Welcome everyone.
It's Saturday, August sixteenth, and we are finally learning about how the Devil in the Ozarks escaped from prison. This all happened late May of this year. I'm sure you remember it. We're talking about that former Arkansas police chief turned rapist and murderer. His name was Grant Harden, and yes, Netflix devoted an entire series to him, and that series was called Devil in the Ozarks.
I know, was that a buzzy one? I actually can't remember when I heard the name. Definitely say yeah, I've heard of that, But do you remember much buzz around it? I actually don't.
I remember the buzz around it after he escaped and then everyone was like, ooh, that's the one. That's the guy that they did a Netflix series on. So yes, they devoted an entire series to his crimes. Well, there is now a new report that is out. It was elicited by the Department of Corrections, but it's revealing some of the fascinating details surrounding his brazen prison break. Do you remember the prison break? Yeah, he walked right out the back gate.
He didn't shoot his way up.
No, he doesn't know violence walked out.
Then he wave at the guy who there was a tower guard who has since been fired, Yes, who waved. All he did was waved at him, and the guy opened the gate for him.
He acted like he knew what he was doing and he was believed, and he was disguised as a law enforcement Asian. But that had a lot of folks head scratching because how was he able as a prisoner to somehow come up with a uniform that mimicked unofficial And let's.
Be straight here, this is a guy who had a whole hit series dedicated to him, and you all weren't keeping a better closer eye on him than this. This is what we're talking about, and this is why the story made such a big deal at the time. It wasn't just some convicted rapist or convicted murderer that was that escaped. Y'all. Let the guy whose nickname is the Devil of the Ozar walk out of prison. This is a really big embarrassment at the time for those folks.
My guess is he was the most famous prisoner in that facility.
And for sure, oh yeah, yeah, without.
A doubt, obviously, But the big question is how did he do it and what did he do for those nearly two weeks while he was on the run. A lot of folks had those questions. And we are getting some answers now.
And you were starting with first the uniform. There was a uniform and a badge. So he was able to get out because he was He walked out and showed himself with a uniform on and a badge, waved to a guy in the tower and the guy opened the gate and let him walk out. So a uniform and a badge, that's what.
Yeah, And you know what, don't forget we mentioned at
the top, but he was a police chief. He was the chief of police of a small town in Arkansas a few years earlier, so he knows how to carry himself as a law enforcement official, and he knows how to carry himself with somebody who's in charge, because you would have to have a whole lot of money even if you had this makeshift uniform somehow pieced together to be able to present yourself with enough confidence that you let or make at least a tower guard believe you have every right to walk out that.
Door, or you're a terrible tower guard. Good argue could be a little bit of a right. The guy put together and we were gonna you're gonna explain here robes what he put together, but a makeshift sharpie uniform, and it fooled the tower guard. He literally let a convicted rapist and murderer walk right out the front door, looked at him, robed and let him do it.
I know, it's it's appalling, and it's startling, and it's frightening if you live in the area. And certainly for those folks who were concerned about him perhaps seeking some sort of revenge, were scared for at least those twelve plus days that he was out on the lamb. But here is what we have learned, and this a lot of this came from Aunt Harden himself while he was being interviewed by investigators trying to figure out how he
managed to do what he did. So we know now, according to Harden, that he spent six months planning his escape. So he meticulously, over a period of six months, tried to figure out how to do this. He says he didn't get any help from employees or other inmates.
Do you buy that that's a big deal?
Yeah?
I mean why at this point, I mean, he I guess the one guy who he's now been fired. I'm really on this tower.
Two people have been fired, several others have been suspended, and someone else had some other sort.
Of disciplinary action.
But multiple people within the prison system, even though they didn't explicitly help him, certainly helped him without realizing they were helping him.
I believe him because of some of the more details you're going to get into here in a second that make it seem like, Yeah, he put this together on his own.
And probably smart enough to know that if you do ask somebody to help you, that person is probably either gonna tell on you, snitch on you later fuil your plan in some way. So, yes, he says he was a lone wolf, and that does make a lot of sense given honestly, the.
Fact that he was successful at it.
So no help from anyone else, but he pointed to specifically, he told investigators, Yeah, y'all, security is lax in the kitchen. So he was a kitchen worker and he was allowed to kind of come and go.
Was he pleased according to him?
Convicted rapist, convicted murderer, Yes, he's working in the kitchen.
Yes, and he was allowed to go unsupervised out on this back in this back area, in this side area, so he was able to do some things without anyone really watching him or noticing him. So you mentioned the sharpies. He claims he found and collected black sharpies, and he found laundry that was lying around the kitchen, and he used that black aprons, to be specific, to create a fake uniform, and then he made a fake badge using the lid.
Of the rash.
Can't maybe that's where the sharpiees came in, but it's wild to think that he pieced together slowly over six months black aprons, because if you see the visuals, the video surveillance video they have of him, I mean, he has black pants, black shirt, and what looks like a black vest, I mean it from a distance looks legit. And to know that those were black aprons is kind of wild.
