The former police chief, convicted murderer and rapist dubbed the “Devil in the Ozarks,” was nabbed less than two miles from the Arkansas prison he escaped two weeks ago, authorities said Friday.
Grant Hardin, 56, has evaded capture since walking out of Calico Rock prison on May 25 — despite searchers employing bloodhounds, officers on horseback, drones, helicopters and an elite US Border Patrol team.
“Escapee Grant Hardin was captured this afternoon approximately 1.5 miles west of the prison grounds by law enforcement officials,” the Izard County Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook.
“His identity was confirmed by fingerprint analysis prior to this announcement notifying the public.”
The highly trained Border Patrol Tactical Team, or BORTAC, provided “advanced search capabilities and operational support” to authorities in the search for Hardin, US Customs and Border Protection said.
Its members are accustomed to navigating complex terrain, including the Ozark Mountains region Hardin escaped to.
The killer was a police chief in a quiet town near the Arkansas-Missouri border until he raped and killed a local elementary school teacher in 1997. His crimes were later portrayed in the TV documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.
Hardin was only apprehended in 2017 thanks to a DNA match decades after the murder. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years behind bars.
He later pleaded guilty again to additional counts of rape and kidnapping in 2018 and received an additional 50 years on his sentence.
Hardin escaped after impersonating a corrections officer “in dress and manner,” according to a court document. A prison officer in one of the guard towers didn’t see through his disguise and opened a secure gate for him to walk through.
Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the state prison system, admitted that someone should have checked Hardin’s identity before letting him walk out the gates.
He assured that the “lapse” will be investigated.
With Post wires
