Latest news with #intheOzarks'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Search continues over a week for escaped Arkansas inmate Grant Hardin
CALICO ROCK, Ark. – A massive search is currently underway for an ex-police chief who escaped from an Izard County prison more than a week ago. Authorities have been using any and every resource possible to locate 56-year-old Grant Hardin, a convicted murderer and rapist. Who is Grant Hardin, the 'Devil in the Ozarks'? Hardin is a former police chief in northwest Arkansas who escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25. He was serving a sentence for rape and murder convictions. According to court documents, Hardin was reportedly let out by a corrections officer. A spokesperson with the Arkansas Department of Corrections said Hardin escaped by disguising himself in an 'ADC-type uniform.' Logan Barnes is the owner of Knowles True Value Hardware Store in Calico Rock. he says the community is remaining cautious as each day passes. 'At first I was spooked.I think everyone was a little leery.' Barnes goes on to say, 'We have a bunch of people that hunt and fish and they know how to protect their property.' Officials say the rocky terrain, past rainy weather and his police background has made it difficult to find him. The rural area creates hiding places like caves. 'There's a lot of places to hide here. You could go off-grid here and no one would find you,' said Charlie Allen, owner of Lindsey Trout Dock. A spokesperson with the Arkansas Department of Corrections says the manhunt includes helicopters, drones, horseback, ATVs, police checkpoints and more. 'We're the safest place on earth right now because there are cops everywhere,' said a local. FBI offering $10,000 reward for information on Arkansas inmate escapee Grant Hardin Charlie Allen has owned Lindsey Trout Dock on the White River for years, he says they have a lot of tourists that come out to fish and some have already asked about Hardin but adds the water wouldn't be easy to swim across. 'Since he has escaped this river has been really high and it's cold water so you would die of hyperthermia.' Allen goes on to say he believes Hardin will be captured because, 'I got friends that are involved in the prison and they're in the K9 unit out there so I have faith in that.' Some of the community say they're keeping the faith that he will be arrested. 'This community is like a family where everyone is looking out for each other,' said Bambi Bowden, executive director of Main Street Calico Rock. Allen hopes the 'Devil in the Ozarks' time on the run will finally end soon. 'He is not only a rapist but he is a murderer he needs to be in prison,' Allen said. Authorities increase reward for information on Arkansas inmate escapee Grant Hardin to $25,000 The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Marshals Service have increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of Arkansas prison escapee Grant Hardin to a combined $25,000 after five days of searching. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
28-05-2025
- USA Today
'Devil in the Ozarks' subject, convicted murderer escapes prison: Who is Grant Hardin?
'Devil in the Ozarks' subject, convicted murderer escapes prison: Who is Grant Hardin? 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 convicted murderer who was the subject of a 2023 documentary remains at large following a May 25 prison escape. Grant Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock, Arkansas, 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. He was sentenced to 80 years on the combined convictions, according to court records. Hardin, a former police chief, escaped while wearing an "an ADC type uniform," according to the Stone County Sheriff's Office. "He's a sociopath," former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS/KHOG May 27. "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." What was Grant Hardin convicted of? 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, 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. Appleton had filed a police complaint shortly before the phone call and had pulled to the side of the road to complete the conversation, according to the affidavit. Appleton noted that a car had sped by his then stopped, saying, "It must think I'm a policeman or something," according to the affidavit. "Tillman said the next thing he heard on the phone was what sounded like a loud slammed door and 'that was it,'" the affidavit reads. A witness told investigators that he saw a white car parked behind Appleton's truck, heard a loud bang and saw the white car speed off. The witness then turned around to check on the truck only to discover Appleton dead, according to the affidavit. Tillman was the mayor of Gateway, Arkansas when the shooting occurred and his wife, Cheryl Tillman, currently serves as the town's mayor, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette. "He's just an evil man," Cheryl told the paper. "He is no good for society." USA TODAY reached out to both Andrew and Cheryl Tillman for comment but did not receive an immediate response. Hardin was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder, according to the plea agreement. DNA connects Grant Hardin to 1997 rape 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. The victim told investigators that she was attacked on a Sunday morning, a time she normally worked to prepare for the week and noted that a church group was meeting in the school's cafeteria, according to an affidavit filed at the time of the attack. She was attacked at gunpoint after leaving her classroom for a restroom off of the teacher's lounge, according to the affidavit. The assailant was described as white male wearing a knit stocking cap and sunglasses, according to an application for a search warrant filed for a storage unit owned by Hardin. 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. Grant Hardin held police jobs before arrest Hardin bounced around police departments before becoming the chief of police in Gateway, according to KHBS/KHOG and the Associated Press. He was with the Fayetteville Police Department from Aug. 6, 1990, to May 22, 1991, according to KHBS/KHOG. The department's chief of police then said he terminated Hardin because his efforts "fall short of the average probationary officer" and that he had a "tendency to not accept constructive criticism along with indecisiveness under stressful situations." A spell at the Eureka Springs Police Department, from April 1993 to October 1996, was marred by excessive uses of force and poor decisions on the job, the department's former police chief said, according to KHBS/KHOG. Hardin was the chief of police for Gateway for about four months at the start of 2016, according to the Associated Press. Grant Hardin's crimes covered in Max documentary The 1997 rape was the focus of a 2023 documentary titled "Devil in the Ozarks," distributed by Investigation Discovery – according to the documentary's IMDB page. "A vicious sexual assault stuns a small town but goes unsolved for two decades, until a murder nearby reveals a suspect with matching DNA," the documentary's tagline reads. USA TODAY reached out to Warner Bros., the parent company of Investigation Discovery, as well as the documentary's production company AMPLE and did not receive an immediate response from either.
