A high-stakes manhunt is underway after Grant Hardin, a former police chief convicted of both murder and rape, escaped from an Arkansas prison on Sunday afternoon. According to the Arkansas Department of Corrections, Hardin, who had been serving decades-long sentences for his crimes, fled the North Central Unit in Calico Rock at approximately 3:40 p.m.
He reportedly disguised himself in a makeshift law enforcement uniform at the time of his escape. Officials confirmed the outfit was not an official Department of Corrections uniform, and it remains unclear how or where Hardin obtained the clothing used in the escape. No further details have been released regarding the method of his breakout.
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Hardin, once the police chief of Gateway—a small town near the Arkansas-Missouri border—was first imprisoned in 2017 after pleading guilty to the first-degree murder of 59-year-old James Appleton. Appleton, an employee of the Gateway Water Department, was speaking with then-Mayor Andrew Tillman, his brother-in-law, when he was fatally shot in the head on February 23, 2017, near Garfield. His body was later found inside a car.
Hardin had served as Gateway’s police chief for approximately four months in 2016 before his arrest and conviction. He received a 30-year prison sentence for the murder. Further investigations during his incarceration linked him to a cold case from 1997. After his DNA was submitted to a national database, authorities connected him to the rape of an elementary school teacher in Rogers, just north of Fayetteville, KOAM reports.
Hardin ultimately pleaded guilty to the rape in 2019 and was sentenced to an additional 50 years behind bars. Since his escape, law enforcement at all levels—local, state, and federal—have been mobilized in the search. The Arkansas Department of Corrections confirmed that both the Division of Corrections and the Division of Community Corrections are actively pursuing leads.
“Officials continue to utilize a variety of means to track Hardin, as well as investigating the events that led up to his escape,” the department stated in a press release. Authorities have warned that Hardin is considered “extremely dangerous” and should not be approached under any circumstances. The Stone County Sheriff’s Office echoed this warning, while Arkansas State Police have urged the public to immediately report any sightings or information.
Lt. Shannon Jenkins, spokesperson for the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that her department “is taking every step to assist the Arkansas Department of Corrections in locating Hardin.” She added, “Hardin has strong ties to Benton County, and we will be on alert.”
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