Tillman, did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday. She previously told NBC News that Hardin's escape brought back 'a lot of memories of when it first happened.' 'What were they doing down at the prison that this happened?' she said. Hardin 'didn't put up a fight once apprehended' An investigation is being conducted to learn how he planned his escape. Byers said Hardin was a model inmate at the facility and believes he used that to his advantage. Hardin worked in the kitchen and never got in trouble while incarcerated, Byers said. 'Those types of inmates kind of build up trust, you know, they come to work every day, they don't have any disciplinary, they're not causing any problem, and they build up trust in the system,' Byers said. 'I think that contributed to his ability to do the things he needed to do in order to effectuate this escape.' What also remains a mystery is how Hardin evaded law enforcement for 13 days. Authorities do not believe he had help from inside the prison or on the outside, Rand Champion, a Corrections Department spokesperson, said in an email. Excessive rain and thunderstorms rolled through the area during the first week of Hardin's escape. Because of the weather, tracking dogs had difficulty picking up a scent, drones couldn't be flown as high and helicopters were grounded, Champion said at a news conference. He told NBC News that crews were initially limited in where they could search. Tracking dogs picked up Hardin's scent in Moccasin Creek, about 1.5 miles from the prison, around 3 p.m. on June 6. Authorities said in a news release that he was apprehended a short time later by U.S. Border Patrol and Arkansas law enforcement officers. Champion said Hardin tried to flee the search teams but 'had little resistance due to being on the run for an extended period of time.' Hardin 'didn't put up a fight once apprehended,' Champion said. Hardin was taken to Varner Supermax prison in Gould, Arkansas, which also houses high-profile inmates, including convicted child rapist and murderer Zachary Holly, and Army center shooter Abdulhakim Muhammad. Champion said it's the most secure facility in the state. The community can now breathe a sigh of relief, Scheerer said. 'We were just so happy that they caught him,' Scheerer said. 'This was an evil guy.'
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Yahoo
U.S. Border Patrol posts new photos of Hardin's arrest
CALICO ROCK, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — New photos from the U.S. Border Patrol show Grant Hardin shortly after being captured less than two miles from North Central Unit after a 12-day manhunt. Officials say Hardin stayed close to the prison, likely limited by high water around Moccasin Creek, which had previously hampered search efforts. He was captured just 1.5 miles from the facility on Friday, June 6 after dogs picked up his scent. U.S. Border Control assisted in Hardin's capture and posted photos of his arrest on Facebook. Officials with the Arkansas Department of Corrections have confirmed that Hardin will be transported to Varner Supermax Unit in Gould, the state's most secure prison. After his arrest, Hardin was briefly returned to the North Central Unit for identification and medical checks before being transferred to the higher-security facility, where he arrived the evening of June 7. Hardin will be interviewed in the coming days, according to Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesperson Rand Champion. Authorities say further updates will be shared if new details emerge. HISTORY: Grant Hardin's 12-day escape joins the state's most infamous escapes 'Arkansans can breathe a sigh of relief because violent criminal Grant Hardin is now in custody,' Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement via X. 'I am grateful for local, state and federal law enforcement and give special thanks to the Trump admin and [Secretary Kristi Noem], for sending Border Patrol who helped track and apprehend Hardin.' Hardin, a convicted murderer and rapist who once served as police chief in Gateway, gained the nickname 'Devil in the Ozarks' following a documentary detailing his crimes. He escaped North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25. Since his escape, Hardin has been charged federally and in Izard County. A $25,000 reward was offered, but it is unclear if anyone will receive 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
06-06-2025
- USA Today
'Devil in the Ozarks' fugitive captured after 12-day Arkansas manhunt
