March 2, 2026

50 Shades of Evil: Arkansas

50 Shades of Evil: Arkansas
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Season 9
“Grant Hardin” also known as the “Devil In The Ozarks” was a former police chief who in 2017 was convicted in the murder of a political rival in a small town in Arkansas. Upon his arrest and submission of Hardin’s DNA to CODIS, he was discovered to have been the assailant in a brutal SA of a teacher in her classroom a decade prior to his murder conviction. The aptly named “Devil in the Ozarks” was finally behind bars but a dramatic escape and subsequent manhunt in 2025 would put the entire state of Arkansas once again in fear and on alert!

“50 Shades of Evil” is a podcast series brought to you by “Bloody Angola Podcast”.

Chapters
01:39 A Suprising Start
18:50 The Murder of James Appleton
25:10 The Interrogation
31:04 Arrest and Charges Filed
35:01 The Shocking DNA Match
41:43 The Escape Plan
42:48 Escape and Consequences
43:13 The Devil in the Ozarks Pays the Price

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WEBVTT

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H a wall Street line, shackle change, Oh weesome, gird,

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it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's

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been a tentery juice as the hill Stream game Wrangle three.

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I'm here by me to die inside these.

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Walls, inside the wild.

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Han't went more girls.

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As I'm.

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Hey, Welcome back to Bloody and Gola. I'm going to

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continue the fifty Shades of Evil series today and I'm

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going to be taking you to Arkansas to tell you

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the story of a man who, in February of twenty

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seventeen was arrested for murder. Now that in turn also

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led to a separate conviction for rape, where a former

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police officer would be forever known as the Devil in

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the Ozarks. His real name is Grant Harden, and today

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I'm discussing his crime, his conviction, and an escape years

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later that would put the entire country in fear. So

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let's get into it. And first we're going to go

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to Bentonville, Arkansas, where Grant Harden was born in nineteen

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sixty nine. In Bentonville. Of course that may sound familiar

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to you. It is the home of Walmart.

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It was where.

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Walmart was born in bred and Walmart actually brought a

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lot of industry to that area of Arkansas. Very well

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known now, but in those days a very sleepy town

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in the late nineteen sixties. So Grant never really leaves

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the Bentonville area. He graduates high school and he's a

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very involved student. He's a member of the Student Council.

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He's part of the National Honor Society. He actually participated

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in Air Force RTC and that kept him very busy

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during this time in his life. Now, after high school,

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he attends college at the University of Arkansas, but he

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doesn't graduate, and from everything I could find, he didn't

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stay there very long. He then starts working more labor

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intensive jobs. From nineteen eighty seven to nineteen ninety he

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works at.

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A feed store.

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He works at the Walmart distribution center in Bentonville, a

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big time employee in that area. And he also worked

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as a driver's helper for UPS. And it was in

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nineteen ninety that he applies and he gets hired at

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the Fayetteville Police Department, but that does not last long.

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He was fired after just nine months of working there. See,

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Grant Harden.

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Was well, he was kind of an asshole to people.

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He worked around, very cocky thought he knew much more

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than he did about policing, even though the guys that

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were training him had, you know, twenty years on brand Harden.

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As a matter of fact, in his termination letter, the

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chief wrote, quote, since your employment, your training officers and

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I have noticed your performance and determined your efforts fall

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short of an officer. Your tendency to not accept constructive criticism,

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along with your indecisiveness in stressful situations, played a major

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role in my decision. Then his direct training officer actually

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expanded on that, saying, quote, Harden seems intimidated under stress.

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Even minimal stress causes him to get flustered. His voice

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commands are bad, and he speaks so low. I can

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barely hear him when he is speaking commands to suspect, which, y'all,

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this is surprising because physically he's an imposing man. He's

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six feet tall, two hundred and sixty pounds, not someone

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you would expect would be soft spoken until he opens

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his mouth, and we'll talk about that later. Also, the

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fact that this commanding officer was saying that he fell

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apart under stress another thing. Just looking at Grand Harden,

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you wouldn't think would occur. Nonetheless, he gets fired, and

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at this point it's nineteen ninety one. Rather than get

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out of policing altogether, he just switches departments, really and

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he gets hired on at the Huntsville, Arkansas Police Department. Now,

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you would think this job would sit him better, smaller department.

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Heck, at that point.

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In time, there were less than three thousand people in

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the whole town. But in less than a year, he

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resigns from that department for what he listed as personal reasons,

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and he's out of work for nearly a year before

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he takes a job as a patrol officer with the

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Eureka Springs Police Department, and again major issues. Harden learns

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somehow that he's going to get fired for several issues.

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Now he was doing things like using excessive force during arrest,

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poor decision making. He had even been caught lying on

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a police report. So Harden resigns before Eureka Springs Police

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Department can fire him. Now he had been at this

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job a little bit longer than in the past. He

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actually made it three years in this department, but in

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October of nineteen ninety six, according to some reports, he

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was fired. Now there are other reports that conflict that

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and say that he actually worked for Eureka Springs Police

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Department through December of nineteen ninety seven. Look, sometimes these

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reports conflict, and I'm not one hundred percent sure on

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which is right. It doesn't play a major role in

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this story, So go with whichever date you choose on that.

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But I am going to bring you to nineteen ninety seven,

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November of nineteen ninety seven, and I'm going to tell

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you about an elementary school teacher by the name of

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Amy Harrison. Now, Amy was twenty seven years old in

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November of ninety seven, and she was a married mother.

