Authorities in Arkansas have launched an urgent manhunt for Grant Hardin, 56, a disgraced former police chief who escaped from the North Central Unit correctional facility on Sunday afternoon.
The Arkansas Department of Corrections confirmed Hardin’s escape from the facility located in Calico Rock, AR. Officials are urging the public to provide any information regarding Hardin’s whereabouts to local law enforcement immediately, as stated in a post on X.
Hardin has been incarcerated at the North Central Unit since 2017, serving a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder, as well as an additional sentence for rape. Prior to his imprisonment, Hardin held the position of chief of police for the city of Gateway.
Hardin pleaded guilty to the 2017 murder of James Appleton, 59, a city water employee who was found fatally shot in the face inside his work truck, as reported by KNWA.
While being processed into the state prison system, Hardin’s DNA sample was submitted to a database. This subsequently linked him to the previously unsolved 1997 rape case of Amy Harrison, a teacher at Frank Tillery Elementary in Rogers. Harrison reported being raped at gunpoint at the school.
Nathan Smith, the prosecuting attorney for Benton County at the time, stated that the DNA evidence proved Hardin’s involvement in the rape “beyond all scientific certainty.” Authorities confirmed that Hardin’s DNA matched the DNA recovered from the rape suspect. Harrison was attacked while preparing lesson plans for the upcoming week, a crime that had remained unsolved for nearly two decades. Hardin ultimately pleaded guilty to the rape charge in 2019.
Smith previously described Hardin as “one of the most dangerous people that I ever seen for the reason that he does not at first appear that way.” He further noted Hardin’s capacity for seemingly random and horrific acts of violence, citing both the murder and the rape.
Hardin is described as a white male, approximately 6 feet tall, and weighing around 259 pounds. Authorities are urging anyone with information on his location to contact local law enforcement without delay.
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