Overview

• Grant Hardin impersonated a corrections officer on Sunday at about 2:55 p.m., walked through an opened sally port and eluded detection for nearly two hours before prison staff discovered his absence.
• He was serving a combined 80-year sentence for the 2017 murder of James Appleton and the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher.
• Search efforts have expanded over rugged, rain-drenched terrain as state police, the U.S. Marshals and local agencies deploy helicopters, drones, canine teams, checkpoints and ground units.
• Officials are probing how Hardin obtained or assembled his makeshift uniform and facing scrutiny for housing a violent offender in a medium-security facility.
• Izard County authorities have urged residents to secure homes and vehicles and report suspicious activity as families of his victims report renewed fear and anguish.