Speaker 1: Welcome everyone.
Speaker 2: It's Saturday, August sixteenth, and we are finally learning about
Speaker 2: how the Devil in the Ozarks escaped from prison. This
Speaker 2: all happened late May of this year. I'm sure you
Speaker 2: remember it. We're talking about that former Arkansas police chief
Speaker 2: turned rapist and murderer. His name was Grant Harden, and yes,
Speaker 2: Netflix devoted an entire series to him, and that series
Speaker 2: was called Devil in the Ozarks.
Speaker 3: I know, was that a buzzy one? I actually can't
Speaker 3: remember when I heard the name. Definitely say yeah, I've
Speaker 3: heard of that, But do you remember much buzz around it?
Speaker 3: I actually don't.
Speaker 2: I remember the buzz around it after he escaped and
Speaker 2: then everyone was like, ooh, that's the one. That's the
Speaker 2: guy that they did a Netflix series on. So yes,
Speaker 2: they devoted an entire series to his crimes. Well, there
Speaker 2: is now a new report that is out. It was
Speaker 2: elicited by the Department of Corrections, but it's revealing some
Speaker 2: of the fascinating details surrounding his brazen prison break. Do
Speaker 2: you remember the prison break? Yeah, he walked right out
Speaker 2: the back gate.
Speaker 3: He didn't shoot his way up.
Speaker 1: No, he doesn't know violence walked out.
Speaker 3: Then he wave at the guy who there was a
Speaker 3: tower guard who has since been fired, Yes, who waved.
Speaker 3: All he did was waved at him, and the guy
Speaker 3: opened the gate for him.
Speaker 2: He acted like he knew what he was doing and
Speaker 2: he was believed, and he was disguised as a law
Speaker 2: enforcement Asian. But that had a lot of folks head
Speaker 2: scratching because how was he able as a prisoner to
Speaker 2: somehow come up with a uniform that mimicked unofficial And let's.
Speaker 3: Be straight here, this is a guy who had a
Speaker 3: whole hit series dedicated to him, and you all weren't
Speaker 3: keeping a better closer eye on him than this. This
Speaker 3: is what we're talking about, and this is why the
Speaker 3: story made such a big deal at the time. It
Speaker 3: wasn't just some convicted rapist or convicted murderer that was
Speaker 3: that escaped. Y'all. Let the guy whose nickname is the
Speaker 3: Devil of the Ozar walk out of prison. This is
Speaker 3: a really big embarrassment at the time for those folks.
Speaker 2: My guess is he was the most famous prisoner in
Speaker 2: that facility.
Speaker 1: And for sure, oh yeah, yeah, without.
Speaker 2: A doubt, obviously, But the big question is how did
Speaker 2: he do it and what did he do for those
Speaker 2: nearly two weeks while he was on the run. A
Speaker 2: lot of folks had those questions. And we are getting
Speaker 2: some answers now.
Speaker 3: And you were starting with first the uniform. There was
Speaker 3: a uniform and a badge. So he was able to
Speaker 3: get out because he was He walked out and showed
Speaker 3: himself with a uniform on and a badge, waved to
Speaker 3: a guy in the tower and the guy opened the
Speaker 3: gate and let him walk out. So a uniform and
Speaker 3: a badge, that's what.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And you know what, don't forget we mentioned at
Speaker 2: the top, but he was a police chief. He was
Speaker 2: the chief of police of a small town in Arkansas
Speaker 2: a few years earlier, so he knows how to carry
Speaker 2: himself as a law enforcement official, and he knows how
Speaker 2: to carry himself with somebody who's in charge, because you
Speaker 2: would have to have a whole lot of money even
Speaker 2: if you had this makeshift uniform somehow pieced together to
Speaker 2: be able to present yourself with enough confidence that you
Speaker 2: let or make at least a tower guard believe you
Speaker 2: have every right to walk out that.