It's almost comical. It seems like something you from some caper movie from the nineteen fifties, just something silly almost that this shouldn't be possible that someone convicted of these crimes can fool the system with these rudimentary tools. That just doesn't seem possible. This seems like this should be highly sophisticated, something from Mission impossible. You would need help from the outside. Of help from the outside, you would
need help that this is all it took. Is this is not just some dude so we are, we're six months. Give him credit. Knock yourself out, I used to. I've said this before plenty. If someone is able to break out of prison, I'm almost rooting for them.
Goodness, I say that because somebody's.
Jobs is to keep you there. You got caught, you were convicted of your crime. It's somebody's job to make sure you don't get out. How am I supposed to fault you for being for your desire to be free and you beat the system, knock yourself out. I do not want somebody that this is this kind of threat to the community out and about. Obviously this was scary as hell and is the case as well. What is this idea, this thing about a misclassification of what kind
of criminal he was. He should not have even been in this.
Jail, and that is true, and that is also part of this finding because this was not a maximum security prison.
So the type of prisoner that Harden.
Is was and is and yes, a convicted rapist, a convicted murderer and abused his power. You know, this was a man who was in a position of power, was a police officer, was a actual chief of police for a while, so that is deeply concerning. He has the smarts and the wherewithal and knows enough about law enforcement. You want him in a maximum security prison. So yes, by the way, we'll get to it. But he has
since been moved to a maximum security prison. So yes, he was given freedoms that he shouldn't have, period, and that has been determined.
But I thought it was wild.
I didn't really start looking at some of the surveillance video until I started looking at his account.
Of how he was able to pull this all off without any help.
Because yeah, when you hear about a disguise, you would think someone slipped him something, but no, he actually put police in white on the back if you see in the surveillance video. But also he is carrying something when he goes to leave, he is carrying with him a ladder that he made from wooden powerlle in case he had to scale the prison fence, in case someone shouted
at him stopped him from going through that gate. Instead of being able to just walk freely out, he thought he might have to literally put a ladder up and then make a run for it. So he had a backup plan to his plan already prepared with him when he was walking through. So it's wild to me he didn't even have to use the thing he was thinking he was going to have to use to scale a fence because that.
Good old, trustworthy tower guard up there that let him go right on through. He didn't even need to use the backup land because he got Barney five up there.
Yeah.
I mean actually, so when you see that and you see the video, it's startling to know that he didn't even have to use the thing he thought he was going to have to use to break out of prison. So yes, And he also talked about how he was able to smuggle food with him. He said he when he got out into the woods, he drank creek water. He said, he ate berries, bird eggs, he said he even ate ants.
And he had a plan. He was going to hide out in these woods for six months.
I don't know how he was going to make all that food last as long as he needed it to, and then he was going to make his way out west. That's he had a plan. But unfortunately prison dogs picked up his scent. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the rest of us, they caught him just a mile and a half from prison, by the way.
But he did stay out there for almost two weeks.
You know, why is it they came out and gave us all the impression that he wasn't even in the area for whatever reason, they suspected that he had gone over into Missouri.
Was it not?
Yes, and they it sounded like he was gone, like the focus of their efforts didn't even seem to be right there anymore. And he was very close by the whole time.
Yeah, he didn't even make it that far at all.
They Yes, they absolutely were warning folks in nearby states that he might be around and letting people who live nearby not to worry. But certainly, yeah, he was right there the entire time, and by the way, he was able. This is how he was saying that apparently I did I read this right, that the trash can or they didn't shake it, or they didn't make sure there was nothing below some of the trash bags, because he actually stashed You think six months he's making this uniform, like
where does he put it? Or this fake uniform he
can't bring it back to a cell with him. They do cell checks all that he actually hid it at the or like underneath the trash bags at the bottom of the trash can, because he said, no one actually ever shook it and put the whole thing out, and he knew the practices of the kitchen, and he knew that nobody would actually ever overturn the trash can, so he could just keep working on his little uniform, on his fake disguise for months and months and months while
keeping it right under that trash can the entire time.
That's kind of wild, isn't it great.
We just have a fascination with prison breaks, and I think we've had some famous ones over the years, of course, but to hear now, this just isn't supposed to happen. You think we have learned enough in our prison system and there's enough sophistication you can and cameras and can't get past this technology. And to hear how simple it was, and how almost easy, frankly it was. He had to make a uniform, he needed a sharpie and just to
wave at a guy. This was not complicated. He used no force, he didn't have to overcome anybody, and walked out. It's just fascinating anytime you hear about a prison brain.
And the fact that he walked out being the violent criminal that he was. That's the really scary thing. So for those of you who want a little bit of a refresher about how Grant Harden actually became known as the Devil in the Ozarks and what happened to those employees, and what's happening to him now that he's been caught. Welcome back everyone to this edition of Amy and TJ.
We are talking.
