Manhunt Underway for Former Police Chief Imprisoned for Murder and Rape

A search was underway in northern Arkansas after a former police chief convicted of first-degree murder and rape slipped out of a high-security prison dressed in a fake law enforcement uniform.

Grant Hardin, 56, who had previously served as the police chief in Gateway, Arkansas, escaped from the Calico Rock North Central Unit around 2:50 p.m. Sunday, county officials said. He is considered extremely dangerous.

An image released by the Stone County Sheriff’s Office on its Facebook page shows what it says is Hardin wearing clothes similar to a law enforcement uniform, escaping through a controlled gate while pushing a cart of utility materials.

“It has been determined 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,” Rand Champion, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, said in a statement.Hardin was briefly the police chief in Gateway, a small town near the Missouri border. He held several other law enforcement positions in the state beginning in the 1990s, including as an elected constable, according to public records and local news reports. He was terminated multiple times and was trailed by reports of using excessive force, poor performance and, in one instance, falsifying a police report, according to local news media.

In 2017, Hardin was arrested and charged with shooting James Appleton just outside Gateway, where Appleton worked in the water department. According to the police affidavit, Appleton was pulled over in a pickup truck while he was on the phone with his brother-in-law, then was shot in the head at point-blank range with a shotgun.

Witnesses identified the shooter as Hardin, who was arrested and pleaded guilty not long after but did not offer a motive. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

While in prison, Hardin’s DNA was tied to an unsolved rape case from more than 20 years earlier. According to an affidavit filed in that case, Amy Harrison, an elementary schoolteacher in Rogers, Arkansas, had arrived at her classroom Nov. 9, 1997, a Sunday, to prepare for the week. When leaving the teachers’ restroom, she was confronted by a man who pointed a gun at her and raped her. The attack occurred around the same time as a community church service was happening down the hall.

Investigators were not able to identify a suspect at the time but obtained DNA evidence from Harrison’s clothing. After Hardin entered the prison system, he was found to be a match for the DNA. He pleaded guilty to rape and kidnapping in 2018, and was sentenced to an additional 50 years in prison.

Law enforcement officials described Hardin as “extremely dangerous” and warned residents not to approach him if they see him. Roadblocks were in place between Stone and Izard counties, where officials suspected Hardin might flee, and passengers were being checked in every car, according to local news reports.

“I don’t feel like he’s got a whole lot of choice but to get a vehicle,” Stone County Sheriff Brandon Long said in an interview with local CBS affiliate, 5NEWS. “Whether he just steals a vehicle or he take someone hostage with the vehicle is our biggest fear.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.