The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the re-capture of a former Arkansas police chief serving time for murder and rape — dubbed “the Devil in the Ozarks” — who escaped on the afternoon of May 25.
Former Gateway Police Department Chief Grant Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit, a medium-security prison, that Sunday afternoon in Calico Rock, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC).
The FBI said Hardin has ties to Garfield, Eureka Springs, Holiday Island and Huntsville.
“The FBI’s Little Rock Field Office is assisting the U.S. Marshal Service, the Arkansas Department of Corrections, and the Arkansas State Police with the search for and apprehension of Grant Matthew Hardin,” reads an FBI wanted poster.
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Former FBI agent Rob D’Amico told “Fox & Friends” Friday morning that Hardin’s past as a police chief may give him a unique advantage on the run.
“I think it makes it a lot more challenging. He knows how they do it. He knows what they look for, he knows how they follow leads. He knows how they do surveillance,” D’Amico said.
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The former FBI agent noted that there are likely many unmanned, unlocked cabins and sheds in wooded areas around Stone County, which is located East of the Ozark Mountains.
ADC Communications Director Rand Champion said during a Wednesday news conference that authorities are fairly confident in the route they believe Hardin took when he escaped prison and his current location in the region.
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“Based on the information that we have and the experience of our teams, they feel fairly confident that he is still fairly close to this region,” Champion said, noting that “all it takes is one vehicle” for Hardin to use to travel elsewhere, though officials have established a perimeter around the area of Stone County.
“As of this time, they are still very confident that he is in the area,” Champion said.
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Champion said the public should assume Hardin is “a very dangerous individual,” and there is a risk he may commit more crimes while he is on the run.
It took less than 30 minutes for prison officials to notice that Hardin had disappeared from prison. Photos that the Stone County Sheriff’s Office posted to social media show Hardin wearing an ADC-style uniform during his escape through a sally port, though Champion said the uniform he was wearing was not an official uniform.
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Hardin was sentenced to 30 years for murder plus additional time for rape.
He pleaded guilty to the 2017 murder of James Appleton, 59, a city water employee who was found shot in the face inside his work truck, KNWA reported. While Hardin was being booked into the state prison around that time, officials submitted his DNA sample into a database. His DNA ended up linking him to the rape cold case of a teacher in 1997, the outlet reported.
Hardin ended up pleading guilty in that case in 2019, according to KNWA.
The former police chief’s escape came two days after 10 prisoners escaped a correctional facility in New Orleans, eight of whom have since been re-captured while two remain at large.
Hardin is described as a 6 ft. white male, weighing approximately 259 pounds. The FBI is asking tipsters to call 1-800-CALL-FBI with any information concerning the escapee.
Fox News’ Stepheny Price and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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