The previous Arkansas police chief who escaped prison whereas serving a 30-year sentence for homicide and rape has been recaptured after practically two weeks on the run, authorities stated.
Grant Hardin was captured by legislation 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 Could 25 after donning a uniform and impersonating a corrections officer and being allowed to stroll by way of a sally port pulling a cart.
Escaped inmate Grant Hardin is seen being taken into custody on June 6, 2025, on this graphic launched by the Arkansas Division of Corrections.
Arkansas Division of Corrections
Arkansas legislation enforcement officers and the U.S. Border Patrol situated Hardin close to Moccasin Creek in Izard County and he was taken into custody shortly after 3 p.m. native time Friday, based on the Arkansas Division of Corrections.
“Monitoring canines had been capable of decide up a scent within the space, and Hardin was apprehended a short while later,” the division stated in a press launch.
Arkansas’ secretary of corrections, Lindsay Wallace, thanked those that helped “deliver this search to a peaceable conclusion.”
Escaped inmate Grant Hardin is seen being taken into custody on June 6, 2025, on this graphic launched by the Arkansas Division of Corrections.
Arkansas Division of Corrections
Hardin, the previous police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, pleaded responsible in October 2017 to first-degree homicide in reference to the capturing dying of 59-year-old James Appleton, based on The Related Press.
He was additionally convicted of the 1997 rape of an elementary college trainer in Rogers, Arkansas, against the law 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, generally known as BORTAC, had additionally been deployed to Arkansas to help within the manhunt, officers stated.
Grant Hardin in police picture.
Stone County Arkansas Sheriff’s Workplace
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders expressed gratitude for native, state and federal legislation enforcement — and particularly thanked the Trump administration for sending a Border Patrol staff “that was instrumental in monitoring and apprehending Hardin.”
“Because of the good work of native, state and federal legislation enforcement Arkansans can breathe a sigh of aid and I can affirm that violent felony Grant Hardin is again in custody,” she stated in an announcement.
Grant Hardin, a former police chief sentenced for homicide and rape, escaped an Arkansas jail on Could 25, based on the Stone County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Stone County Arkansas Sheriff’s Workplace
The FBI and U.S. Marshals provided a mixed $25,000 reward for info resulting in his seize.
Arkansas officers urged residents of the encircling 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 individual earlier than that is over with,” Stone County Sheriff Brandon Lengthy informed ABC Information amid the manhunt.
Nathan Smith, the previous Benton County prosecutor who helped put Hardin behind bars, informed Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS the escaped inmate is “a sociopath.”
