Grant Hardin, a convicted killer and rapist known as the “Devil in the Ozarks,” was recaptured Friday near the Arkansas prison from which he escaped nearly two weeks ago, authorities said.
Hardin, a former police chief, was transferred Saturday to the Varner SuperMax prison southeast of Little Rock, the Arkansas Department of Corrections announced.
Hardin, 56, escaped May 25 from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock by donning an outfit resembling a law enforcement uniform and impersonating a corrections officer “in dress and manner,” according to a court document. A prison officer in a guard tower opened a secure gate, allowing Hardin to walk out of the facility. Authorities are investigating why his identity was not verified before his release.
The Izard County Sheriff’s Office said Hardin was apprehended around 3:45 p.m. Friday, a short distance” from the prison, near Moccasin Creek, about 1.5 miles northwest of the facility. Arkansas law enforcement, aided by U.S. Border Patrol and tracking dogs, located Hardin after picking up his scent in the area. When spotted, Hardin briefly attempted to flee but was quickly tackled, said Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas prison system.
“While many details will remain under investigation, there is no longer an active threat to public safety,” Sheriff Brandon Long said in a statement, per CBS.
The nearly two-week manhunt in northern Arkansas’ rugged mountains was hampered by high water from heavy rains, which raised creek and stream levels around Moccasin Creek.
“The direction he went, specifically around Moccasin Creek, saw high water due to the abundance of rain the last few weeks, which more than likely limited his options to get around the area,” Champion said, the Associated Press reported. “Search teams had looked through this area before, but the high water previously limited their ability to fully investigate.”
Hardin’s proximity to the prison surprised local residents.
“None of us really thought he was still in the area,” said Roger Simons, a bartender in Calico Rock, per AP. “We thought he was long gone — that’s what I would have bet my money on.”
Hardin had been held at the Calico Rock prison since 2017 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder for the 2017 fatal shooting of 59-year-old James Appleton, with whom he had multiple disputes, according to the HBO documentary Devil in the Ozarks. He was sentenced to 30 years for the murder. His DNA later linked him to the 1997 rape of a teacher at an elementary school in northwestern Arkansas, leading to two rape convictions and an additional 50-year sentence.
Benton County Prosecutor Bryan Sexton, who prosecuted Hardin’s murder and rape cases, said Hardin’s escape disrupted the lives of trial witnesses and victims.
“Every one of them to a person informed me that they had to make changes in their lives because they had concerns for their safety,” Sexton said, AP reported. After Hardin’s recapture, “they could get closure in their lives and secondly go back to their normal lives, which had been disrupted the whole time he was out.”
Cheryl Tillman, whose brother was shot by Hardin in 2017, expressed relief.
“We don’t have to walk around, turning around all the time, thinking anybody’s on our back,” she said, per AP, thanking the officers involved in the capture.
Hardin’s transfer to the Varner SuperMax, a facility known for housing high-risk inmates, was seen as a necessary step.
“By reputation, Varner is the most secure prison in the Arkansas system,” Sexton said. “I think that all things considering, putting him in the most secure facility we can is probably a wise thing to do.”
The Varner Unit, established in 1987, can house up to 1,714 inmates and includes a high-security supermax section for inmates like death row prisoners and others convicted of violent crimes. Authorities confirmed Hardin’s identity through fingerprint analysis before announcing his recapture.