A manhunt is still underway for a former Arkansas police chief who was serving a 30-year sentence for rape and murder.
According to ABC News, officials have been searching for Grant Hardin, 56, for the fourth day after he escaped from Calico Rock North Central Unit on Sunday. Hardin has been in prison since 2017 after he was found guilty of first-degree murder and rape, according to the Stone County Sheriff’s Office.
According to an affidavit obtained by ABC News, Hardin escaped by impersonating a corrections officer and surveillance footage showed Hardin was let out of a secure gate by an actual corrections officer. However, officials said Hardon was not wearing an official uniform and the outfit he was wearing was “homemade or brought in somehow.”
Officials have said they expect Hardin to still be in the area around the prison, and the Izard County Sheriff’s Office has told Izard County residents to lock their homes, vehicles, and to stay vigilant.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals confirmed Tuesday that the agency, along with the Eastern Arkansas Fugitive Task Force, is aiding in the search efforts.
“I am very scared that this guy is going to hurt or kill somebody before this is over with,” Stone County Sheriff Brandon Long told ABC News.
Hardin, a former police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, was employed in the prison kitchen, according to a spokesperson for the department of corrections. Officials stated that he has maintained a clean disciplinary record during his incarceration, and there is no indication that he received assistance in his escape.
Nathan Smith, a former Benton County prosecutor instrumental in Hardin’s conviction, described the escaped inmate as “a sociopath” in an interview with Arkansas ABC affiliate KHBS.
“He has no moral core or center that would prevent him from doing anything,” Smith told KHBS.
Officials are warning Hardin is considered extremely dangerous and should not be approached and are telling anyone who knows of his whereabouts to immediately call 911. Hardin is described as 6 feet tall and 259 pounds.
