A former police chief known as the “Devil in the Ozarks” was recaptured Friday, nearly two weeks after his escape from an Arkansas prison, where he was serving decadeslong sentences for murder and rape, the Izard County Sheriff’s Office said. 

Grant Hardin escaped on May 25 from the Calico Rock prison by donning an outfit designed to look like a law enforcement uniform, officials have said. 

In a statement Friday, Sheriff Brandon Long said Hardin was apprehended at about 3:45 p.m. “just a short distance” from the prison. 

Arkansas law enforcement officers and the U.S. Border Patrol located Hardin near Moccasin Creek in Izard County, roughly a mile and a half west of the prison’s North Central Unit, the Arkansas Department of Corrections said. Tracking dogs were able to pick up a scent in the area.

“While many details will remain under investigation, there is no longer an active threat to public safety,” Long said.

Law enforcement officials said they confirmed his identity by fingerprint analysis before notifying the public.

Hardin had been held at the prison since 2017 after pleading guilty to first-degree murder for fatally shooting 59-year-old James Appleton — a man he allegedly had multiple disputes with, according to the HBO documentary “Devil in the Ozarks.” The fatal shooting happened following Hardin’s brief time as the police chief of the small town of Gateway, Arkansas.

He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder.

Hardin’s DNA was then matched to the 1997 rape of a teacher at an elementary school in northwestern Arkansas. He pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for each count, for a total sentence of 50 years.

A former police chief who was convicted of rape and murder escaped from the prison where he was serving a 30-year sentence on Sunday, correction officials said.

Grant Hardin had been at North Central Unit, a prison located in Calico Rock, Arkansas, since 2017. He escaped around 3:40 p.m., the Arkansas Department of Corrections said in a social media post.

“Anyone with information about inmate Hardin’s whereabouts should contact local law enforcement immediately,” the post read.

According to CBS affiliate KFSM-TV, the Stone County Sheriff’s Office said Hardin was seen leaving the prison in an Arkansas Department of Corrections uniform.

Hardin was the former police chief for the city of Gateway, Arkansas, a small town with just a few hundred residents.

Hardin pleaded guilty in October 2017 to first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of 59-year-old James Appleton. According to an affidavit filed in the case, Appleton worked for the Gateway water department and was talking to his brother-in-law, then-Gateway Mayor Andrew Tillman, when he was shot in the head on Feb. 23, 2017, near Garfield. Police found Appleton’s body inside a car.

Hardin is also serving 50 years in prison for the 1997 rape of an elementary school teacher in Rogers, north of Fayetteville.

KFSM reported in 2019 that police in 2003 used DNA samples from the rape victim’s clothes to apply for a “John Doe” warrant since the statute of limitations was close to expiring. Investigators eventually got a match after Hardin was imprisoned for Appleton’s killing.

Hardin pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and was given 25 years for each count, KFSM reported.