Community on alert after former police chief convicted of murder, rape escapes Arkansas prison

A search is underway after a former police department chief has escaped the Arkansas prison where he is serving a 30-year sentence for murder and rape charges.

The Arkansas Department of Corrections announced on Sunday that Grant Hardin had escaped from the North Central Unit. Hardin has been at the unit since 2017, serving out a 30-year sentence for a first-degree murder charge as well as a rape count.

The Department announced in an 11:30 pm update Sunday that Hardin "was wearing a makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement when he escaped the North Central Unit. He was not wearing a Department of Corrections uniform, and all DOC-issued equipment has been accounted for."

"Officials continue to utilize a variety of means to track Hardin, as well as investigating the events that led up to his escape. Further updates will be provided as they become available. Again, Hardin remains at large, and anyone with information about his whereabouts should contact local law enforcement immediately," the Department of Corrections added. 

Hardin was previously the police chief for the small town of Gateway, Arkansas, and in October 2017, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the shooting death case of 59-year-old James Appleton, per CBS News. Appleton had worked for the Gateway water department and had been speaking with his brother-in-law, then-Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, when he was shot in the head on February 23, 2017, an affidavit stated. Police discovered Appleton’s body inside a car near Garfield. 

Per the New York Times, witnesses identified the shooter as Hardin, who pleaded guilty not long after his arrest. While in prison for the shooting, Hardin’s DNA was connected to an unsolved rape from 20 years prior.

Elementary school teacher Amy Harrison arrived at her Arkansas classroom to begin setting up for the week on November 9, 1997 and when she left the teachers’ bathroom, she was confronted by an armed man who raped her, an affidavit stated. While investigators were unable to identify a suspect at the time, they were able to obtain DNA evidence from her clothing. When Hardin was entered into the prison system, his DNA was found to be a match with that found at the scene. In 2018, he pleaded guilty to rape and kidnapping and was sentenced to an additional 50 years in prison.