A 12-day search ends less than 2 miles away: How 'Devil in the Ozarks' killer was caught

USA Today

07-06-2025

A 12-day search ends less than 2 miles away: How 'Devil in the Ozarks' killer was caught
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Ex-Arkansas police chief imprisoned for murder escapes prison
Grant Hardin, a former Gateway, Arkansas, police chief serving time for murder and rape, escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25.
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The former Arkansas police chief who escaped prison disguised as a guard only made it about a mile-and-a-half away from the facility in the 12 days before he was captured, officials said.
Convicted murderer and rapist Grant Hardin was found at about 3 p.m. on June 6 west of the North Central Unit state prison near Moccasin Creek in Izard County, Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesperson Rand Champion said in a statement. In a photo of his arrest, Hardin is seen sitting on the ground in a vegetated area with his hands behind his back in a baseball cap and dirty T-shirt and pants.
Hardin, 56, was in prison serving a decadeslong sentence for the 2017 murder of water department employee James Appleton in Gateway, Arkansas, and the 1997 rape of a school teacher in nearby Rogers. He's known as the "Devil in the Ozarks," the name of a 2023 TV documentary about his crimes.
His escape on May 25 involved dressing up in a makeshift outfit to disguise himself as a corrections officer, tricking a real officer into opening a gate and allowing him to walk out of the medium-security facility, court records said. He will now be housed at the high-security Varner Unit in Gould, Arkansas, Champion said.
Here's what we know about Hardin's capture and escape:
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How was Hardin caught, ending 12-day manhunt?
Authorities said tracking dogs picked up Hardin's scent and were able to lead them to Hardin. Hundreds of law enforcement officers at the local, state and federal level spent nearly two weeks searching for Hardin, using dogs, drones and aircraft, at times hampered by severe weather.
Moccasin Creek where he was found has seen high water due to heavy rainfall in the last two weeks, which may have limited Hardin's ability to move around. It also prevented authorities from finding him sooner. Champion said search teams had looked through the area before but couldn't fully investigate because of the high water.
Though Hardin was previously thought to have left the state, Champion said investigators now believe he never got very far at all from the prison. He was fingerprinted and assessed at the North Central Unit before being moved to the Varner Unit, Champion said. He will be interviewed in the coming days.
How did he escape?
Hardin slipped away from the prison the afternoon of May 25 wearing a "makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement," the Arkansas Department of Corrections said.
"Inmate Hardin impersonated a corrections officer in dress and manner causing the Corrections Officer operating a secure gate to open the gate and allow Inmate Hardin to walk away from the North Central Unit," Special Agent Dennis Simons of the Izard County Sheriff's Office wrote in an arrest affidavit.
A photo from surveillance footage showed Hardin wearing the outfit and pushing a loaded cart as he escaped. Champion said Hardin was gone for about 20 minutes when an officer noticed he was missing.
'Devil in the Ozarks' killer: Why was it so hard to find Grant Hardin?
His escape came amid an ongoing weekslong search for escaped inmates in Louisiana. On May 16, 10 inmates broke out of a New Orleans jail; two are still on the run as of June 7.
Who is Grant Hardin?
Hardin pleaded guilty to the Feb. 23, 2017, murder of Appleton. Appleton's brother-in-law and the mayor of Gateway at the time, Andrew Tillman, told police he was on the phone with Appleton while Appleton was driving his truck.
Appleton pulled over so he wouldn't lose signal while on the phone with Tillman, Tillman told investigators. Tillman heard what sounded like a car door slamming shut, then nothing. A witness also told police they saw someone pulled over behind the truck in a car and heard a gunshot, and identified the driver as Hardin. Appleton was found dead in his truck with a gunshot to the side of his head and face.
After his conviction, his DNA was matched with that from an unsolved rape case in 1997, in which a teacher said she was attacked while at school by a man who held her at gunpoint, according to court records. Hardin pleaded guilty to charges related to the rape.
Hardin's combined convictions added up to 80 years in prison sentences.
Hardin was the chief of police in Gateway for about four months in 2016, the Associated Press reported. He was also terminated from roles at other police departments, local outlets have reported.