'Devil in the Ozarks' fugitive captured after 12-day Arkansas manhunt Show Caption Hide Caption 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. unbranded - Newsworthy A former Arkansas police chief who escaped from a prison where he was serving decades-long sentences for murder and rape was captured June 6 after a 12-day manhunt involving federal, state and local law enforcement. Police in Mountain View and the Stone County Sheriff's Office confirmed that escaped inmate Grant Hardin has been captured. According to a social media post by the Mountain View Police, Hardin was captured by authorities on Friday afternoon. Grant Hardin, 56, had gained notoriety as the subject of the 2023 documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks'' about his 1997 rape of a school teacher and 2017 murder of a water department worker. Hardin fled the North Central Unit in Calico Rock, Arkansas, through a secure entryway on May 25 wearing a fake law enforcement uniform. His disguise caused a corrections officer to open a gate and let him walk out of the medium-security facility. The escape followed the May 16 jailbreak of 10 inmates in New Orleans – several of them charged with murder – which drew national attention and caused consternation in area communities. Hardin was regarded as no less dangerous a fugitive. In 2017 he was convicted of killing James Appleton, an employee of the northwest Arkansas town of Gateway whose brother-in-law, Andrew Tillman, was the mayor. Tillman told investigators they were talking on the phone when Appleton was shot to death in his pickup truck. A DNA test conducted following the murder connected Hardin to an unresolved 1997 rape in Rogers, Arkansas, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. The teacher was attacked at gunpoint after leaving her classroom to go to a restroom near the teacher's lounge, according to the affidavit. Like true crime? Check out Witness: A library of true crime stories Getting away with murder: : These fugitives were never caught Where did Hardin work in law enforcement? Hardin's combined convictions, including two counts of rape, added up to 80 years in prison sentences. 'He's a sociopath,'' former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS/KHOG. 'Prison's not full of people who are all bad. It's full of a lot of people who just do bad things. Grant's different.'' Hardin had an erratic career in Arkansas law enforcement starting in 1990, working for police departments in Fayetteville, Huntsville and Eureka Springs before briefly serving as Gateway's police chief in 2016. He was fired from the Fayetteville job after less than a year because of subpar performance and failure to accept constructive criticism, according to KHBS/KHOG. In Huntsville, where he worked from April 1993 to October 1996, the former police chief told the TV station Hardin used excessive force and made poor decisions. Escaping from prison, for which he now faces charges, may be just the latest one. Contributing: N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Michael Loria and James Powel, USA TODAY
USA Today
06-06-2025
- USA Today
U.S. Marshals believe Grant Hardin may be out of Arkansas, DOC contests: reports
U.S. Marshals believe Grant Hardin may be out of Arkansas, DOC contests: reports Show Caption Hide Caption 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. unbranded - Newsworthy A U.S. Marshal believes that Arkansas prison escapee Grant Hardin may have fled the state, according to a court document obtained by multiple media outlets. The Arkansas Democrat Gazette first reported that Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert J. Hammons wrote in a criminal complaint filed in federal district court Friday that Hardin had left the state based on 'credible information' and the inability to find him within a week. Hammons pointed to two unconfirmed sightings of Hardin in the filing, according to the Associated Press. 'Based on this information, investigators believe Hardin has fled the state of Arkansas to avoid recapture,' the AP quotes from the filing. '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.' USA TODAY reached out to the Marshals Service to obtain the complaint, which remains under seal in the court record, but did not receive an immediate response. Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, told USA TODAY in an email on June 5 that the department has no evidence that places Hardin out of state. 'I believe it's more speculation and weighing all options than an actual position,' Champion wrote. Discover WITNESS: Access our exclusive collection of true crime stories, podcasts, videos and more Grant Hardin at large for over a week Hardin, a 56-year-old former police chief, escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock, Arkansas, May 25, where he was serving time for the 2017 murder of James Appleton and the 1997 rape of a school teacher, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. 'Inmate Hardin impersonated a corrections officer in dress and manner, causing the Corrections Officer operating a secure gate to open the gate and allow Inmate Hardin to walk away from the North Central Unit,' Special Agent Dennis Simons of the Izard County Sheriff's Office wrote in an arrest affidavit. The Arkansas Department of Corrections released a photo June 3 depicting 'what officials feel he would look similar to after a week on the run,' Champion said in an email to USA TODAY the same night. He added that the mugshot was altered to represent a week's worth of hair growth and to make Hardin slimmer due to limited food. What was Grant Hardin convicted of? Hardin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2017 for 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. Hardin and the crimes were the subject of the 2023 documentary 'Devil in the Ozarks.'