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As a matter of fact, she was married to a

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police officer. On November ninth of that year, she had

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to do like most teachers do. They use the weekend

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to catch up on things like lesson plans, et cetera.

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So she heads into school to her classroom on a

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Sunday to do just that.

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And the reason she chose.

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A Sunday is she knew the school was unlocked because

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they had a church service for a local church that

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would meet actually in that school every Sunday. So she

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goes to her classroom and she locks the door. Now

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she didn't do this out of fear. She primarily did

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this because they were having church service in the school

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and she wanted to avoid getting interrupted while she was

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in the middle of working. And look, Arkansas, this part

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of Arkansas, everybody's pretty friendly, and if they see a

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teacher sitting in their classroom as they're going to church service,

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they're going to stop and talk to her. And she

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loved to do that, but she was really behind on

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some work and didn't want to get it interrupted. So

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this teacher's in her classroom, she's working hard. She's in

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there for about thirty minutes or so when someone pulls

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on the door and.

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Then knocks on it.

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Now she assumes this is someone from the church service,

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and being in the middle of work, she just kind

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of kept as quiet as possible, I kind of hoping

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they would go away. And after a few minutes she

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didn't hear anything, so she opened the door because she

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had to head down the hallway and go to the bathroom,

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and the bathroom was twenty feet or so from her classroom,

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not very far. She goes into the restroom, she frushens up,

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takes care of her business, and upon exiting the bathroom, horror.

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She's confronted by a man standing right there in the

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bathroom door with a gun pointed directly at her head.

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He has on a neck cap and he has on sunglasses,

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so she can see everything from his nose down but

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nothing above that. And he forces her back into the

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bathroom and it's apparent what he's about to do because

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the first thing he says to her.

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Is get on your knees. Now.

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She is obviously very scared, and she complied whatever she

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had to do to go home alive, she was willing

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to do. As she gets down on her knees, she

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notices that this guy only had socks on and that

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stuck out to her.

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No shoes, just socks.

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And then he makes a strange comment, and he asked

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her if she recognized his voice. Remember he told her,

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you know, get back into the bathroom whenever he pulled

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the gun on her, or whenever she walked out, and

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he had it in her face, and this would be

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important later, so keep that in your back pocket. But

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warning here, it's going to get a little graphic what

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I'm about to tell you. But as she's on her knees,

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the assailant ejaculates and.

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The poor woman.

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Obviously mortified, she takes some of the scenmen and almost

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out of not even thinking, just a reaction, she wipes

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a little bit on her shirt and he noticed this,

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and this assailant says to her, what are you doing?

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And by that time it's too late. She's already done it.

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But it's in another important key later on. So they

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both leave the bathroom, but he's not done yet. The

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assailant then tells her to go in the teacher's lounge,

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where he rapes her a second time. So after all this,

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the attacker flees the scene and Harrison the teacher. She

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runs out of the room. She sees a janitor and

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she tells him what had just happened, and he calls police.

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And keep in mind this is in the middle of

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church service that all this occurred. But here is that

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nine one one call.

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Yeah, it's Schory School in Rochester.

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Have never had a teacher molected in the bathroom there?

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Teacher who did it?

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We don't know.

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She went in the bathroom and somewhere granded her Okay

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at the prisons there there she should I don't know

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that room pictured here, Okay, Thoson Andrew Harrison's life has

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just listen in my soul.

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As far as I know, he left her having shirt here.

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In our Kevinaria. So this teacher really provided some great

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details to the police once they got there. She mentioned

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the assailant asking if she recognized his voice, and that

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was a key piece of evidence because it's a big

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time clue that this person was probably local. Otherwise why

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would he be concerned about her recognizing his voice. It

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was also key that she noticed he didn't have shoes on,

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because police were able to kind of ascertain this is

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probably someone who knew what they were doing and didn't

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want to leave shoe prints.

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So whoever this was, either.

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They took off their shoes to sneak up on her,

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or they took off their shoes so as not to

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leave shoe print. And to the assailant's credit, the assailant

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was very careful. They were able to lift no fingerprint.

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They looked everywhere for him. He didn't touch anything. When

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the bathroom door opened, it was opened by the teachers,

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so there were no doors.

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That he touched. She opened and closed doors, etc.

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But the police did manage to get DNA off of

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that shirt. However, in addition to what was collected via

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a rape kit that this lady had to take, it

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would be a while before that DNA would come back.

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And remember this this teacher is the wife of a cop,

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so there's obviously a ton of investigative support on this one.

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Law enforcement from all over the area would assist. But

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the days turned into weeks, the weeks into moss in

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the year, and the DNA that was pulled off of

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that shirt and out of that rate kit was uploaded

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to what's none as Courtis, which is a database that

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I'm sure you're all familiar with. But remember this is

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nineteen ninety seven. Advancements in DNA were not there. DNA

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was in its infancy. It's not like it is now

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where you can actually get DNA and then be able

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to match it to family members.

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That's called familiar DNA.

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There was no one, two, three and meters out there

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at that point where there was a database where just

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a rampant amount of people had their DNA.

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Curtis was it.

