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A survivalist is issuing a warning for hikers and outdoorsmen within the Ozarks of Arkansas: keep away from the world.
Shawn Hendrix’s warning comes amid an ongoing seek for jail escapee and former Gateway Police Division Chief Grant Hardin, 56, who fled from a medium-security jail in Calico Rock on Sunday, Could 25, in keeping with the Arkansas Division of Corrections (ADC).
Nicknamed the “Satan within the Ozarks,” Hardin was serving a long time in jail for homicide and rape.
“I feel that the large factor that will get him caught or useless within the discipline is getting injured … or a foodborne sickness — he drinks some dangerous water,” Hendrix instructed Fox Information Digital. “Now, if he will get dysentery or some form of actually dangerous foodborne or waterborne sickness, that would take him out actual fast. So, let’s hope that he drinks some dangerous water and has some actually horrible illness that will get him out of the woods as a result of my largest concern is that in case you’re a hiker or a camper or hunter on the market, you are not going to see it coming.”
ARKANSAS OFFICIALS RELEASE NEW PHOTO OF ESCAPED ‘DEVIL IN THE OZARKS’ ON RUN FOR WEEKS
ADC shared a brand new photograph of Grant Hardin displaying him with facial hair since he has been on the run for over per week. (ADC)
Hendrix added that Hardin has proven little regard for human life prior to now, and “each individual within the woods proper now is a chance for gear for this man.” Arkansas authorities have warned that the escapee could also be armed and harmful.
“I positively would keep away from the world,” he mentioned.
Hardin escaped jail by a sally port, sporting a makeshift ADC-style uniform, ADC communications director Rand Champion mentioned final week, noting the uniform he was sporting was not official.
Hardin escaped jail by a sally sport, sporting a makeshift ADC-style uniform, ADC communications director Rand Champion mentioned final week, noting the uniform he was sporting was not official. (ADC)
The previous police chief pleaded responsible to fatally taking pictures a person within the face contained in the sufferer’s work truck in 2017. After submitting DNA samples when he was booked for the homicide case, his DNA was linked to the 1997 cold-case rape of a trainer. He pleaded responsible in that case in 2019, in keeping with KNWA.
‘DEVIL IN THE OZARKS’: FBI OFFERS $10K REWARD FOR CAPTURE OF FORMER ARKANSAS POLICE CHIEF ON THE RUN
“This man is simply so evil. I imply, this man is a sociopath,” Hendrix mentioned. “(Hardin) has no look after people or anyone however himself. He is law-enforcement educated. He has a historical past of points out and in of the police. I feel there’s a complete larger story of how this man was a cop for 27 years, proper? … I’d not need to be out in search of this man.”
Hardin is described as a 6-foot White male, weighing roughly 259 kilos.
Federal officers say Hardin has “intensive data of the Ozark Mountain area.” (Andre Seale/VW PICS/Common Photographs Group by way of Getty Photographs)
Hendrix mentioned at that weight, Hardin has a caloric reserve that would assist him survive for weeks alone in wooded areas of the Ozarks, which have a whole lot of caves and pure sources that embody meals, water, berries and different pure meals provides.
DEVIL IN THE OZARKS’ WHO ESCAPED PRISON LIKELY STILL IN ARKANSAS AREA: OFFICIALS
Lights glowing on the ferris wheel in Branson, Missouri within the Ozarks. (Lainey Stelly/Getty Photographs)
“There’s simply plenty of, you understand, berries, cattails, fish, you understand, there’s like pure native fruits like persimmon, perhaps even plums in that space,” Hendrix defined. “So there’s plenty of … pure issues to reside off the land. If he has a gun, I do not find out about utilizing a gun to shoot an animal simply due to how loud it could be, however there (are) methods to get meals. … He is such a heavy particular person (at) 260 kilos. He is received a few months of reserves.”
Police trying to find Hardin within the wilderness will seemingly be in search of “hid” proof of an individual dwelling within the woods, resembling a burnt-out hearth or different supplies which have been coated up, or an underground hearth.
Officers with the Arkansas Division of Corrections are trying to find an inmate, who’s a former police chief, that they mentioned escaped from its North Central Unit. (Arkansas Division of Corrections )
The FBI and U.S. Marshals are providing a mixed $25,000 for any info resulting in Hardin’s seize. They’re asking anybody with info to name 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip on-line at suggestions.fbi.gov.
Champion mentioned throughout a information convention final week that authorities are pretty assured within the route they consider Hardin took when he escaped and mentioned authorities believed he was nonetheless within the Ozarks space, however a federal grievance filed in opposition to Hardin on Could 30 suggests one other chance: he could also be out of state.
Primarily based on two unconfirmed sightings, together with one in Missouri on Could 26, a day after Hardin escaped, federal officers consider he isn’t in Arkansas anymore, as The Arkansas Democrat Gazette first reported.
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“He has intensive data of the Ozark Mountain area, the place he’s believed to be probably hiding in caves or rugged terrain that he’s acquainted with,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert J. Hammons wrote within the legal grievance, in keeping with the Gazette.
Fox Information Digital has reached out to the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Japanese District of Arkansas.
Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox Information Digital and FOX Enterprise. Electronic mail tricks to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.
