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Authorities reveal potential new search for ‘Devil within the Ozarks’ escapee

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It has been almost 10 days for the reason that convict depicted in an HBO documentary because the “Devil in the Ozarks” escaped from an Arkansas jail, lengthy sufficient for his look to presumably change.

On Tuesday, the Arkansas Department of Corrections distributed a photograph illustration of Grant Hardin, 56, with a brief 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 division stated in a press release.

Hardin escaped from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock on May 25. Prison officers stated he was seen on safety video pushing a cart that carried picket pallets whereas carrying a legislation enforcement-style uniform, apparently to evade the eye of guards.

Hardin was briefly the police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, in 2016. That yr, one in every of his victims, metropolis water division worker James Appleton, criticized Hardin for encouraging police pursuits and handing taxpayers the allegedly growing invoice for police automobile repairs.

Cheryl Tillman, Appleton’s sister and the present mayor of Gateway, stated within the HBO documentary that her brother and Hardin clashed over the problem in 2016.

Hardin resigned after 4 months, in keeping with the documentary.

On Feb. 23, 2017, Hardin fatally shot Appleton, in keeping with a legislation enforcement affidavit filed in court docket, incomes him a 30-year sentence after he pleaded responsible.

When authorities ran Hardin’s DNA, they found it was a match for proof within the 1997 on-campus rape of an elementary faculty instructor, for which he was finally additionally convicted below a responsible plea after which sentenced to 50 years in jail.

Prison officers stated Tuesday that the seek for Hardin is targeted on his native north-central Arkansas area, the place his dad and mom nonetheless name the city of Garfield house.

The mixed reward for data resulting in his seize has risen to $25,000 after the FBI doubled its $10,000 contribution final week after which the U.S. Marshals Service contributed $5,000, the Corrections Department stated.

Hardin is white, stands 6 toes, 2 inches tall, weighs round 259 kilos and has brown hair and blue eyes, authorities stated. Possible sightings and details about the place he may be must be reported to the FBI, the Corrections Department stated.

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