A convicted murderer and former police chief, Grant Hardin, remains at large after escaping a medium-security prison in Arkansas’ rugged Ozark Mountains on Sunday, prompting an intensive manhunt with canines, drones, and helicopters.
Hardin, 56, dubbed the “Devil in the Ozarks” in a 2023 HBO documentary, was serving an 80-year sentence at the North Central Unit in Calico Rock for the 2017 murder of James Appleton and the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher.
Hardin fled the facility around 2:55 p.m. by impersonating a corrections officer “in dress and manner,” wearing a non-standard uniform that allowed him to pass through a secure gate, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Authorities announced the escape at approximately 5 p.m. that day.
“He’s a sociopath,” former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS/KHOG on 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. … He’s already proven that he has no moral core or center that would prevent him from doing anything.”
The Stone County Sheriff’s Office described Hardin as “extremely dangerous” and urged residents to lock homes and vehicles and report suspicious activity.
Hardin’s escape has rattled the small community of Gateway, where he briefly served as police chief in 2016. The HBO documentary “Devil in the Ozarks” detailed his crimes and tense relationship with Appleton, a Gateway water department employee.
Cheryl Tillman, Appleton’s sister and the current Gateway mayor, recounted a 2016 confrontation where Appleton challenged Hardin over a police car repair.
“He was out chasing cars for no reason,” Tillman said in the documentary. “He was pulling guns on the citizens here in Gateway, and then as time went on, with him being the police chief, things just started going downhill fast.”
Hardin resigned under pressure four months into the role and killed Appleton nine months later.
On February 23, 2017, Hardin shot Appleton, 59, in the head near Garfield, Arkansas. Appleton’s brother-in-law, then-Mayor Andrew Tillman, was on the phone with Appleton when the shooting occurred.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Appleton had filed a police complaint, pulled over to talk, and remarked, “It must think I’m a policeman or something,” as a white car sped by and stopped. Andrew Tillman heard a sound like a loud slammed door, and “that was it.”
A witness, John Bray, saw a white car behind Appleton’s truck, heard a bang, and found Appleton dead.
“I heard what I thought was someone had fired a rifle,” Bray said in the documentary, tearfully adding, “I went back and I seen it looked like he had been shot.”
Hardin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, receiving a 30-year sentence. His DNA later linked him to the 1997 rape in Rogers, for which he received 50 years.
Cheryl Tillman, a witness at Hardin’s murder trial, expressed fear following his escape.
“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. “He’s just an evil man. He is no good for society.”
Bryan Sexton, who prosecuted Hardin, said contacting victims’ families to warn them was difficult.
“Making those contacts again with folks who have moved on with their lives for the better part of a decade now and to have to be the one who picks up the phone and reminds them of what has happened to them is something that weighs heavily on me,” he said.
The search, complicated by heavy rain and rocky terrain, spans rural northern Arkansas.
“Where this facility is located, the topography does provide challenges,” said Rand Champion, a Department of Corrections spokesperson, per AP. “It’s called Calico Rock for a reason, because it’s very rocky.”
He noted that Hardin’s non-standard uniform remains a mystery, with officials investigating how he obtained or made it. Champion added that the decision to house Hardin in a medium-security prison with about 800 inmates was based on facility needs and crime assessments.
Craig Caine, a retired U.S. Marshals inspector, suggested that the rural setting could hinder Hardin. “In more rural areas, most people know one another,” Caine said. “At some point in time, he’s going to run out of provisions.”
However, a Pea Ridge cafe owner, Darla Nix, called Hardin “a very, very smart man” who knows the area’s caves and terrain. “He’s just a survivor,” she said. “They’re going to have their hands full trying to catch him.”
Authorities, including the Arkansas Department of Corrections, Arkansas State Police, and local sheriffs, are following leads. Izard County Sheriff Charley Melton urged vigilance. The investigation continues to explore whether Hardin had assistance, with no clear answers yet on how he evaded initial detection.