Arkansas town on edge after 'Devil in the Ozarks,' a former police chief and convicted killer, escapes prison

A small Arkansas town is on edge after a former police chief convicted of fatally shooting a man and sexually assaulting an elementary school teacher escaped from prison Sunday wearing a "makeshift" law enforcement uniform.

A small Arkansas town is on edge after a former police chief convicted of fatally shooting a man and sexually assaulting an elementary school teacher escaped from prison Sunday wearing a "makeshift" law enforcement uniform.

Residents of Garfield expressed fear and anger as the search for Grant Hardin entered its third day.

"This whole weekend, I’ve kept the house locked," Brenda Fields, 60, said in a phone interview Tuesday. "He was in law enforcement, so he’s not just your average person. That makes me more nervous because he had that background."

Rex Littrell lives up the street from Hardin’s parents in Garfield, a town of about 600 people in northwest Arkansas, about 40 miles northeast of Fayetteville and not far from the Missouri border. He said that because of the nature of the crimes, Hardin should have been under careful watch.

"He should never have had a chance to escape. He’s killed somebody and he’s raped somebody," he said.