Tourists in popular summer spot warned about dangerous Devil in the Ozarks former police chief still on the run
A survivalist is issuing a warning for hikers and outdoorsmen in the Ozarks of Arkansas: steer clear of the area.Shawn Hendrix’s warning comes amid an ongoing search for prison escapee and former Gateway Police Department Chief Grant Hardin, 56, who fled from a medium-security prison in Calico Rock on Sunday, May 25, according to the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC). Nicknamed the “Devil in the Ozarks,” Hardin was serving decades in prison for murder and rape.“I think that the big thing that gets him caught or dead in the field is getting injured … or a foodborne illness — he drinks some bad water,” Hendrix told Fox News Digital.“Now, if he gets dysentery or some kind of really bad foodborne or waterborne illness, that could take him out real quick.
So, let’s hope that he drinks some bad water and has some really terrible disease that gets him out of the woods because my biggest concern is that if you’re a hiker or a camper or hunter out there, you’re not going to see it coming.”Hendrix added that Hardin has shown little regard for human life in the past, and “every person in the woods right now is an opportunity for equipment for this guy.” Arkansas authorities have warned that the escapee may be armed and dangerous.“I definitely would stay clear of the area,” he said.Hardin escaped prison through a sally port, wearing a makeshift ADC-style uniform, ADC communications director Rand Champion said last week, noting the uniform he was wearing was not official.The former police chief pleaded guilty to fatally shooting a man in the face inside the victim’s work truck in 2017.After submitting DNA samples when he was booked for the murder case, his DNA was linked to the 1997 cold-case rape of a teacher.
He pleaded guilty in that case in 2019, according to KNWA.“This guy is just so evil.I mean, this guy is a sociopath,” Hendrix said.
“[Hardin] has no care for humans or anybody but himself.He’s law-enforcement tr...