It has been nearly 10 days since the convict depicted in an HBO documentary as the “Devil in the Ozarks” escaped from an Arkansas prison, long enough for his appearance to possibly change.
On Tuesday, the Arkansas Department of Corrections distributed a photo illustration of Grant Hardin, 56, with a short beard and a mustache.
“With over a week passing since Hardin escaped the North Central Unit, we are releasing a possible updated headshot which could reflect how he might look today,” the department said in a statement.
Hardin escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25. Prison officials said he was seen on security video pushing a cart that carried wooden pallets while wearing a law enforcement-style uniform, apparently to evade the attention of guards.
Hardin was briefly the police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, in 2016. That year, one of his victims, city water department employee James Appleton, criticized Hardin for encouraging police pursuits and handing taxpayers the allegedly increasing bill for police vehicle repairs.
Cheryl Tillman, Appleton’s sister and the current mayor of Gateway, said in the HBO documentary that her brother and Hardin clashed over the issue in 2016.
Hardin resigned after four months, according to the documentary.
On Feb. 23, 2017, Hardin fatally shot Appleton, according to a law enforcement affidavit filed in court, earning him a 30-year sentence after he pleaded guilty.
When authorities ran Hardin’s DNA, they discovered it was a match for evidence in the 1997 on-campus rape of an elementary school teacher, for which he was eventually also convicted under a guilty plea and then sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Prison officials said Tuesday that the search for Hardin is focused on his native north-central Arkansas region, where his parents still call the town of Garfield home.
The combined reward for information leading to his capture has risen to $25,000 after the FBI doubled its $10,000 contribution last week and then the U.S. Marshals Service contributed $5,000, the Corrections Department said.
Hardin is white, stands 6 feet, 2 inches tall, weighs around 259 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes, authorities said. Possible sightings and information about where he might be should be reported to the FBI, the Corrections Department said.