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And if you weren't arrested already in given your DNA

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to where it could be uploaded to cotis, Yeah, they

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may have had a DNA profile, but they had no

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idea who it matched you. So we're going to fast

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forward a little bit all the way from nineteen ninety

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seven to two thousand and eight. Now Grant Harden. At

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this time he decided to run for constable in Benton County,

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and shockingly, he wins, and he wins big. He actually

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got over sixty five percent of the vote. Then in

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twenty twelve, he's reelected as constable. Four years later, in

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twenty sixteen, believe it or not, he is elected police

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chief of Gateway, Arkansas. This is the same guy who

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lost three plus jobs in law enforcement and now he

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is the chief of police, albeit for a town of

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only four hundred and fifty residents. However, the old Grant Harden,

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of course would surface, and only four months into his

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tenure as chief, he resigns after the city council tells him, look,

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either resign or we're going to have to fire you.

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And this was due to a massive amount of complaints

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from residents. After only four months of being in office,

237
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the constituents would voice to the council that Harden was

238
00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:13.759
basically a dick, very hard to get along with. He

239
00:16:13.799 --> 00:16:17.759
would follow people for seemingly no reason, and kind of

240
00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:21.840
harass them. And he would even have several run ends

241
00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:25.399
with a city water company employee who was also a

242
00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:30.840
firefighter for that city, and his name was James Appleton.

243
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So he resigns in April of twenty sixteen, and in

244
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.879
the fall of that year he actually enrolls in a

245
00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:44.279
criminal justice program, but that didn't last long and by

246
00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:48.879
November of twenty sixteen, he is hired on at the

247
00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:54.399
Northwest Correctional Center, which is a woman's prison in Arkansas.

248
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So let's go to.

249
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February twenty third of twenty seventeen. Remember that water company

250
00:17:01.799 --> 00:17:07.519
employee and firefighter James Appleton, Well, he shot on an

251
00:17:07.640 --> 00:17:13.160
old country road in Benton County, Arkansas. He's shot in

252
00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.640
the head at close range by a car as it

253
00:17:16.759 --> 00:17:19.440
passed him, and he was pulled off on the side

254
00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:21.759
of the road. He was actually on the phone with

255
00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:25.400
his brother in law, who was the mayor at the

256
00:17:25.480 --> 00:17:26.880
point that he was shot.

257
00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:33.480
He died almost instantly. Now, a witness reported.

258
00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:36.440
Seeing Appleton pulled over to the side of the road

259
00:17:37.240 --> 00:17:41.519
as he passed Appleton. He gets in front of Appleton's

260
00:17:41.559 --> 00:17:44.359
truck heads on down the highway and he mentioned he

261
00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:50.079
also noted a white sedan was pulled over behind Appleton

262
00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.079
on that same side of the road.

263
00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:54.960
So this is a hilly part of the road.

264
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And he goes up that hill and he goes to

265
00:17:58.039 --> 00:17:59.839
come down the other side of that hill, and he

266
00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:05.319
hears a shot indistinguishable from anything else.

267
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It was a loud boom.

268
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It concerned him so much that he actually turned his

269
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vehicle around and he headed back the way he was coming,

270
00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:22.279
and he finds Appleton slumped over the driver's seat of

271
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that truck, dead from a gunshot. Wing Now, he calls police.

272
00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:32.799
Police arrive and they talked to this witness, and they

273
00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:36.920
ask if he recognized the driver of the sedan or

274
00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:41.359
the sedan itself that was behind Appleton's vehicle. And the

275
00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:44.599
witness who had lived in the area his entire life,

276
00:18:44.759 --> 00:18:50.000
and do everyone there, he basically says, hell, yeah, that

277
00:18:50.200 --> 00:18:54.359
was Grand Harden and he was one hundred percent sure

278
00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:54.640
of it.

279
00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:01.599
Did you see what happened in Texas today?

280
00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:04.279
Wait before you tell me that, let me tell you

281
00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.759
what happened in New York. It cannot be as crazy

282
00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:09.079
as the case I told you about yesterday in Louisiana.

283
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You know what we should do a podcast about it,

284
00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:13.640
and with that we did.

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00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:16.480
Crime War Weekly covers the crime news headlines that have

286
00:19:16.519 --> 00:19:20.359
dominated the week. We cover trending crimes from all over

287
00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:24.119
the country and even sprinkle in a few globally. Crime

288
00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:27.400
War Weekly is available now wherever you listen to your podcasts,

289
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simply by searching Crime War Weekly or clicking the link

290
00:19:31.480 --> 00:19:42.000
in the description of this podcast. So police they immediately

291
00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:46.799
haul Harden in for questioning. And look, he's got a wife,

292
00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:50.720
he's got a young child, she's probably about twelve.

293
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At this point, a young child.

294
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And he gets hauled into the police station and they

295
00:19:57.279 --> 00:19:59.279
were going to question him. And it had to be

296
00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.200
awkward because because they knew Harden. As a matter of fact,

297
00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:05.240
some of them have worked with Harden even though he

298
00:20:05.400 --> 00:20:10.440
was policing in a different agency. They would back him

299
00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:13.319
up in the past, and he would back them up

300
00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:18.480
in the past. So at the police station, almost immediately

301
00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:21.559
Harden refuses to talk.

302
00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:22.720
Listen to this.

303
00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:24.680
Club, I mean, or would you be willing to talk

304
00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:27.440
to me about your day knowing that I need to

305
00:20:27.480 --> 00:20:30.079
rule you out of something, or like, I'm just I'm

306
00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:31.799
at a loss here and I need to I need

307
00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:34.839
to I need to clear you from something and if

308
00:20:34.880 --> 00:20:36.559
you didn't do anything wrong today, you have nothing to

309
00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:39.200
worry about. And that's kind of where we're that's kind

310
00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:41.599
of where we're at is I.