About these new details that are just now making our way to us about how Devil in the Ozarks convicted murderer and rapist Grand Harden, former Arkansas police chief, how he was able to walk right out of prison and elude police for nearly two weeks before being recaptured. He actually participated in this investigation because there are a lot of questions about how this all happened, how he's able to make this disguise and just escape in the middle of the day in plain.
Sight with a very little effort.
It's appalling, and certainly a lot of folks had to pay for their participation, even if it was unknowingly into allowing him to escape.
But just to go back a little bit about who this guy is.
This is a man who pleaded guilty back in October of twenty seventeen to first degree murder. He basically shot a fellow city employee in the head.
His name was fifty nine year old. He was fifty nine years old.
His name was Jamee Appleton, and he was actually on the phone with the current mayor at the time, who was his brother in law, when the gunshot went off. So this was an unbelievable crime that happened in the small town of Gateway. He worked for the water department and again just the year prior, Harden was the chief of police, So these two knew each other.
I mean, so this isn't even the devil part, right, So you hear this and how heinus' this crime was. But the reason rose he ends up getting famous, if you will, with this documentary is because while he's in jail, they figure out there was something he's connected to. How far back was that crime? He was connected to a rape that was unsolved how many years before?
It was thirty years earlier.
So while he was behind bars facing charges of first degree murder for the shooting death of James Appleton Police his DNA from a nineteen ninety seven rape case of an elementary school teacher in Rogers. It was a big crime at the time, it was completely unsolved, unknown, but this was a violent, horrific rape. And the fact that he then gets connected to it and he goes on
think about it. He's committed these horrific crimes and he's chief of police, so he's just operating right there in a position of power in a town where he has actually terrorized the area for several decades now. So this was just an eerie, evil one of those stories where you can't believe the person living next to you or working with you actually is an evil monster. And that's exactly what the case was with this man. So yes,
when he got then connected to this violent rape. So he was sentenced to thirty years in prison for the murder. Then he was given another fifty years for the rape. So he's in prison for the rest of his life. A violent criminal again, who is intelligent, who has mimicked seeming normal, and has had positions of power within a community. So this is a scary, dangerous individual. The fact that he was allowed into a not maximum security prison is wild.
Over a misclassification, as they say, I guess we'll figure out what that means. But for whatever reason, he wasn't labeled as the type of criminal he should have been labeled as somewhere in the system, and therefore he was able to go to a not maximum security prison. That's just bizarre, and.
It's so funny that Netflix decided to label him devil Devil in the Ozarks. But nah, we don't need the devil in maximum security, I guess.
But a lot of changes.
So the whole point of this investigation, the whole reason why we're getting some of this information, some of these fascinating details, is because yes, that community there in Arkansas would like to make some changes so that this never
happens again. But yes, two prison employees were ultimately fired, and certainly the one your favorite one on the tower guard, but there was an the other one who allowed him back on that dock unsupervised multiple times over the six months, which allowed him to collect laundry, allowed him to collect some of the things he used to make his disguise. So because he was allowed unsupervised on a back dock, which he should not have been, that.
Employee was fired.
The tower guard was fired, and they said they didn't give a number, but they said several other employees have either been suspended or demoted just because of the lacks security claims.
Hey, look, I want to always take a beat robes to always be fair to folks, and I've been a little harsh on that tower guard. I don't know what was going on at the time and how that person might have been fool don't want to just pass it off to total incompetence and ignorance. So I don't know what was going on, but that was a tough position
that person was getting put in to be literally the person. Yes, other people contributed, but there was one person who literally unlocked the door and let the devil of the Ozarks walk out. That was the tower guard, and that kind of be easy, and so I don't know, maybe give everybody a break.
There was word and they did they when they were doing some of the I guess forensics behind the scenes as to how it happened the way it happened.
They did say.
That there were reports of guards being on the phone with girlfriends hours and hours and hours, so they were preoccupied with personal matters while on the job in a professional setting where their job was to make sure that prisoners didn't escape, but they didn't need to.
Worry about it because all the prisoners here are just medium security prisoners.
Oh, yes, there was some distraction that was noted in the report by some of the guards who had other priorities while on the job.
Yes, so that was mentioned, I must say.
But Harden, yes, has been moved to a maximum security prison.
And here's the interesting thing to me. I know, this is.
What you do when you're a defendant, but it's just it kind of made me chuckle to hear that he pleaded not guilty to escape charges.
Don't really understand how that is a thing.
But he pleaded not guilty to escape charges when we clearly see him walking out of the prison on surveillance and he was clearly caught in the woods hiding.
Is it escape if someone opened the door and lets you walk in.
I guess that could be the argument, lawyer.
But anyway, he does have a trial date set for those charges. That is going to happen in November, so we will of course continue to follow the story. But it's just fascinating to hear how it happened because at the time it really didn't make any sense, making a lot more sense now when you see some of the things that happened leading up to that unfortunate day in May. But we want to thank you for joining us on this Saturday edition of Amy and TJ. I'm Amy Robock alongside my partner TJ.
Holmes.
Have a great rest of your day, Everybody,