Ex-police chief serving time for murder and rape escapes Arkansas prison

An urgent manhunt is underway in Arkansas after a disgraced former police chief, who was serving time for murder and rape, escaped from prison.

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

“Anyone with information about inmate Hardin’s whereabouts should contact local law enforcement immediately,” authorities said in a post on X.

Officials said Hardin has been at the North Central Unit since 2017, serving a 30-year sentence for first-degree murder, as well as an additional sentence for rape.

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The jail added that Hardin was the former chief of police for the city of Gateway.

Hardin pleaded guilty to the 2017 murder of James Appleton, 59, a city water employee who was found shot in the face inside his work truck, KNWA reported. 

While Hardin was being booked into the state prison, officials submitted his DNA sample into a database. His DNA ended up linking him to the rape cold case of a teacher in 1997, the outlet reported. 

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The victim, Amy Harrison, a teacher at Frank Tillery Elementary in Rogers, said she was raped by a man with a gun at the school.

“It was proven to be Mr. Hardin beyond all scientific certainty,” Nathan Smith, the prosecuting attorney for Benton County at the time, told the outlet. 

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Authorities confirmed Hardin’s DNA matched the DNA linked to the rape suspect. Harrison was ambushed while preparing a lesson plan for the week. The case had been cold for nearly two decades.

Hardin ended up pleading guilty to the rape in 2019.

“Grant Hardin, in my view and in my personal experience, is one of the most dangerous people that I ever seen for the reason that he does not at first appear that way,” Smith previously said. “He is a man capable of a seemingly random, horrific murder as well as a random horrific rape.”

Hardin is described as a 6′ white male, weighing approximately 259 pounds. 

Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com