Caves and other mountain hideouts are being searched for fugitive known as Devil in the Ozarks

There are plenty of hideouts in the rugged terrain of the Ozark Mountains, from abandoned cabins to campsites in the vast forests where searchers are hunting for a convicted former police chief known as the “Devil in the Ozarks.”Others are not only off the grid but beneath it, in the hundreds of caves that lead to vast subterranean spaces.Local, state and federal law enforcement have continued to scour the region around the prison throughout the third day of the search.“Until we have credible evidence that he is not in the area, we assume that he’s probably still in the area,” Rand Champion, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Corrections, said at a press conference Wednesday.Fugitive Grant Hardin, 56, “knows where the caves are,” said Darla Nix, a cafe owner in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, whose sons grew up around him.Nix, who describes Hardin as a survivor, remembers him as a “very, very smart” and mostly quiet person.For the searchers, “caves have definitely been a source of concern and a point of emphasis,” said Champion.“That’s one of the challenges of this area — there are a lot of places to hide and take shelter, a lot of abandoned sheds, and there are a lot of caves in this area, so that’s been a priority for the search team,” Champion said.The area around the prison is “one of the most cave-dense regions of the state,” said Matt Covington, a University of Arkansas geology professor who studies caves.Hardin, the former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape.

He was the subject of the TV documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.”He escaped Sunday from the North Central Unit — a medium-security prison also known as the Calico Rock prison — by wearing an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform, according to Champion.A prison officer opened a secure gate, allowing him to leave the facility.

Champion said that someone sho...