Former Arkansas Police Chief Serving Decades For Murder And Rape Sentences Escapes Prison

Grant Hardin, a 59-year-old ex-police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, broke out of prison Sunday, according to law enforcement.

State authorities have since been on the hunt for Hardin, who was serving a 30-year sentence for murder and 50-year sentence for rape, The Associated Press (AP) reported early Monday.

Hardin is considered armed and dangerous by authorities. (RELATED: Louisiana AG Announces Authorities Arrested Jail Employee For Allegedly Helping 10 Inmates Escape)

“Anyone with information about inmate Hardin’s whereabouts should contact local law enforcement immediately,” Arkansas Department of Corrections (DOC) said in a press release Sunday.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
CALICO ROCK – On Sunday, May 25, at approximately 3:40 p.m., inmate Grant Hardin, ADC #168541, escaped from the North Central Unit.
Anyone with information about inmate Hardin’s whereabouts should contact local law enforcement immediately. pic.twitter.com/RZZ8I2hMc4

— Arkansas Department of Corrections (@ADCPIO) May 25, 2025

“It has been determined that Hardin was wearing a makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement when he escaped the North Central Unit. He was not wearing a Department of Corrections uniform, and all DOC-issued equipment has been accounted for,” DOC wrote in its statement. A multiagency search is ongoing.

Hardin pleaded guilty in 2017 to the first-degree murder of James Appleton, who was found dead in a car, the AP reported. Appleton was an employee of the Gateway Water Department, who was talking to his brother-in-law, the mayor of Gateway, when he was shot in the head.

Hardin was convicted of raping an elementary school teacher in 1997. He served around four months as Gateway’s police chief in 2016.