Speaker 3: Door, or you're a terrible tower guard. Good argue could
Speaker 3: be a little bit of a right. The guy put
Speaker 3: together and we were gonna you're gonna explain here robes
Speaker 3: what he put together, but a makeshift sharpie uniform, and
Speaker 3: it fooled the tower guard. He literally let a convicted
Speaker 3: rapist and murderer walk right out the front door, looked
Speaker 3: at him, robed and let him do it.
Speaker 2: I know, it's it's appalling, and it's startling, and it's
Speaker 2: frightening if you live in the area. And certainly for
Speaker 2: those folks who were concerned about him perhaps seeking some
Speaker 2: sort of revenge, were scared for at least those twelve
Speaker 2: plus days that he was out on the lamb. But
Speaker 2: here is what we have learned, and this a lot
Speaker 2: of this came from Aunt Harden himself while he was
Speaker 2: being interviewed by investigators trying to figure out how he
Speaker 2: managed to do what he did. So we know now,
Speaker 2: according to Harden, that he spent six months planning his escape.
Speaker 2: So he meticulously, over a period of six months, tried
Speaker 2: to figure out how to do this. He says he
Speaker 2: didn't get any help from employees or other inmates.
Speaker 3: Do you buy that that's a big deal?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean why at this point, I mean, he I
Speaker 3: guess the one guy who he's now been fired. I'm
Speaker 3: really on this tower.
Speaker 2: Two people have been fired, several others have been suspended,
Speaker 2: and someone else had some other sort.
Speaker 1: Of disciplinary action.
Speaker 2: But multiple people within the prison system, even though they
Speaker 2: didn't explicitly help him, certainly helped him without realizing they
Speaker 2: were helping him.
Speaker 3: I believe him because of some of the more details
Speaker 3: you're going to get into here in a second that
Speaker 3: make it seem like, Yeah, he put this together on
Speaker 3: his own.
Speaker 2: And probably smart enough to know that if you do
Speaker 2: ask somebody to help you, that person is probably either
Speaker 2: gonna tell on you, snitch on you later fuil your
Speaker 2: plan in some way. So, yes, he says he was
Speaker 2: a lone wolf, and that does make a lot of
Speaker 2: sense given honestly, the.
Speaker 1: Fact that he was successful at it.
Speaker 2: So no help from anyone else, but he pointed to specifically,
Speaker 2: he told investigators, Yeah, y'all, security is lax in the kitchen.
Speaker 2: So he was a kitchen worker and he was allowed
Speaker 2: to kind of come and go.
Speaker 1: Was he pleased according to him?
Speaker 3: Convicted rapist, convicted murderer, Yes, he's working in the kitchen.
Speaker 2: Yes, and he was allowed to go unsupervised out on
Speaker 2: this back in this back area, in this side area,
Speaker 2: so he was able to do some things without anyone
Speaker 2: really watching him or noticing him. So you mentioned the sharpies.
Speaker 2: He claims he found and collected black sharpies, and he
Speaker 2: found laundry that was lying around the kitchen, and he
Speaker 2: used that black aprons, to be specific, to create a
Speaker 2: fake uniform, and then he made a fake badge using
Speaker 2: the lid.
Speaker 1: Of the rash.
Speaker 2: Can't maybe that's where the sharpiees came in, but it's
Speaker 2: wild to think that he pieced together slowly over six
Speaker 2: months black aprons, because if you see the visuals, the
Speaker 2: video surveillance video they have of him, I mean, he
Speaker 2: has black pants, black shirt, and what looks like a
Speaker 2: black vest, I mean it from a distance looks legit.
Speaker 2: And to know that those were black aprons is kind
Speaker 2: of wild.
Speaker 3: It's almost comical. It seems like something you from some
Speaker 3: caper movie from the nineteen fifties, just something silly almost
Speaker 3: that this shouldn't be possible that someone convicted of these
Speaker 3: crimes can fool the system with these rudimentary tools. That
Speaker 3: just doesn't seem possible. This seems like this should be
Speaker 3: highly sophisticated, something from Mission impossible. You would need help
Speaker 3: from the outside. Of help from the outside, you would
Speaker 3: need help that this is all it took. Is this
Speaker 3: is not just some dude so we are, we're six months.
