By Adam Roberts, Chip Scarborough
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CALICO ROCK, Arkansas (KHBS) — It’s now been more than a week since Grant Hardin escaped from the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock.
A spokesperson with the Arkansas Department of Corrections said Hardin is still believed to be in the North Central Arkansas Area.
“The way that we operate is until we get verifiable evidence that he is not in the area anymore, we have to assume that he’s still in the area,” said DOC communications director, Rand Champion.
Authorities are using several methods to find Hardin, including K-9 units, drones, ATVs, and searching by horseback. They said the biggest challenge they have run into while searching is the terrain because several parts of the area near Calico Rock are not accessible by regular roads.
The reward now stands at $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of Hardin, a former police chief who escaped from prison while serving time for murder and rape.
The FBI has put up $20,000 of the reward, and $5,000 is from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Anyone with information about Hardin is asked to call the FBI’s toll-free tipline at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov. Tipsters can also contact a local FBI office, an American embassy or a consulate.
The FBI has been helping U.S. marshals, along with state and local law enforcement, search for Hardin since his escape on May 25.
Hardin had put on a makeshift outfit that looked like an Arkansas Department of Corrections uniform.
He then pretended to be a jailer and tricked a real corrections officer into opening a gate and letting Hardin walk away, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed May 27.
Hardin spent most of his life in the Ozarks of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri.
“There’s a lot of caves around here,” ADOC communications director Rand Champion said. “There’s a lot of hills. And so, understanding that he may have that sort of familiarity provides a challenge.”
The Ozarks, which include Calico Rock and Hardin’s home area of Northwest Arkansas, include thousands of caves.
Jesse James, moonshiners and generations of outlaws have used the Ozarks’ cave systems as hiding places.
Related: ‘Devil in the Ozarks’: Arkansas escapee convicted of rape case was featured in documentary
Escaped from a prison at Calico Rock Hardin was serving sentences for murder and rape at the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas.
The 35-year-old prison has a capacity for 800 inmates, according to the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADOC) website.
Hardin wore a disguise
On Sunday, May 25, Hardin put on a makeshift outfit that looked like an Arkansas Department of Corrections uniform.
He then pretended to be a jailer and tricked a real corrections officer into opening a gate and letting Hardin walk away, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed Tuesday.
“You know, there was probably a lot of foresight,” Arkansas Department of Corrections communications director Rand Champion said. “A lot of planning. You know, his background as a law enforcement officer probably gave him some more insight than probably the typical prisoner would have.”
He is now being charged with second-degree escape.
Pleaded guilty to murder
Hardin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2017 as part of a plea deal.
Hardin was accused of shooting and killing a city employee named James Appleton in Benton County in February.
A witness told police he saw Appleton’s truck and a white sedan on the side of the road.
The witness said he heard a loud boom and saw the sedan drive away. When the witness went to the car to investigate, he found Appleton slumped over in the seat, with a gunshot wound to the head.
Appleton’s brother-in-law said he was talking to him on the phone at the time of the shooting. Appleton told his brother-in-law a car had come flying down the road and then stopped.
Deputies executed a search warrant on Hardin’s car and found blood swabs on the car’s hood.
DNA led to rape arrest
In 2018, Rogers police announced a DNA sample taken from Hardin matched DNA from the rape of an elementary school teacher in 1997.
The rape case involved a teacher who was raped at Frank Tillery Elementary School.
The teacher went into her classroom that morning to clean up and complete lesson plans. That Sunday, there was a church service being held in the school cafeteria. About 250 people were in attendance.
The teacher told police she left her classroom to use the restroom when she was approached by a man disguised with a knit stocking and sunglasses and carrying a pistol. The man raped her and he quickly fled the scene.
The teacher was able to describe the suspect, and a police sketch was made.
For the next 20 years, the case was unsolved. Rogers police asked for the public’s help finding the suspect, and the TNT series “Cold Justice: Sex Crimes” featured a 2015 episode on the case.
Rogers Police Chief Hayes Minor told 40/29 when news of the DNA evidence broke last year.
This really drove home to me the impact a case like this can have on a person, a family.
Hardin pleaded guilty to two counts of rape in 2019 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison on each charge.
Had a long career in law enforcement despite concerns
“Anytime there’s an escape, we consider that a threat to the public,” said Rand Champion with the ADOC. “He does have a law enforcement background. Anytime something like this exists, we consider it a threat to the community.”
40/29 News was able to confirm Hardin worked for at least four separate law enforcement agencies.
From August 6, 1990, to May 22, 1991, Hardin was employed at the Fayetteville Police Department. In his termination letter, then-Chief Richard Watson said Hardin’s efforts “fall short of the average probationary officer,” and his “tendency to not accept constructive criticism along with indecisiveness under stressful situations” led to his decision.
In 1991, Hardin worked for the Huntsville Police Department.
From April 12, 1993, to October 4, 1996, he was employed by the Eureka Springs Police Department. Former Chief Earl Hyatt said he believed Hardin was using excessive force during arrests and making poor decisions on the job.
The next records we could find were from 2008 and 2012, when Hardin was elected constable for Benton County Township One.
After that, a representative for Missouri Southern State University told 40/29 News that Hardin attended classes in the fall 2016 and spring 2017 semesters, studying criminal justice and law enforcement.
A representative for Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville confirms Hardin briefly worked for them from November 21, 2016, to February 27, 2017.
“The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is taking every step to assist the Arkansas Department of Corrections in locating Hardin,” Lt. Shannon Jenkins said. “Hardin has strong ties to Benton County, and we will be on high alert.”
“It makes it even more shocking when a person who wears the badge would betray not only victims, but his community, sense of right and wrong, which obviously it doesn’t appear he believes in,” said Benton County Prosecutor Nathan Smith.
“He’s a sociopath,” said former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith. “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.”
Smith was prosecutor both for Hardin’s murder and rape convictions.
“When you’re a prosecutor and you meet with victims and their families, you see them cry. You see the pain and the suffering that brings on them. And and then when you stand in court next to someone like Mr. Hardin, when he has to pled guilty to it, and you see the inability to really say anything or do anything to demonstrate some sort of remorse or acknowledgment of what he’s done, it is outrageous.”
Cheryl Tillman, the sister of James Appleton, the man Hardin killed in 2017, said news of his escape immediately took her back to the day she lost her brother.
“It’s almost like déjà vu all over again,” she said. “It took me until this year to drive that road again. Now, I don’t know if I can do it.”
“He could never give us a reason why. That’s all we ever wanted,” she added. “James cared for everyone in town.”
Tillman is urging residents to stay alert while the manhunt continues. Read the full story here.
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