The former Arkansas police chief who escaped jail while serving a 30-year term for murder and rape has been apprehended after nearly two weeks on the run, officials said.
Grant Hardin was apprehended by law authorities on Friday afternoon, some 1.5 miles west of the northern Arkansas jail from whence he had fled, according to the Izard County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office stated that his identity was confirmed by fingerprint analysis.
Hardin, 56, escaped the Calico Rock North Central Unit in Izard County on May 25 by dressing up as a prison officer and walking through a sally port while carrying a cart.
Arkansas law enforcement authorities and the United States Border Patrol apprehended Hardin at Moccasin Creek in Izard County soon after 3 p.m. local time Friday, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
According to The Associated Press, Hardin, the former police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, pleaded guilty in October 2017 to first-degree murder in the shooting death of 59-year-old James Appleton.
He was also convicted of the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher in Rogers, Arkansas, which is featured in the 2023 television documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”
During the search, officials used helicopters, drones, and K-9 police. A U.S. Border Patrol tactical squad from Texas, known as BORTAC, had also been dispatched to Arkansas to aid in the manhunt, officials reported.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders hailed local, state, and federal law enforcement, including the Trump administration for sending a Border Patrol team “that was instrumental in tracking and apprehending Hardin.”
“Thanks to the great work of local, state and federal law enforcement Arkansans can breathe a sigh of relief and I can confirm that violent criminal Grant Hardin is back in custody,” she told reporters.
The FBI and US Marshals jointly announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Following his escape, Arkansas officials asked residents of Izard County to remain careful and lock their doors and automobiles.
“I am very scared that this guy will hurt or kill someone before this is over,” Stone County Sheriff Brandon Long told ABC News during the manhunt.
Nathan Smith, a former Benton County prosecutor who helped put Hardin behind bars, told Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS that the escaped inmate is “a sociopath.”