Speaker 3: Give him credit. Knock yourself out, I used to. I've
Speaker 3: said this before plenty. If someone is able to break
Speaker 3: out of prison, I'm almost rooting for them.
Speaker 1: Goodness, I say that because somebody's.
Speaker 3: Jobs is to keep you there. You got caught, you
Speaker 3: were convicted of your crime. It's somebody's job to make
Speaker 3: sure you don't get out. How am I supposed to
Speaker 3: fault you for being for your desire to be free
Speaker 3: and you beat the system, knock yourself out. I do
Speaker 3: not want somebody that this is this kind of threat
Speaker 3: to the community out and about. Obviously this was scary
Speaker 3: as hell and is the case as well. What is
Speaker 3: this idea, this thing about a misclassification of what kind
Speaker 3: of criminal he was. He should not have even been
Speaker 3: in this.
Speaker 2: Jail, and that is true, and that is also part
Speaker 2: of this finding because this was not a maximum security prison.
Speaker 1: So the type of prisoner that Harden.
Speaker 2: Is was and is and yes, a convicted rapist, a
Speaker 2: convicted murderer and abused his power. You know, this was
Speaker 2: a man who was in a position of power, was
Speaker 2: a police officer, was a actual chief of police for
Speaker 2: a while, so that is deeply concerning. He has the
Speaker 2: smarts and the wherewithal and knows enough about law enforcement.
Speaker 2: You want him in a maximum security prison. So yes,
Speaker 2: by the way, we'll get to it. But he has
Speaker 2: since been moved to a maximum security prison. So yes,
Speaker 2: he was given freedoms that he shouldn't have, period, and
Speaker 2: that has been determined.
Speaker 1: But I thought it was wild.
Speaker 2: I didn't really start looking at some of the surveillance
Speaker 2: video until I started looking at his account.
Speaker 1: Of how he was able to pull this all off
Speaker 1: without any help.
Speaker 2: Because yeah, when you hear about a disguise, you would
Speaker 2: think someone slipped him something, but no, he actually put
Speaker 2: police in white on the back if you see in
Speaker 2: the surveillance video. But also he is carrying something when
Speaker 2: he goes to leave, he is carrying with him a
Speaker 2: ladder that he made from wooden powerlle in case he
Speaker 2: had to scale the prison fence, in case someone shouted
Speaker 2: at him stopped him from going through that gate. Instead
Speaker 2: of being able to just walk freely out, he thought
Speaker 2: he might have to literally put a ladder up and
Speaker 2: then make a run for it. So he had a
Speaker 2: backup plan to his plan already prepared with him when
Speaker 2: he was walking through. So it's wild to me he
Speaker 2: didn't even have to use the thing he was thinking
Speaker 2: he was going to have to use to scale a
Speaker 2: fence because that.
Speaker 3: Good old, trustworthy tower guard up there that let him
Speaker 3: go right on through. He didn't even need to use
Speaker 3: the backup land because he got Barney five up there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean actually, so when you see that and you
Speaker 2: see the video, it's startling to know that he didn't
Speaker 2: even have to use the thing he thought he was
Speaker 2: going to have to use to break out of prison.
Speaker 2: So yes, And he also talked about how he was
Speaker 2: able to smuggle food with him. He said he when
Speaker 2: he got out into the woods, he drank creek water.
Speaker 2: He said, he ate berries, bird eggs, he said he
Speaker 2: even ate ants.
Speaker 1: And he had a plan. He was going to hide
Speaker 1: out in these woods for six months.
Speaker 2: I don't know how he was going to make all
Speaker 2: that food last as long as he needed it to,
Speaker 2: and then he was going to make his way out west.