311
00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:48.680
Would have liked you before. Yeah, the right, So okay,

312
00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:50.359
knowing what's going on.

313
00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:53.559
Yeah, yeah, And you understand as a detective we have

314
00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:55.839
we read those rights to everybody who comes in here.

315
00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:59.079
It's not just you, but when we interview you know, kids,

316
00:20:59.119 --> 00:21:03.240
and it's everybody. Once you come into our facility, we

317
00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:05.599
we that's something we have to do. It's not something

318
00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.680
it's not just something we're doing for you. It happens

319
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:12.079
to everybody that walks through this room and talks to us,

320
00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:15.799
because I mean, you know, it's just like anything else

321
00:21:15.799 --> 00:21:17.359
that we do. We have to we have to cover

322
00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.160
all of our bases. And that's what we did by

323
00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:23.960
it by reading you those rights. So we need to know.

324
00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:26.359
I mean, does that make sense?

325
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:26.920
Like I don't.

326
00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:29.440
I know, you've been a police officer for a while now,

327
00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:32.559
so you've got you understand you know how how how

328
00:21:32.599 --> 00:21:36.599
everything works. And so I've got to rule you out

329
00:21:36.599 --> 00:21:38.920
as a suspect. And if I can't, you know, if

330
00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:42.240
I can't do that, then where it stands. Still does

331
00:21:42.279 --> 00:21:42.880
that make sense?

332
00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:44.240
Okay?

333
00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:46.640
So where what happened to day? Where like, can you

334
00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:48.400
walk me through your day about what happened today?

335
00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:50.359
I have to remain sidled.

336
00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:51.440
Okay on that.

337
00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:54.680
Okay, So your tell it right, Okay. So you're telling

338
00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.400
me that you did do something today that was so

339
00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:56.880
was wrong?

340
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:57.160
Man?

341
00:21:58.400 --> 00:21:59.880
Is that what I mean? Is that what I'm in that?

342
00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:04.440
I mean, I'm just okay, So you're you just don't

343
00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:05.720
want to talk to me because.

344
00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:11.519
I don't understand what. No, they snatched me up out

345
00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:15.079
there and didn't nobody told me anything. I don't understand. Okay,

346
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:17.599
what why I can't be told something? What's going on?

347
00:22:17.720 --> 00:22:22.400
And and uh okay, So virgin I guess my question

348
00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:25.279
is this knowing what I just told you?

349
00:22:25.960 --> 00:22:26.480
Okay?

350
00:22:26.880 --> 00:22:29.440
I guess if it was me and I was you know,

351
00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:31.400
if I was in your position, I'd be like, hey, James,

352
00:22:31.400 --> 00:22:33.400
I didn't this. I was at or Grant, I did this.

353
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:35.319
I was at you know, here, here, here, and here,

354
00:22:35.880 --> 00:22:39.359
and I would just be done with it and that

355
00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:43.200
way you can get out of here. But at this point,

356
00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:48.000
like I can't clear you from this because you could

357
00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:51.839
still be potentially be a suspect. Does that make sense? Like,

358
00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:53.559
am I I don't know if I'm not explaining a

359
00:22:53.640 --> 00:22:54.200
writer or.

360
00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:54.880
What was going on.

361
00:22:55.640 --> 00:22:58.119
I just you once, once the rights have been granted,

362
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.519
I have to add it since I have the right

363
00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:05.960
to be silent. Yes, okay, I don't understand why I'm

364
00:23:05.960 --> 00:23:06.599
a suspect.

365
00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:11.680
Felt Well, that's for me to know and for you

366
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:14.160
to tell me why you're not a suspect. We can

367
00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:16.519
do this online. I mean, it doesn't bother me. You're

368
00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:18.440
going to continue to be a suspect until I find

369
00:23:18.440 --> 00:23:19.640
out otherwhile.

370
00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:25.039
So as you can probably tell the male detective that

371
00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:30.480
you hear speaking and questioning Harden. He did not geaw

372
00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.319
with Harden, to say the least, and after thirty to

373
00:23:34.440 --> 00:23:38.400
forty five minutes or so, it was clear this male

374
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:43.400
detective was getting nowhere with Grand Harden. But there was

375
00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:46.720
another detective in that room that you didn't hear, a

376
00:23:46.759 --> 00:23:52.599
young female detective and her name was Nikana Cordero. She

377
00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:56.240
was amazing and as a matter of fact, she had

378
00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:58.839
worked in the past with Harden. He had backed her

379
00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:02.880
up as part of another department on some sort of

380
00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:04.880
you know, calls that you would get in the middle

381
00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:07.359
of the night that someone's breaking in the house or something.

382
00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:10.400
So they they have worked with each other in the past,

383
00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:15.599
and she provides one of the best interrogations that I

384
00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:19.759
have ever seen. I want you to listen to this club,

385
00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:22.920
but I think then.

386
00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:26.119
You could have You've dealt with a bad situation.

387
00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:27.640
I just want to know what happened.

388
00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:32.200
Sure, a lot of people are gonna want to know.

389
00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:41.440
You know my answers socially, your family, I would.

390
00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:47.279
I do. I want to help you, that's the bad part.

