The previous Arkansas police chief who escaped prison whereas serving a 30-year sentence for homicide and rape has been recaptured after almost two weeks on the run, authorities stated.
Grant Hardin was captured by regulation enforcement officers Friday afternoon, roughly 1.5 miles west of the northern Arkansas jail he had escaped, based on the Izard County Sheriff’s Workplace. His id was confirmed by fingerprint evaluation, the sheriff’s workplace stated.
Hardin, 56, escaped the Calico Rock North Central Unit in Izard County on Might 25 after donning a uniform and impersonating a corrections officer and being allowed to stroll by way of a sally port pulling a cart.
Grant Hardin in police picture.
Stone County Arkansas Sheriff’s Workplace
Hardin, the previous police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, pleaded responsible in October 2017 to first-degree homicide in reference to the taking pictures dying of 59-year-old James Appleton, based on The Related Press.
He was additionally convicted of the 1997 rape of an elementary faculty trainer in Rogers, Arkansas, a criminal offense highlighted within the 2023 tv documentary “Satan within the Ozarks.”
In the course of the search, officers deployed helicopters, drones and K9 officers. A U.S. Border Patrol tactical unit from Texas, referred to as BORTAC, had additionally been deployed to Arkansas to help within the manhunt, officers stated.
Grant Hardin, a former police chief sentenced for homicide and rape, escaped an Arkansas jail on Might 25, based on the Stone County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Stone County Arkansas Sheriff’s Workplace
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressed gratitude for the native, state and federal regulation enforcement — and particularly thanked the Trump administration “for sending Border Patrol who helped observe and apprehend Hardin.”
“Arkansans can breathe a sigh of reduction as a result of violent legal Grant Hardin is now in custody,” she stated in a put up on social media.
The FBI and U.S. Marshals provided a mixed $25,000 reward for data resulting in his seize.
Arkansas officers urged residents of the encompassing Izard County to remain vigilant and lock the doorways of their houses and automobiles following his escape.
“I’m very scared that this man goes to harm or kill any person earlier than that is over with,” Stone County Sheriff Brandon Lengthy instructed ABC Information amid the manhunt.
Nathan Smith, the previous Benton County prosecutor who helped put Hardin behind bars, instructed Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS the escaped inmate is “a sociopath.”
