India, May 28 -- A manhunt is underway in the rugged terrain of northern Arkansas after Grant Hardin, a former police chief convicted of murder and rape, escaped from a prison by impersonating a correctional officer.

Hardin, once the police chief of Gateway, Arkansas, a town of just 450 residents near the Missouri border, was serving a combined 80-year sentence when he vanished from the North Central Unit in Calico Rock. Known nationally as the "Devil in the Ozarks," Hardin's crimes were the subject of a chilling 2023 HBO documentary that chronicled his descent from trusted officer to violent predator.

Authorities say Hardin walked out of the facility undetected around 2.55 pm Sunday after donning a makeshift uniform meant to resemble t...