391
00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:49.640
I want to help you figure it out.

392
00:24:52.519 --> 00:24:54.480
All I can do is sit here and say, well, listen,

393
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:57.960
work it out with you, figure it out together.

394
00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:02.319
But you have to be willing to talk to me

395
00:25:02.359 --> 00:25:08.079
about it. I'm a pretty rare person. MM, pretty straight

396
00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:12.400
your step. I know it's uncomfortable.

397
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:17.160
I know it's uncomfortable, and they're breaking and sitting in

398
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:20.319
a room by yourself with people that you worked with

399
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:29.680
in the past, knowing the situation. But like I said,

400
00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.880
I wasn't there. You're the only one who can kind

401
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:34.279
of fill in the blanks at this point.

402
00:25:35.279 --> 00:25:44.880
M alright, No, you don't have to talk to me,

403
00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.640
but I'm willing to listen.

404
00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:54.359
Right, we all make mistakes. We all get it put

405
00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:59.440
in positions. We're all human, we all react a certain way.

406
00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:08.839
We all have emotions. Sometimes we over react. Sometimes we're

407
00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:10.640
put in situations that we don't want to get putting

408
00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:18.839
like I'd rather, you know, have met you again outside

409
00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:21.680
having coffee so to see if you you.

410
00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:22.880
For the second time in year.

411
00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:31.039
But I went off. I think you just made a

412
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:35.480
mistake today, or somebody made a mistake today, And I think, do.

413
00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:36.839
You know what happened?

414
00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:45.319
I just want you to help you understand that, cause

415
00:26:45.359 --> 00:27:02.440
I really do. I wanna understand why I helpen HM.

416
00:26:56.119 --> 00:27:05.960
And I think you know what I'm talking about. And

417
00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:08.400
I think you know that some things are gonna come out.

418
00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:15.160
And don't wanna be able to stand on your side

419
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.839
and say, hey, this is what happened. And he was

420
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:25.799
up front, he was honest, and he explained it and

421
00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:26.759
he cooperated.

422
00:27:27.119 --> 00:27:30.720
Does he need a lawyer? HM?

423
00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:37.880
So guy, you're talking about me, I think, honestly, I

424
00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:41.640
think you're the only one who can make that call that.

425
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:44.119
I think you're an honest man.

426
00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:50.920
I think you've been an honest man. I think that's

427
00:27:51.039 --> 00:27:51.480
the best.

428
00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:55.799
Well, not just gonna be quiet, man, be quiet. I

429
00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:58.759
don't keep talking. No, I'm serious.

430
00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:01.400
So I think you're an honest man.

431
00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:09.720
I think you've done a lot of good in your life.

432
00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:13.359
I'm done to spent your life helping others just like

433
00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:19.839
I have. Now you've had something happen and you're trying

434
00:28:19.880 --> 00:28:20.640
to figure it out.

435
00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:22.319
But how are you supposed to figure it out on

436
00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:22.759
your own?

437
00:28:26.640 --> 00:28:29.240
Like, why not? Let me help you figure it out.

438
00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:35.759
Help me understand what happened today, so I can help

439
00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:42.680
you before everything else comes out, So there's an explanation

440
00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:48.359
instead of it just looking bad, cause I don't want

441
00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.640
you to be You've portrayed like this horrible monster.

442
00:28:52.359 --> 00:28:57.640
If you made a mistake, you made a mistake. You're

443
00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:02.200
no different than anybody else. Everybody's humor. Trust me, I

444
00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:04.480
made plenty of mistake smiling.

445
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.839
So she continued for well over an hour.

446
00:29:09.359 --> 00:29:13.119
And this young detective, as you can probably tell, is good,

447
00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:19.319
soft voice, She doesn't appear threatening. She's there to help him.

448
00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:23.000
As a matter of fact, in this interrogation, she refers

449
00:29:23.160 --> 00:29:28.079
to Harden's daughter several times, which is a tactic. And

450
00:29:28.279 --> 00:29:30.599
I mean, she was so good. I was almost ready

451
00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:34.160
to confess to that crime. And she got close to

452
00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:38.400
getting Grant Harden to talk about the crime itself, but

453
00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:42.880
he never cracked, and toward the end he asked for

454
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:47.440
a lawyer, which is kind of the trump card for

455
00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:51.920
interrogators because once you ask for a lawyer, as a

456
00:29:51.960 --> 00:29:55.599
police officer is over with, you gotta do what they

457
00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:56.160
asked for.

458
00:29:56.720 --> 00:30:01.039
Do you want to talk to me? Can get a lawyer?

459
00:30:03.319 --> 00:30:03.519
Yeah?

460
00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:07.960
I don't feel like I need to you.

461
00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:11.680
Let's talk to you, but you can.

462
00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:13.880
Obviously something's going on in an unique one.

463
00:30:15.440 --> 00:30:20.839
It's talk to you. I just wanna hear your side,

464
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:23.400
but I like to get a lawyer.

465
00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:27.559
Okay.

466
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:32.279
I can't give your advice on that.

467
00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:40.119
Okay, I can't talk to you anymore cause you ask

468
00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:40.680
for eadware.

469
00:30:46.799 --> 00:30:51.119
What I do want you to know is if you

470
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:56.240
change your mind, do you know my name? You can

471
00:30:56.279 --> 00:30:57.160
always ask for me.

472
00:30:58.359 --> 00:30:59.119
Okay?

