This combo of photos launched by the Arkansas Division of Corrections exhibits the recapture of escaped inmate Grant Hardin, an ex-police chief and convicted killer, by Arkansas regulation enforcement officers and the U.S. Border Patrol on Friday, close to Moccasin Creek in Izard County, about 1.5 miles northwest of Calico Rock jail.
Arkansas Division of Corrections/AP
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Arkansas Division of Corrections/AP
A former police chief and convicted killer often known as the “Satan within the Ozarks” was captured by regulation enforcement 1.5 miles northwest of the jail he escaped from following a large, almost two-week-long manhunt within the rugged mountains of northern Arkansas, authorities introduced Friday.
Grant Hardin, a former police chief within the small city of Gateway close to the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving prolonged sentences for homicide and rape. Ultimately, his notoriety led to a TV documentary, “Satan within the Ozarks.”
Hardin briefly tried to run from officers when he noticed them strategy Friday afternoon, however he was shortly tackled to the bottom, mentioned Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas jail system.
“He’d been on the run for every week and a half and possibly did not have any vitality left in him,” he added.
Hardin’s identification was confirmed by means of fingerprinting, the Izard County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in a Fb publish.
There is not any indication that Hardin was injured, although he will probably be checked for dehydration and different medical issues.
Now, investigators are “chomping on the bit and actually prepared to speak to him,” mentioned Champion, who used his cellphone to seize a picture of Hardin being led away by officers. Hardin mentioned nothing throughout these moments.
The escape, search and eventual seize
Hardin had been held on the Calico Rock jail since 2017 after pleading responsible to first-degree homicide in a deadly capturing. With the intention to escape, he impersonated a corrections officer “in gown and method,” in response to a court docket doc. A jail officer in one of many guard towers opened a safe gate, permitting him to stroll out of the power.
Champion mentioned that somebody ought to have checked Hardin’s identification earlier than he was allowed to depart, describing the dearth of verification as a “lapse” that is being investigated.
Searchers had been utilizing bloodhounds, officers on horseback, drones and helicopters of their hunt for Hardin since he escaped on Could 25.
Shortly after the escape, a bloodhound discovered — then shortly misplaced — Hardin’s scent when heavy rains blew by means of the realm, Champion mentioned. The bloodhound tracked Hardin’s path for lower than 1 / 4 of a mile, after which might have gone in any course.
“That was one of the irritating issues, that they have been in a position to observe him however then they misplaced him due to the rain,” Champion mentioned.
An elite and extremely skilled U.S. Border Patrol crew had lately joined the search, federal authorities introduced this week. The Border Patrol Tactical Workforce supplied “superior search capabilities and operational assist,” U.S. Customs and Border Safety mentioned.
Its members are skilled in navigating advanced terrain, the company mentioned earlier this week. The crew tracked Hardin by means of the area recognized for its rocky and rugged panorama, thick forests and an in depth cave community.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol shared photographs on Fb of Hardin shirtless and lined in mud, laying face down together with his fingers tied behind his again on Friday. The publish mentioned that Hardin was “turned over to Arkansas State Police unhurt” by the federal company.
A spokesperson for the company did not reply to a cellphone name and emailed request for remark relating to the publish on Friday night time.
Hardin’s legal convictions
Hardin pleaded responsible in 2017 to first-degree homicide for the killing of James Appleton, 59. Appleton labored for the Gateway water division when he was shot within the head Feb. 23, 2017, close to Garfield. Police discovered Appleton’s physique inside a automobile. Hardin was sentenced to 30 years in jail.
Hardin’s DNA was additionally matched to the 1997 rape of a instructor at an elementary faculty in Rogers, north of Fayetteville. He was sentenced to 50 years for that crime.
Cheryl Tillman, Appleton’s sister, was along with her mom and sister at a flea market in Ozark, Missouri, when regulation enforcement referred to as to inform her Hardin had been captured. Tillman can also be the mayor of Gateway, the 450-person city the place Hardin was briefly police chief.
Tillman advised The Related Press that Hardin’s seize was a “large sigh of aid” for her entire household.
“We do not have to stroll round, turning round on a regular basis, pondering any person’s on our again,” Tillman mentioned, emphasizing her appreciation for the officers who helped seize Hardin.
A problematic previous in regulation enforcement
Although Hardin was police chief in Gateway for simply 4 months, he had served as an officer in a number of communities round northwest Arkansas, his police data present.
In his first job as a police officer 35 years in the past in Fayetteville, Hardin struggled virtually instantly, his supervisors mentioned. He was dismissed by Fayetteville police, however saved getting employed for different regulation enforcement jobs in northwest Arkansas over time.
Hardin labored about six months on the Huntsville Police Division earlier than resigning, however data don’t give a purpose for his resignation.
He later labored on the Eureka Springs Police Division from 1993 to 1996. Former Chief Earl Hyatt mentioned Hardin resigned as a result of Hyatt was going to fireside him over incidents that included using extreme pressure.
“He didn’t have to be a police officer in any respect,” Hyatt advised tv station KNWA.
By the point he was the police chief in Gateway in 2016, “he was out chasing vehicles for no purpose,” Tillman recalled within the documentary “Satan within the Ozarks.”
