There are many hiding places in the rough terrain of the Ozark mountains, from abandoned cabins to campsites in the huge forests, where seekers are hunting for a condemned former police chief known as the “devil in the shimmer”.
Others are not only outside the network, but below it, in the hundreds of caves that lead to huge underground spaces.
Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies continue to shake the region around the prison in the third day of search.
“As long as we have no credible evidence that he is not in the area, we assume that he is probably still in the area,” said Rand Champion, a spokesman for the Arkansas Amendment Division, at a press conference on Wednesday.
Grant Hardin, 56, “knows where the caves are,” says Darla Nix, owner of a cafe in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, whose sons have grown around him. Nix, who describes Hardin as survived, remembers him as “very, very smart” and the most quiet person.
For seekers, “the caves were definitely a source of anxiety and a point of accent,” the champion said.
“This is one of the challenges of this area – there are many places to hide and shelter, many abandoned sheds and there are many caves in this area, so this is a priority for the search team,” the champion said.
The area around the prison is “one of the densest regions of the country,” says Matt Covington, a professor of geology at the University of Arkansas, who studies caves.
Representation of an officer
Hardin, former police chief in the small town of Gaiteway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, served long sentences for murder and rape. He was the subject of the television documentary “Devil in the Ozarks”.
He escaped Sunday from the North Central Professor of Medium Security, also known as Calico Rock Prison, dressed clothing designed to look like a law enforcement, according to a champion. A prison employee opened a secure gate, which allowed him to leave the facility. The champion said that someone had to check Hardin’s identity before being allowed to leave the facility, describing the lack of inspection as a “pass” that was being investigated.
It took the authorities approximately 30 minutes to notice that Hardin had escaped.
The champion said prisoners are evaluated and received a classification when they first enter the prison system to determine where they are placed. There are parts of the Calico Rock facility that have maximum security.
While closed, Hardin had no big disciplinary problems, Champion said.
Authorities use dogs, drones and helicopters to look for Hardin in a healthy terrain in northern Arkansas, Champion said. The sheriffs of several counties in Arkansas Usarx urged residents to lock their homes and vehicles and call 911 if they notice something suspicious.
Dark places to hide
In some ways, the terrain is similar at the site of one of the most famous manipulations in US history.
The bomber, Eric Rudolf, described by authorities as a qualified person outdoors, avoided law enforcement officers for years in the Apalachi Mountains of Western North Carolina. It was a five-year-old Mann, who finally ended in 2003 with his capture.
Rudolf knew about many cabins in the area owned by people outside the city, and he also knew about caves in the area, said former FBI CEO Chris Suker, who heads Charlotte of the Agency, North Carolina, at the time, in the FBI’s historic account.
“He was expecting a great conflict and apparently lined caves and campsites where he could go,” Swecker said.
Rudolf has pleaded guilty to federal accusations associated with four attacks in Georgia and Alabama.
There are nearly 2000 documented caves in North Arkansas, civil servants say. Many have only a few feet in entrances that are not obvious to passers -by, said Michael Ray Taylor, who has written numerous caves, including Hidden Nature: Wild Southern Caves.
The key is to find the entrance, Taylor said.
“The entrance may look like a rabbit hole, but if you bend through it, you suddenly find huge passages,” he said.
It would be quite possible to hide underground for an extended period, but “you have to go out for food and it is more likely to be discovered,” he said.
Checked past
Hardin had a checkered and short career of law enforcement. He worked at the Faetavil Police Department from August 1990 to May 1991, but was released as it did not meet the standards of its training period, said a spokesman for the department.
Hardin worked for about six months at the Huntsville Police Department before resigning, but the records did not cause his resignation, according to police chief Todd Thomas, who joined the department after Harding worked there.
Later, Hardin worked at the Eureka Springs Police Department from 1993 to 1996. Former Chief Earl Haat said Hardin resigned because Hayat would fire him for incidents involving the use of excessive force.
“He didn’t need to be a police officer at all,” Hayat told the KNWA television station.
He continued to have problems in his short stay as an officer at Gateway, according to the mayor of the city of 450 people Cheryl Tilman.
While Hardin was the only officer in the city, “there were things I saw it wasn’t good. He was always angry,” says Tilman, who was not mayor at the time.
Hardin pleaded guilty in 2017 for a first -degree murder of James Appleton’s murder, 59, Apton, who was Tilman’s brother, worked for the Gateway Water Division when he was shot in the head of February 23, 2017, near Garfield. Police found Appleton’s body in a car. Hardin was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
He also served 50 years for rape in 1997 as a teacher at Rogers Primary School, north of Faetavil.
He has been detained in Calico Calico Prison since 2017.