473
00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:01.839
Do you have to be one too? Three?

474
00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:07.839
Re established that? Okay? All right, key stand up for me,

475
00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:16.440
go ahead, turn off.

476
00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:17.359
Jack is out.

477
00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:20.720
He murders.

478
00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:26.720
So as you heard grand Harden, lawyers up and he's arrested.

479
00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:29.960
In the voice, let's go back to the voice. I

480
00:31:29.960 --> 00:31:32.279
haven't talked about that yet, but did you hear it?

481
00:31:33.400 --> 00:31:40.079
Very distinctive, almost childlike his voice. Remember that rape from

482
00:31:40.160 --> 00:31:45.519
years earlier, when the assailant was concerned about his voice. Well,

483
00:31:46.599 --> 00:31:49.039
if you haven't figured it out yet, Grant Harden has

484
00:31:49.079 --> 00:31:53.759
a very unique voice, especially for his size. This is

485
00:31:53.799 --> 00:31:59.480
a big man and he talks like a child, and

486
00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:02.559
so that stand out to anybody that knew him. And

487
00:32:02.640 --> 00:32:06.160
I guess that's why the assailant was so concerned. And

488
00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:09.240
we'll get into that later. But he does get arrested

489
00:32:09.359 --> 00:32:12.960
for this murder. He is arraigned, This is in late

490
00:32:13.039 --> 00:32:16.799
February of twenty seventeen, and he pleads not guilty.

491
00:32:17.039 --> 00:32:20.559
Nothing to lose. You always plead not guilty.

492
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:24.960
In an arraignment, and then they assigned bond. But in

493
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.839
the case of Grand Harden, they denied bond. He was

494
00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:32.000
going to have to stay in jail till his trial.

495
00:32:32.599 --> 00:32:35.559
And it wasn't long after that that Harden and his

496
00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:37.960
defense team they had time to look over all the

497
00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:43.880
evidence that prosecutors had and they realized prosecutors had a

498
00:32:44.119 --> 00:32:48.079
massive amount of evidence related to this shooting. So on

499
00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:54.880
October sixteenth of twenty seventeen in Benton County, Harden enters

500
00:32:55.119 --> 00:32:59.079
a guilty Police Now that doesn't come without an agreement

501
00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:03.759
of some sored, and that agreement included a recommended sentence

502
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.240
of thirty years in prison with all of his appeal

503
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:13.200
rights waived. During this plea hearing, Harden actually addressed the

504
00:33:13.240 --> 00:33:17.799
Appleton family directly stating, quote, I don't know how to

505
00:33:17.880 --> 00:33:22.960
express it, but I'm sorry, unquote. He is then sentenced

506
00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:27.119
to thirty years in prison, to be served at the

507
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:31.799
North Central Unit Prison. This is in Calico Rock, Arkansas.

508
00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:36.119
So while grand Harden is acclimating to life behind bars,

509
00:33:36.519 --> 00:33:41.079
on February twelfth of twenty eighteen, the Arkansas Crime Lab

510
00:33:41.440 --> 00:33:45.759
has collected his DNA and they're now going to enter

511
00:33:45.799 --> 00:33:50.440
it into cutis that database which this is done in

512
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:55.400
Arkansas and most other states with every new inmate that

513
00:33:55.559 --> 00:34:01.400
gets put into prison. But guess what it hits as

514
00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:05.640
a match to the seamen that that elementary school teacher

515
00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:10.000
wiped on her shirt way back in nineteen ninety seven.

516
00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:16.519
Grant Harden was indeed the ripest of teacher Amy Harrison.

517
00:34:16.920 --> 00:34:21.679
So the police they announce this DNA link publicly and

518
00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:25.480
he is charged with two counts of rape while already

519
00:34:25.519 --> 00:34:27.079
in prison for murder.

520
00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:28.840
And he's really dead.

521
00:34:28.639 --> 00:34:33.400
To rights right this DNA evidence it's ninety nine point

522
00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:38.039
nine nine percent positive, and rather than go to trial,

523
00:34:38.519 --> 00:34:43.800
Harden pleads guilty this is on February eighth of twenty nineteen,

524
00:34:43.960 --> 00:34:46.960
to those two counts of rape, and he sentenced to

525
00:34:47.039 --> 00:34:51.800
an additional twenty five years per count to run consecutive.

526
00:34:52.360 --> 00:34:55.119
So it's a total of fifty years. Now.

527
00:34:55.159 --> 00:35:00.960
All told, Grant Harden now has to spend eighty years

528
00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:02.679
in prison, and that's.

529
00:35:02.519 --> 00:35:03.880
A long time.

530
00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.760
That's a lifetime in fact, for Grant Harden to never

531
00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:11.440
see life outside of prison again. He would spend the

532
00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:15.760
rest of his life behind bars, or would he so?

533
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:19.719
By May of twenty twenty five, Harden was still in

534
00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:24.440
that North Central unit. It's a medium security prison. But Harden,

535
00:35:24.719 --> 00:35:28.119
at this point fifty six years old, he wasn't just

536
00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:33.400
going to ride behind bars. Drawing on his law enforcement background,

537
00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:38.679
he began plotting an escape that would honestly expose some

538
00:35:38.880 --> 00:35:43.639
glaring flaws in the prison system and trigger a twelve

539
00:35:43.719 --> 00:35:48.039
day man hunt. So Harden's scheme takes root in the

540
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.920
prison's kitchen, where he had been assigned a work detail.

