Hunt for ex-police chief convicted of murder who escaped Arkansas prison

The search for a former Arkansas police chief convicted of rape and murder continues after he escaped from prison on Sunday.

Grant Hardin was chief of police in Gateway, Arkansas - a small town of a few hundred residents on the state's border with Missouri - for around four months in 2016, according to the Associated Press.

The state's Department of Corrections said on social media that he escaped from the North Central Unit prison in Calico Rock at around 15:40 (20:40 GMT) on Sunday, where he had been incarcerated since 2017.

The department added that Hardin was no longer in his prison uniform, and was "wearing a makeshift outfit designed to mimic law enforcement" when he escaped.

Hardin, 56, remains at large. The Department of Corrections urged anyone with information to "contact local law enforcement immediately".

The department told the BBC that a "multitude of agencies" were involved in the search.

The Pea Ridge Police Department also issued an alert on social media, saying Hardin "has numerous connections and family in our area".

They warned the public not to approach him, saying he is "considered armed and dangerous".

The Izard Country Sheriff's Office told its community to "stay vigilant, lock your house and vehicle doors and report any suspicious activity."

The US Marshals Eastern Arkansas Fugitive Task Force is also assisting with search efforts, a spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The former prosecutor who helped put Hardin behind bars described him as a "sociopath", local television station KHBS 40/29 News reported.

"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," former Benton County prosecutor Nathan Smith told the station.

Grant Hardin pleaded guilty to first-degree murder - the intentional killing of another person - after fatally shooting 59-year-old James Appleton in 2017. He was given a 30 year prison sentence.

Mr Appleton worked in the city's water department. He was shot and killed while speaking to his brother-in-law, then-Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, on 23 February 2017, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Police later found Mr Appleton's body inside a car.

While serving time for Mr Appleton's murder, DNA evidence emerged linking Hardin to the long unsolved rape of Amy Harrison at Frank Tillery Elementary School in Rogers, Arkansas, in November 1997.

According to an affiliate of CBS News, Ms Harrison was raped at gunpoint while she exited a classroom to go to the bathroom.

Hardin pleaded guilty, and received a sentence of 50 years.

Before becoming Gateway's police chief, Hardin served as an officer at the Eureka Springs Police Department (ESPD).

He resigned in October 1996 after he was informed by ESPD Chief Earl Hyatt that he was going to be fired for falsifying a police report, according to the CBS News-affiliated 5News.

"I was going to terminate him, but he resigned, and he was caught lying on a police report," Mr Hyatt reportedly said.

Chief Hyatt also said he was not surprised at Hardin's conviction, telling 5News: "He was just always a very violent, excessive person, and had a really bad temper."

Cheryl Tillman, the mayor of Gateway, Arkansas, told local news outlet KATV she was worried Hardin would come after her and her family. Ms Tilman is the sister of Mr Appleton whom Hardin shot and killed.

"It's kind of scary," Tillman said. "I don't think he'll be taken alive."

His escape from prison comes just weeks after an unrelated incident in which 10 inmates broke out of a prison in New Orleans, Louisiana, after breaching the wall behind a toilet.