Calico Rock, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – June 6, 2025 – Arkansas Department of Corrections prison escapee Grant Hardin has been recaptured.
The Stone County Sheriff’s Department made the announcement on its Facebook page: “As of Friday, June 6th, 2025, at approximately 3:45 PM, escaped inmate Grant Hardin has been apprehended, and the public is no longer in danger.”
Arkansas law enforcement officers and the U.S. Border Patrol found Hardin near Moccasin Creek in Izard County, roughly a mile and a half west of the North Central Unit, according to a news release from the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Tracking dogs picked up a scent in the area, and Hardin was apprehended shortly afterward.
The Izard County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook it verified Hardin’s identity through fingerprint analysis.
A source who asked not to be identified told JRN Hardin had made a makeshift camp at the location where he was found.
“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. 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,” said Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a statement.
Rand Champion, communications officer for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, said Hardin had been transferred to Varner SuperMax in Gould, AR. He arrived Friday evening and should be there going forward, he said.
“All indications show he didn’t navigate far from the prison. The direction he went, specifically around Moccasin Creek, saw high water due to the abundance of rain the last few weeks, which more than likely limited his options to get around the area. Search teams had looked through this area before, but the high water previously limited their ability to fully investigate,” Champion said in an email update.
Officials from the Arkansas State Police, U.S. Marshals, FBI, Border Patrol, Game and Fish Commission, as well as numerous local law enforcement agencies, assisted in the search.
“I’m incredibly appreciative to all of our dedicated law enforcement agencies that spent countless hours, both day and night, sacrificing their time, utilizing their resources and lending their invaluable expertise to this search,” Secretary of Corrections Lindsay Wallace said in a news release. “To every one of our Department staff that assisted in this manhunt over the last 13 days, I give my heartfelt thank you for your immeasurable contributions to bring this search to a peaceful conclusion.”
Champion said Hardin will be interviewed in the coming days and if any “meaningful details or developments” were uncovered, further updates would be released.
Hardin escaped from the North Central Prison Unit in Calico Rock on May 25 after impersonating a law enforcement official. He’d been serving a 30-year prison sentence for murder, as well as 50 years for rape. Prior to conviction, he was the police chief of Gateway, AR.