541
00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:54.920
And everybody wants to work in the kitchen, that's the

542
00:35:54.960 --> 00:35:55.800
place to work.

543
00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:59.039
In prisons. He somehow managed to get that.

544
00:35:59.159 --> 00:36:03.679
Job, and for six long months he observed the routines

545
00:36:03.880 --> 00:36:07.400
of guards and inmates a light and he would note

546
00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:09.639
in his mind there was kind of a lack of

547
00:36:09.760 --> 00:36:16.719
security around lunchtimes and kitchen times in general that were

548
00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:20.000
unique to that area of the prison. So the kitchen

549
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:23.480
kind of became his learning ground, and he would actually

550
00:36:24.000 --> 00:36:31.000
steal black sharpies from all around the facility. And the

551
00:36:31.039 --> 00:36:35.840
reason that he did this was he would painstakingly die

552
00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:42.840
an inmate uniform and a kitchen apron in deep black

553
00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:49.000
from that sharpie marker to mimic a correctional officer's uniform,

554
00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:53.679
which were all black. He then fashioned a makeshift badge

555
00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:57.880
from a soup can lead in the cover of a bible,

556
00:36:58.360 --> 00:37:01.639
and he would polish it to give it a certain

557
00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:04.440
detail where at a slight glance.

558
00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:05.800
It would look like a real badge.

559
00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:09.840
Then he would put on his newly dyed black pants,

560
00:37:10.280 --> 00:37:14.239
a black T shirt, and a black baseball cap.

561
00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:17.519
That he managed to get his hands on. To complete his.

562
00:37:17.559 --> 00:37:22.239
Disguise, Harden even smuggled out small amounts of food and

563
00:37:22.360 --> 00:37:26.880
distilled water from his seapat machine, and he would stash

564
00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:30.159
them for his escape, and he chose May twenty fifth

565
00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:34.239
of twenty twenty five, which was a rainy Sunday, because

566
00:37:34.280 --> 00:37:37.239
he had ever heard staff discussing a new policy that

567
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:42.119
made Titan kitchen access soon he knew it's time to

568
00:37:42.159 --> 00:37:45.719
make my escape. The weather was perfect that day because

569
00:37:45.719 --> 00:37:50.760
it would muffle sounds and it would reduce outdoor activity

570
00:37:50.920 --> 00:37:54.559
from the staff from the correctional officers, and he felt

571
00:37:54.599 --> 00:37:57.920
like that would give him an edge. And that afternoon,

572
00:37:58.199 --> 00:38:01.400
at one point fifty eight pm, he felt like that

573
00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:05.639
was the time to jet. He was allowed some unsupervised

574
00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:09.960
access to the kitchen's back loading dock by one of

575
00:38:09.960 --> 00:38:14.679
the prison employees, which incidentally was a major violation of protocol.

576
00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:19.679
An hour would tick by as he prepared for his escape.

577
00:38:19.719 --> 00:38:23.199
At two point fifty three pm, he was disguised in

578
00:38:23.239 --> 00:38:27.199
that homemade uniform and he's pushing a cart loaded with

579
00:38:27.320 --> 00:38:30.519
a box in wooden pilots and that was kind of

580
00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:33.880
to obscure the stuff he was bringing with him, and

581
00:38:34.000 --> 00:38:37.639
he approached the Sallyport gate. He signals up to the

582
00:38:37.639 --> 00:38:41.760
control tower to open the gate in another employee, failing

583
00:38:41.880 --> 00:38:47.199
to verify the identity of Harden. He opens the gate

584
00:38:47.440 --> 00:38:51.800
he assumed this was a legitimate officer. First glance, it

585
00:38:51.840 --> 00:38:57.039
looked like a legitimate officer in Harden. He just strolled

586
00:38:57.400 --> 00:39:00.760
right out of the freaking gate, very casually, and he

587
00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:05.920
vanishes into the dent woods that surrounded that prison.

588
00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:09.360
It was a brazen walk to freedom, y'all.

589
00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:12.719
And you could tell by the way he did it

590
00:39:12.800 --> 00:39:16.800
he was someone that knew how to walk like a

591
00:39:16.840 --> 00:39:21.840
police officer because he used to be one. Now back inside,

592
00:39:22.760 --> 00:39:26.440
at about three h eight pm, they noticed this is

593
00:39:26.480 --> 00:39:29.239
only this is a little over ten minutes later, but

594
00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:34.519
correctional officers noticed Grant Harden's missing. But it wasn't until

595
00:39:34.599 --> 00:39:39.119
three forty pm that they initiated a full lockdown. And

596
00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:43.199
that's basically these correctional officers realizing this guy's dounehauled ass

597
00:39:43.360 --> 00:39:45.000
and we want to find him before we have to

598
00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:48.079
report this to a lieutenant because we're going to get

599
00:39:48.079 --> 00:39:50.880
fired over it. But at three forty they realize we

600
00:39:50.920 --> 00:39:51.639
can't find.

601
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:55.480
This sucker anywhere. By then, he had a pretty good

602
00:39:55.599 --> 00:39:59.159
head start. And this is the Ozarks, y'all. This is some.

603
00:39:59.320 --> 00:40:03.639
Unforgive being terrain, and he had about an hour head start.

