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Authorities provided few updates Wednesday in the ongoing search for a former police chief convicted of murder and rape who escaped from a north Arkansas prison more than three days earlier.
“Unfortunately, there’s no new developments,” Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesman Rand Champion said during a news conference held shortly after 3 p.m. at Calico Rock.
Grant Hardin, 56, escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock around 2:55 p.m. Sunday, according to Champion. Initial reports estimated he had escaped around 3:40 p.m.
Champion said authorities have expanded the scope of their search area, but the information currently available has made them “fairly confident” that he remains “fairly close to this region.”
Authorities have received “a lot of tips” about Hardin, but “none of those have come to fruition at this point,” according to Champion. The diverse makeup of the area around Calico Rock has made for a more challenging search, with rugged terrain host to scattered caves, barns, abandoned cars and houses, he said.
In addition to the Corrections Department’s K-9 search team, the agency is also using drones and aircraft to aid in their hunt for Hardin. Recent rains have hampered the search, though, as the water can affect dogs’ ability to track scents and low-lying clouds can hinder the effectiveness of drones and helicopters.
“We’re hoping that the weather kind of turns a little bit and we can utilize more of those,” he said.
According to authorities, law enforcement officers in areas where Hardin’s family live have also been notified of his escape.
Champion also said the search efforts had struggled at times with having “too many people” searching in specific locations at the same time, hindering searchers’ movements.
Agencies that have given up time and resources to the search effort include local sheriff’s offices, as well as the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Arkansas State Police and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, he said.
That search has continued “around-the-clock,” according to Champion, who added in a later interview by phone that several Corrections Department officials, including Secretary Lindsay Wallace, had been in Calico Rock since Hardin’s escape on Sunday.
Champion also warned anyone who believes they may have spotted Hardin not to approach him.
“We have to assume this to be a very dangerous situation,” he said, citing Hardin’s “violent background.”
According to authorities, Hardin escaped through the prison’s sally port, a controlled area used to bring inmates into lockup. He was wearing a “makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement,” a social media post from the Corrections Department said Sunday.
An image released by the sheriff’s offices in Stone and Izard counties depict a man wearing a black baseball cap and a black shirt or vest. Writing or some type of logo appears in white on the back of the clothing.
Champion said Wednesday that authorities have not found the outfit Hardin appeared to be wearing at the time of his escape, but reiterated that he was not wearing a Corrections Department uniform.
Hardin was the police chief of Gateway for four months in 2016, and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in 2017 for the killing of 59-year-old James Appleton of Gateway. At the time of the murder, Hardin worked as a correctional officer at the Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville.
Hardin was sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 2019, he also admitted to the unsolved 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher in Rogers.
Hardin now also faces a charge of second-degree escape, a Class B felony that carries a 20-year maximum prison sentence, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Tuesday.
The Arkansas Board of Corrections is scheduled to meet by Zoom at 10 a.m. Thursday. The meeting was originally to take place in person at the Ouachita River Unit in Malvern, but Champion said the search prompted the decision to convene digitally, as several officials have remained in Calico Rock since the search began.
“Obviously this escape is our top priority right now, but we still have to run the correctional system at the same time,” Champion said.
Information for this article was contributed by Joseph Flaherty of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Annette Beard of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
