A former police chief serving prison time for murder and rape appears to have left Arkansas, the U.S. Marshals Service said, basing that conclusion on “credible information” and a failure to find him in the week since his escape.
There have been two unconfirmed sightings of 56-year-old Grant Matthew Hardin in the last week, one in Faulkner County near Conway and the other in Missouri, Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert J. Hammons wrote in a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court and released publicly Wednesday.
The Faulkner County report happened May 25, about 96 miles south of the North Central Unit in Calico Rock, on the day Hardin walked out of the prison, Hammons wrote. The report placed Hardin near U.S. 65 and the Cadron Bridge, Hammons wrote.
The second reported sighting placed Hardin near a faded red car in in the Moody and Bakersfield area of Howell County, Mo., on May 26, about 35 miles north of the prison, Hammons wrote.
“No other details were given regarding the car. Deputies responded to the area shortly after receiving the information, but were unable to locate anyone in the area,” Howell County, Mo., Sheriff Matt Roberts posted on Facebook.
Based on those tips, it appears that Hardin has fled the state, Hammons wrote. Hammons noted that Hardin is considered a “violent offender and poses extreme risk” to the public.
“He has extensive knowledge of the Ozark Mountain region, where he is believed to be possibly hiding in caves or rugged terrain that he is familiar with,” Hammons wrote.
The criminal complaint charges Hardin with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution or incarceration. The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
While the U.S. Marshals are focusing on a possible escape across state lines, the Corrections Department and State Police are aiming the investigation closer to home.
Prison officials and troopers on Wednesday posted on Facebook that they are focused on the “north central region of Arkansas” and are investigating tips as they arrive.
The Arkansas Department of Corrections on Tuesday released a new image of Hardin, depicting what he might look like with a beard. Previously released photos showed Hardin with a balding head but clean-shaven.
When Hardin, dressed in black in what Hammons described as a “makeshift law-enforcement style uniform” and pushing a cart, left the prison grounds, a Department of Corrections employee failed to verify his identity or authority to leave the grounds, Hammons wrote. The department is treating the escape as a safety breach, Hammons wrote.
The typical uniform worn by prison employees is a blue shirt and dark blue pants, according to a photo obtained from the Department of Corrections.
State lawmakers on the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions Subcommittee released a letter Tuesday to Board of Corrections Chair Benny Magness in which it expressed its “deep concern” over Hardin’s escape and pledged an investigation into the incident.
State Police used search warrants to gather cellphone data from four major carriers with towers near the prison. According to the warrants filed in Izard Circuit Court, the information gathered from those towers was turned over to the FBI for analysis.
After failing his probationary period with the Fayetteville Police Department in 1991, Hardin bounced around the law enforcement community for multiple years, including serving for about four months as the police chief in Gateway in 2016.
Hardin pleaded guilty in 2017 to first-degree murder in the death of 59-year-old James Appleton of Gateway. At the time of the killing, Hardin was working as a correctional officer at Northwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Fayetteville.
He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Hardin pleaded guilty in 2019 and was sentenced to concurrent 25-year prison terms on two charges after a DNA test matched Hardin to the unsolved rape of an elementary school teacher in 1997 in Rogers.
Hardin arrived at the North Central Unit on Jan. 5, 2018, from Ouachita River Correctional Unit in Malvern. According to a pro se motion he filed, Hardin was assigned to work in the kitchen five days later.
Authorities said they are investigating whether that job played a role in the escape from the medium-security facility.
Information for this report was provided by Tracy Neal of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
