Ex-police chief escapes from Arkansas jail the place he was serving homicide, rape sentences

A former police chief who was convicted of rape and homicide escaped from the jail the place he was serving a 30-year sentence on Sunday, correction officers stated.

Grant Hardin had been at North Central Unit, a jail situated in Calico Rock, Arkansas, since 2017. He escaped round 3:40 p.m., the Arkansas Division of Corrections stated in a social media put up.

“Anyone with information about inmate Hardin’s whereabouts should contact local law enforcement immediately,” the put up learn.

In response to CBS affiliate KFSM-TV, the Stone County Sheriff’s Workplace stated Hardin was seen leaving the jail in an Arkansas Division of Corrections uniform.

Hardin was the previous police chief for town of Gateway, Arkansas, a small city with only a few hundred residents.

Hardin pleaded responsible in October 2017 to first-degree homicide in reference to the capturing loss of life of 59-year-old James Appleton. In response to an affidavit filed within the case, Appleton labored for the Gateway water division and was speaking to his brother-in-law, then-Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, when he was shot within the head on Feb. 23, 2017, close to Garfield. Police discovered Appleton’s physique inside a automobile.

Hardin can also be serving 50 years in jail for the 1997 rape of an elementary college instructor in Rogers, north of Fayetteville.

KFSM reported in 2019 that police in 2003 used DNA samples from the rape sufferer’s garments to use for a “John Doe” warrant because the statute of limitations was near expiring. Investigators finally acquired a match after Hardin was imprisoned for Appleton’s killing.

Hardin pleaded responsible to 2 counts of rape and was given 25 years for every rely, KFSM reported.