A former police chief serving time for murder and rape escaped from an Arkansas prison. Here is what we know

KHBS, FAYETTEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT, CNN

By Taylor Romine, Chris Boyette, CNN

(CNN) — A former small-town police chief in Arkansas escaped from prison Sunday while serving decades-long sentences for murder and rape and is still on the loose, officials said Tuesday.

Grant Hardin, 56, escaped from a state prison in northern Arkansas on Sunday afternoon, after he appears to have tried to imitate law enforcement to break out, the state’s Department of Corrections said.

Multiple agencies across the state, including state police and several sheriff’s offices, are coordinating in the hunt for Hardin.

The escape came just days after 10 inmates broke out of a New Orleans jail on May 16. Two of those inmates remain on the run, and 13 people have been charged as of Tuesday morning in relation to that jailbreak, including a maintenance worker with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. It was not immediately clear how Hardin orchestrated his breakout.

Here is what we know about the former police chief:

How he escaped

Hardin escaped the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock around 3:40 p.m. Sunday, a news release from the state’s Department of Corrections said.

Authorities discovered Hardin was missing during a routine count approximately 15 to 20 minutes after he left, preliminary reports show, but an investigation into the timeline of events is still being conducted, said Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Corrections.

It appears at the time of his escape, Hardin was “wearing a makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement,” but was not wearing a Department of Corrections uniform, the department said Sunday. It did not share any other information on how he is thought to have escaped.

A surveillance image appears to show Hardin wearing black pants, a black T-shirt and a black baseball cap, as well as an additional item that looks like a bulletproof vest. He appears to be wheeling a cart holding a box and several pieces of wood. Authorities believe he exited through a sally port, a controlled and secure entry point found in places such as prisons, the Stone County Sheriff’s office said.

It was also raining “fairly significantly” at the time of Hardin’s escape, and the rain has continued for the past several days, Champion said Tuesday. “It has hindered some aspects of the search process, including the tracking capability of the canines and the ability to fly drones, as well as making conditions more treacherous in general for search teams,” he said.

Hardin, who’s been in prison since 2017, was previously the police chief for the small town of Gateway near the Missouri border, with additional background in law enforcement. He spent four months in that position in 2016, according to an Investigation Discovery documentary on the case. (Investigation Discovery, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)

He served as a police officer, a police chief and a county constable throughout his career, the documentary said.

Hardin previously served as a police officer in Fayetteville, Huntsville and Eureka Springs, Arkansas; he was fired from the Fayetteville Police Department and was allowed to resign instead of being fired from the Eureka Springs Police Department after being accused of falsifying information in a report, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported. At the time of the murder he later pleaded guilty to, he was a correctional officer at the Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville, the newspaper said.

What he is in prison for

Hardin has been serving a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder, as well as two 25-year sentences for two counts of rape, according to Arkansas prison records and court documents.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of James Appleton, who worked for the City of Gateway’s water department, in February 2017, according to court documents. Hardin was accused of stopping and shooting Appleton in the head while driving down a road approximately half a mile from his home, documents show. He pleaded down from a capital murder charge.

At the time of his sentencing, Hardin addressed the family of the victim while entering his guilty plea, saying he didn’t know how to express it, but he was sorry, CNN affiliate KHBS reported.

Two years later, he also pleaded guilty to two counts of rape after his DNA, which was entered into the Arkansas DNA database following his murder plea, was connected to the 1997 rape of schoolteacher Amy Harrison, court documents show.

Harrison was at the school on a Sunday preparing for the week while a church service was being held in the cafeteria, an affidavit said. She used the bathroom in the teacher’s lounge, and when she came out, she was attacked by a man pointing a gun at her, the document said.

“Mr. Hardin’s cases, which involve a murder whose motive remains unclear to this day and a rape of a stranger, are outliers for the type of cases that our office prosecutes,” said current Benton County prosecuting attorney Bryan Sexton.

Documents show Hardin was frustrated with his court-appointed attorney following his guilty plea in the murder case, saying he had wanted to withdraw his plea and had a difficult time accessing resources to submit for post-conviction relief, court documents show.

The attorney, Shane Wilkinson, told CNN he has been in contact with local law enforcement and hasn’t heard from Hardin since his escape. Police have been conducting safety checks on his home and business since the escape, he added.

While in prison in 2019, Hardin completed a program on anger management, prison records show.

The search for Hardin

As of Tuesday afternoon, Hardin still hadn’t been located, Arkansas officials said in an update.

“An active search remains in effect involving a number of law enforcement agencies from across the state,” the Department of Corrections said Tuesday. “At this time there are no additional updates.”

Officials are using all resources at their disposal, which include dogs, drones and aircraft, among other methods, Champion said.

Hardin is 6 feet tall and approximately 259 pounds, prison records show. Authorities have asked anyone who has information on his location to contact local law enforcement immediately.

“My only concern is for the victims who have had closure from this Defendant’s crimes for nearly a decade,” Sexton said. “I feel for them as they are having to relive what damage this man did to themselves and their families.”

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