604
00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:09.199
Authorities launch an immediate man hunt and imagine the press

605
00:40:09.280 --> 00:40:12.679
this is going to generate. This is a murderer and

606
00:40:12.719 --> 00:40:16.239
a rapist that just walked out of your prison. They

607
00:40:16.280 --> 00:40:20.239
got tracking dogs, local sheriffs showed up, state police, the

608
00:40:20.360 --> 00:40:25.719
Border patrol, even and the search spanned a huge mountainous

609
00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:29.880
region full of caves, full of hiding spots, There's a

610
00:40:29.880 --> 00:40:33.360
lot of water, creeks, etc. That he could get the

611
00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:39.679
scent off of himself. Helicopters were buzzing overhead. They were

612
00:40:39.679 --> 00:40:44.840
looking everywhere for Grand Harden and for twelve grueling days,

613
00:40:45.440 --> 00:40:50.679
hardened somehow manages to evade capture. Now he survived on

614
00:40:50.760 --> 00:40:55.800
the bare minimum that's available in the wilderness, berries, raw

615
00:40:55.840 --> 00:41:00.360
eggs taken from birds nests, and he even ate amps

616
00:41:00.519 --> 00:41:04.400
for protein. And he did have some rations that he

617
00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:07.679
had smuggled out of the prison as well. And this

618
00:41:08.159 --> 00:41:12.079
wilderness was also rain soaked, so it was hard for

619
00:41:12.119 --> 00:41:15.440
the dogs to track him, and he managed to stay

620
00:41:15.599 --> 00:41:19.719
one step ahead. However, on June sixth of twenty twenty five,

621
00:41:19.920 --> 00:41:23.920
around four o'clock pm, tracking dogs pick up a cent

622
00:41:24.679 --> 00:41:28.440
near Moccason Creek, which is only about one and.

623
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:31.039
A half miles northwest of the prison.

624
00:41:31.320 --> 00:41:35.920
Law enforcement closes in hardened attempts to run. He bolts

625
00:41:36.119 --> 00:41:40.320
through an underbrush, but officers see him and tackle him

626
00:41:40.719 --> 00:41:45.159
to the ground, and the man hunt was over. Harden

627
00:41:45.599 --> 00:41:50.440
was backing handcuffs and headed back to prison. Now, of course,

628
00:41:50.480 --> 00:41:56.440
in the aftermath, investigators found some pretty big systematic failures

629
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:59.920
that shouldn't have occurred, and two prison employees were fired,

630
00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:05.280
one for allowing the unsupervised doc access and the other

631
00:42:05.480 --> 00:42:09.000
for opening the gate that he walked out of without

632
00:42:09.079 --> 00:42:13.360
identifying him first. And Harden himself would face some pretty

633
00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:18.079
swift justice for his escape. On February seventeenth of twenty

634
00:42:18.119 --> 00:42:21.719
twenty six, only a couple of weeks from this recording,

635
00:42:22.400 --> 00:42:27.320
he pleaded guilty to second degree escape in Izard County

636
00:42:27.639 --> 00:42:33.280
Circuit Court, and he received an additional thirteen years to

637
00:42:33.440 --> 00:42:38.679
be served consecutive with his other sentence, and then he

638
00:42:38.800 --> 00:42:44.800
was transferred to what's known as Varner Supermax Prison in Gould, Arkansas,

639
00:42:45.320 --> 00:42:50.159
where he now resides in maximum security. So all told,

640
00:42:50.719 --> 00:42:55.719
he now has ninety three years in prison, increasing from

641
00:42:55.840 --> 00:42:58.199
eighty years that he originally had.

642
00:42:58.039 --> 00:43:00.079
Prior to his escape.

643
00:43:00.239 --> 00:43:05.440
But now that is all in a supermax facility, and

644
00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:09.239
I'm comfortable saying he will never taste the free world

645
00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:12.440
again because you ain't escaping from a supermax no way.

646
00:43:12.719 --> 00:43:15.599
So there you have it, the story of what is

647
00:43:15.679 --> 00:43:19.719
widely considered the most dangerous inmate in Arkansas, and that

648
00:43:19.960 --> 00:43:25.760
is Grant Harden, the devil in the Ozarks. Thank you

649
00:43:25.920 --> 00:43:29.719
so much for listening. I'll be back next week with

650
00:43:29.880 --> 00:43:33.320
another episode of fifty Shades of Evil. Not sure what

651
00:43:33.519 --> 00:43:35.679
state I'm going to go to. I'll decide that in

652
00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:39.559
the next couple of days, but until then, check out

653
00:43:39.559 --> 00:43:44.440
the Patreon Patreon dot com slash Bloody Andngola podcast, And

654
00:43:44.559 --> 00:43:48.000
until next time for Bloody and Gola, I'm Jim Chapman.

655
00:43:48.599 --> 00:44:00.360
Much love, h.

656
00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:15.519
A Wall Street line, shackle change, Oh gluesome gird, it's

657
00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:22.000
calling my name. There is no mercy and it's been

658
00:44:22.199 --> 00:44:29.960
a tentery juice as the hill Stream game Rango three.

659
00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:37.239
I'm here behind by mere or die.

660
00:44:38.920 --> 00:44:43.719
Inside these walls, inside the wild.

661
00:44:45.679 --> 00:44:50.320
Han't went more girls, I know it's so.

662
00:44:55.679 --> 00:44:57.119
Bloody angle

663
00:45:02.440 --> 00:45:04.119
Body had tol