A former police chief in Arkansas sentenced to prison for rape and first-degree murder remains on the run after escaping a state facility in a disguise, a department of corrections spokesperson confirmed on May 26. Grant Hardin, 56, escaped at 2:55 p.m. local time on May 25 from a facility near the Missouri border wearing a "makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement," according tothe Arkansas Department of Corrections. The former Gateway, Arkansas, police chief was imprisoned in 2017. "We've had a lot of rain and it's hampered the search efforts for most of the day," Rand Champion, an Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesperson, told USA TODAY. "But it looks like the rain should subside, and hopefully that will help." Champion said Hardin was only gone for about 20 minutes before an officer noticed he was missing. Hardin, who is serving time at theNorth Central Unitin Calico Rock, Arkansas, was sentenced in Benton County in 2017 to 30 years in prison for murder, according to hiscorrections department profile. He was then sentenced in 2019 to 25 years for rape. Sheriff Brandon Long of Stone County, which borders Calico Rock, said in aFacebook postthat Hardin escaped through a secure entryway wearing a fake Department of Corrections uniform. A photo shared by the sheriff's office shows Hardin pushing a cart loaded with materials. Long said Hardin is "extremely dangerous." Authorities from the Department of Corrections, Arkansas State Police, and local police are working to find the escapee, officials said. Police K-9 units are also searching for Hardin, Champion said. Hardin was serving decades-long sentences at theNorth Central Unitprison near the Missouri border in Calico Rock, Arkansas. The prison is located about 130 miles north of Little Rock, Arkansas, and can hold around 800 prisoners, according to theDepartment of Corrections. It is also about 130 miles east of the tiny Arkansas town of Gateway –population 436– where Hardin served as police chief and near his last known address at 15617 Gann Ridge Road in Garfield, Arkansas, according to thecorrections department. "He does have a law enforcement background," Champion said,KHBS/KHOG-TVreported. "Anytime something like this exists, we consider it a threat to the community." Hardin pleaded guilty in 2017 to shooting and killing James Appleton, according toKHBS/KHOG-TV. Appleton was killed in his truck in February of that year. His brother-in-law told police that he was on the phone with Appleton when a car sped down the road and stopped next to Appleton's. A witness said he saw a white sedan next to Appleton's truck, heard a boom, and saw the sedan leave. The witness found Appleton shot in the head in the truck,KHBS/KHOG-TVreported. Police in Rogers, Arkansas, another town in Benton County, used DNA evidence in 2018 to link Hardin to the 1997 rape of a school teacher,KHBS/KHOG-TVreported. The woman told police a man raped her when she had left her classroom for the restroom. He was disguised with a knit stocking and sunglasses and carried a pistol, according toKHBS/KHOG-TV. Hardin bounced around police departments before becoming the top cop in Gateway, according toKHBS/KHOG-TVand the Associated Press. He was with the Fayetteville Police Department from Aug. 6, 1990, to May 22, 1991, according toKHBS/KHOG-TV. The department's chief of police then said he terminated Hardin because his efforts "fall short of the average probationary officer" and that he had a "tendency to not accept constructive criticism along with indecisiveness under stressful situations." A spell at the Eureka Springs Police Department, from April 1993 to October 1996, was marred by excessive uses of force and poor decisions on the job, the department's former police chief said, according to 40/29. Hardin was the chief of police for Gateway for about four months at the start of 2016, according to theAssociated Press. The man he killed, Appleton, was the brother-in-law of the town's mayor. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Former Arkansas police chief sentenced for murder escapes prison
