Ex-police chief serving time for homicide and rape escapes Arkansas jail

[ad_1] An pressing manhunt is underway in Arkansas after a disgraced former police chief, who was serving time for homicide and rape, escaped from jail.

The Arkansas Division of Corrections stated Grant Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit on Sunday afternoon in Calico Rock, AR.

"Anybody with details about inmate Hardin’s whereabouts ought to contact native regulation enforcement instantly," authorities stated in a submit on X.

Officers stated Hardin has been on the North Central Unit since 2017, serving a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder, in addition to a further sentence for rape.

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The jail added that Hardin was the previous chief of police for town of Gateway.

Hardin pleaded responsible to the 2017 homicide of James Appleton, 59, a metropolis water worker who was discovered shot within the face inside his work truck, KNWA reported.

Whereas Hardin was being booked into the state jail, officers submitted his DNA pattern right into a database. His DNA ended up linking him to the rape chilly case of a trainer in 1997, the outlet reported.

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<source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/343/192/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/686/384/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="192" width="343"><source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/672/378/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/1344/756/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/931/523/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/1862/1046/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"><source media="(min-width: 1280px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/720/405/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/05/1440/810/authorites-searching-for-disgraced-police-chief-who-escaped-from-prison.png?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="405" width="720"> Officers with the Arkansas Division of Corrections are looking for an inmate, who's a former police chief, that they stated escaped from its North Central Unit on Sunday. (Arkansas Division of Corrections )

The sufferer, Amy Harrison, a trainer at Frank Tillery Elementary in Rogers, stated she was raped by a person with a gun on the college.

"It was confirmed to be Mr. Hardin past all scientific certainty," Nathan Smith, the prosecuting lawyer for Benton County on the time, instructed the outlet.

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The Arkansas Division of Corrections is looking for an inmate who escaped from the North Central Unit on Sunday. (iStock)

Authorities confirmed Hardin’s DNA matched the DNA linked to the rape suspect. Harrison was ambushed whereas getting ready a lesson plan for the week. The case had been chilly for practically twenty years.

Hardin ended up pleading responsible to the rape in 2019.

"Grant Hardin, in my opinion and in my private expertise, is without doubt one of the most harmful folks that I ever seen given that he doesn't at first seem that manner," Smith beforehand stated. "He's a person able to a seemingly random, horrific homicide in addition to a random horrific rape."

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Hardin is described as a 6' white male, weighing roughly 259 kilos.

Stepheny Worth is a author for Fox Information Digital and Fox Enterprise. She covers matters together with lacking individuals, homicides, nationwide crime instances, unlawful immigration, and extra. Story suggestions and concepts might be despatched to stepheny.value@fox.com