Grant Hardin, a former Arkansas police chief convicted of rape and murder, was captured Friday after escaping from prison nearly two weeks ago.
Hardin, 56, was taken into custody roughly 1.5 miles west of North Central Unit, the facility he fled wearing what prison officials have described as a “makeshift” law enforcement uniform, the Arkansas Department of Corrections said.
U.S. Border Patrol agents and Arkansas law enforcement officers found him near an Izard County creek after tracking dogs picked up his scent in the area, the department said. He was apprehended a short time later.
Hardin’s identity was confirmed by fingerprint analysis, the Izard County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
“To every one of our Department staff that assisted in this manhunt over the last 13 days, I give my heartfelt thank you for your immeasurable contributions to bring this search to a peaceful conclusion,” Secretary of Corrections Lindsay Wallace said in a statement.
Hardin walked out of the North Central Unit just before 3 p.m. May 25. An affidavit stated that he “impersonated a corrections officer in dress and manner, causing a corrections officer operating a secure gate to open the gate.”
Authorities released a photo showing him dressed in all black and pushing a wheeled cart with what appeared to be wooden pallets on it.
Multiple agencies, including state police, assisted in the search. The FBI, Department of Corrections, Arkansas State Police, and Department of Justice said there was a reward of up to $10,000 for information that led to his arrest.
Hardin, who has a background in law enforcement, was in prison for killing Gateway city water employee James Appleton in 2017 and raping teacher Amy Harrison in 1997. He was sentenced to 30 years for Appleton’s murder and 50 years for the sexual assault.
Both cases were featured in the 2023 Max documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”
Rand Champion, a Corrections Department spokesperson, had said that Hardin’s background in law enforcement made the search more difficult.
Hardin was the police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, for about four months in early 2016. From August 1990 to May 1991, he worked for the Fayetteville Police Department. A department spokesperson said he was let go while still going through the training program.
NBC affiliate KNWA of Fayetteville reported that he also worked as a police officer, county constable, and corrections officer.
