A former Arkansas police chief who escaped from a prison where he was serving decades-long sentences for murder and rape was captured June 6 after a 12-day manhunt involving federal, state and local law enforcement.

Grant Hardin, known as the “Devil in the Ozarks,” was caught around 3 p.m. local time just a mile and a half from the prison he escaped nearly two weeks earlier, according to Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesperson Rand Champion. Hardin, 56, was thought to have fled the state.

Tracking dogs picked up Hardin’s scent west of the prison near Moccasin Creek in Izard County, according to Champion. Photos of Hardin’s arrest show him wearing a sullied shirt. His face appears thinner than in earlier mugshots.

“Thanks to the great work of local, state and federal law enforcement Arkansans can breathe a sigh of relief and I can confirm that violent criminal Grant Hardin is back in custody,” said Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. “I am grateful for all law enforcement who contributed to his capture and give special thanks to the Trump administration and Secretary Kristi Noem, who sent a team from Border Patrol that was instrumental in tracking and apprehending Hardin.”

Arkansas law enforcement authorities and U.S. Border Patrol agents participated in the arrest, according to Champion.

“This was a great joint operation by a number of agencies, and I’m so thankful for their tireless efforts,” said Dexter Payne, director of the Arkansas Division of Correction. “The Arkansas State Police, U.S. Marshals, FBI, Border Patrol, Game and Fish, all the state and local agencies, along with the dedication of our Department employees, all played an indispensable role and I express my extreme gratitude.”

Hardin had gained notoriety as the subject of the 2023 documentary “Devil in the Ozarks’’ about his 1997 rape of a school teacher and 2017 murder of a water department worker.

Hardin fled the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock, Arkansas, through a secure entryway on May 25 wearing a fake law enforcement uniform. His disguise caused a corrections officer to open a gate and let him walk out of the medium-security facility.

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The escape followed the May 16 jailbreak of 10 inmates in New Orleans – several of them charged with murder – which drew national attention and caused consternation in area communities.

Hardin was regarded as no less dangerous a fugitive. In 2017 he was convicted of killing James Appleton, an employee of the northwest Arkansas town of Gateway whose brother-in-law, Andrew Tillman, was the mayor. Tillman told investigators they were talking on the phone when Appleton was shot to death in his pickup truck.

A DNA test conducted following the murder connected Hardin to an unresolved 1997 rape in Rogers, Arkansas, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. The teacher was attacked at gunpoint after leaving her classroom to go to a restroom near the teacher’s lounge, according to the affidavit.

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Where did Hardin work in law enforcement?

Hardin’s combined convictions, including two counts of rape, added up to 80 years in prison sentences.

“He’s a sociopath,’’ former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS/KHOG. “Prison’s not full of people who are all bad. It’s full of a lot of people who just do bad things. Grant’s different.’’

Hardin had an erratic career in Arkansas law enforcement starting in 1990, working for police departments in Fayetteville, Huntsville and Eureka Springs before briefly serving as Gateway’s police chief in 2016.

He was fired from the Fayetteville job after less than a year because of subpar performance and failure to accept constructive criticism, according to KHBS/KHOG. In Huntsville, where he worked from April 1993 to October 1996, the former police chief told the TV station Hardin used excessive force and made poor decisions.

Escaping from prison, for which he now faces charges, may be just the latest one.

Contributing: N’dea Yancey-Bragg, Michael Loria and James Powel, USA TODAY

Arkansas medical marijuana sales in the first five months of 2025 totaled $121.024 million, up 6.3% compared with the same period in 2024. Overall pounds sold in the first five months was 32,474, above the 30,000 in the same period of 2024.

Medical marijuana sales totaled $275.9 million in 2024, just below the record of $283 million in 2023.

“Tax revenue from medical marijuana is averaging $2.68 million a month in 2025, also an increase over last year,” Scott Hardin, spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration (DFA), said in a statement. “With daily medical marijuana sales averaging $806,000, we are on track to surpass the 2023 sales record of $283 million.”

Following are the top five dispensaries, among the state’s 37 licensed dispensaries, for pounds sold in May.
Suite 443 (Hot Springs): 692.98 pounds
Natural Relief (Sherwood): 626.54
Harvest (Conway): 422.78
CROP (Jonesboro): 401.24
Custom Cannabis (Alexander): 363.13

The Arkansas Department of Health reported 109,854 active patient cards, up 12.8% compared with the 97,374 to begin 2024.

Following are the annual sales since 2019 when medical marijuana sales began in Arkansas.
2024: $275.9 million
2023: $283 million
2022: $276.3 million
2021: $264.9 million
2020: $181.8 million
2019: $31.32 million

The constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana for 17 qualifying conditions and creating a state medical marijuana commission was approved by Arkansas voters 53% to 47% in November 2016.

Taxes collected are 6.5% of regular state sales tax with each purchase by a patient and a 4% privilege tax on sales from cultivators to dispensaries. Most of the tax revenue is placed in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences National Cancer Designation Trust Fund. The state also collects a cultivator privilege tax, which means tax revenue is not always tied to how much product is bought by consumers at dispensaries and the price for the product sold to dispensary customers.

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