November 9th 1997:
Amy Harrison was a teacher in Rogers, Arkansas. She went into her classroom on an early Sunday morning to prepare for the workweek. Unfortunately, an attacker was hiding nearby. She worked in her room for a while, but when she went to the bathroom down the hall she met a man with a gun. He brutally assaulted her before running off. She did the best she could to give a good description to the police, and she even preserved DNA evidence that would eventually solve the case. Unfortunately, the name of her attacker would not be known for 20 years.
February 23rd 2017:
Seventeen miles away, in Gateway, Arkansas, Amy’s answers would be found in the most brutal way. James Appleton was sitting in his truck on the side of the road trying to finish a phone call before he had a dead zone in the highway. Unfortunately behind him was a man with a vendetta. The killer simply drove by and shot Appleton in the face with a shotgun. Then he went on as if nothing happened.
Little did anyone know that the man who committed both of these crimes was a recently fired police chief named Grant Hardin. How could this brutal psychopath rape a police officer’s wife, and then spend 20 years trying to help them solve the case? This question and many more filled the minds of the community.
Hardin eventually pleaded guilty and received 80 years in prison, but for some dumb reason they sent him to a medium security jail in Calico Rock. Arkansas. It only held him for 8 years and on May 25th 2025, he escaped prison. Two years earlier they had made a documentary about him and called him the “Devil of the Ozarks.” Now, he was free once again.
A 12-day manhunt ensued and Harden was finally captured less than 2 miles from the prison. How could he get away with so much?
His job history was disturbing, but in the state that he operated in they do not allow officers’ job history to be public information. They literally hide the scandals. He had been bounced between five different districts, and if he hadn’t killed a man, his record would still be unknown today. Somebody needs to change these laws to allow police job history to be public information. It’s the only way we’re going to be able to keep them accountable. It’s not fair to the citizens, and it’s not fair to those police officers who put their lives on the line every day trying to help make their community a safe place. It’s time for us to demand that this practice be changed all across the U.S., and not just in Missouri and Arkansas.
Check out my Chasing Justice Episode about this case: (NEW Episodes Premiere on Tuesday Nights 7pm Central)
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Madhouse Madison County
Chaos rules in a small Southeastern Missouri County. Madison County spans 500 square miles and has a population of approximately 13,000 people. The county seat is Fredericktown with a population of approximately 4,000 people. This rural county should be a safe place in beautiful Americana, but it hides a dark secret. Fredericktown is one of the most dangerous places to live in America. Check out this quote from neighborhoodscout.com.
“With a crime rate of 31 per one thousand residents, Fredericktown has one of the highest crime rates in America compared to all communities of all sizes – from the smallest towns to the very largest cities. One’s chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime here is one in 32.”
I started researching one case sent to me by a desperate grandmother. That case led me to fifteen more. Then I realized this county has had murder, corruption, and chaos since before the Wild West days. This book will start with a lynching by a Fredericktown mob in 1844. Hold onto your seats when you read this one. You’re in for a wild, chaotic ride through rural Missouri.
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