Speaker 2: That's he had a plan. But unfortunately prison dogs picked
Speaker 2: up his scent. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for the
Speaker 2: rest of us, they caught him just a mile and
Speaker 2: a half from prison, by the way.
Speaker 1: But he did stay out there for almost two weeks.
Speaker 3: You know, why is it they came out and gave
Speaker 3: us all the impression that he wasn't even in the
Speaker 3: area for whatever reason, they suspected that he had gone
Speaker 3: over into Missouri.
Speaker 2: Was it not?
Speaker 3: Yes, and they it sounded like he was gone, like
Speaker 3: the focus of their efforts didn't even seem to be
Speaker 3: right there anymore. And he was very close by the
Speaker 3: whole time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he didn't even make it that far at all.
Speaker 2: They Yes, they absolutely were warning folks in nearby states
Speaker 2: that he might be around and letting people who live
Speaker 2: nearby not to worry. But certainly, yeah, he was right
Speaker 2: there the entire time, and by the way, he was able.
Speaker 2: This is how he was saying that apparently I did
Speaker 2: I read this right, that the trash can or they
Speaker 2: didn't shake it, or they didn't make sure there was
Speaker 2: nothing below some of the trash bags, because he actually
Speaker 2: stashed You think six months he's making this uniform, like
Speaker 2: where does he put it? Or this fake uniform he
Speaker 2: can't bring it back to a cell with him. They
Speaker 2: do cell checks all that he actually hid it at
Speaker 2: the or like underneath the trash bags at the bottom
Speaker 2: of the trash can, because he said, no one actually
Speaker 2: ever shook it and put the whole thing out, and
Speaker 2: he knew the practices of the kitchen, and he knew
Speaker 2: that nobody would actually ever overturn the trash can, so
Speaker 2: he could just keep working on his little uniform, on
Speaker 2: his fake disguise for months and months and months while
Speaker 2: keeping it right under that trash can the entire time.
Speaker 1: That's kind of wild, isn't it great.
Speaker 3: We just have a fascination with prison breaks, and I
Speaker 3: think we've had some famous ones over the years, of course,
Speaker 3: but to hear now, this just isn't supposed to happen.
Speaker 3: You think we have learned enough in our prison system
Speaker 3: and there's enough sophistication you can and cameras and can't
Speaker 3: get past this technology. And to hear how simple it was,
Speaker 3: and how almost easy, frankly it was. He had to
Speaker 3: make a uniform, he needed a sharpie and just to
Speaker 3: wave at a guy. This was not complicated. He used
Speaker 3: no force, he didn't have to overcome anybody, and walked out.
Speaker 3: It's just fascinating anytime you hear about a prison brain.
Speaker 2: And the fact that he walked out being the violent
Speaker 2: criminal that he was. That's the really scary thing. So
Speaker 2: for those of you who want a little bit of
Speaker 2: a refresher about how Grant Harden actually became known as
Speaker 2: the Devil in the Ozarks and what happened to those employees,
Speaker 2: and what's happening to him now that he's been caught.
Speaker 2: Welcome back everyone to this edition of Amy and TJ.
Speaker 1: We are talking.
Speaker 2: About these new details that are just now making our
Speaker 2: way to us about how Devil in the Ozarks convicted
Speaker 2: murderer and rapist Grand Harden, former Arkansas police chief, how
Speaker 2: he was able to walk right out of prison and
Speaker 2: elude police for nearly two weeks before being recaptured. He
Speaker 2: actually participated in this investigation because there are a lot
Speaker 2: of questions about how this all happened, how he's able
Speaker 2: to make this disguise and just escape in the middle
Speaker 2: of the day in plain.
Speaker 1: Sight with a very little effort.
Speaker 2: It's appalling, and certainly a lot of folks had to
Speaker 2: pay for their participation, even if it was unknowingly into
Speaker 2: allowing him to escape.
Speaker 1: But just to go back a little bit about who
Speaker 1: this guy is.
Speaker 2: This is a man who pleaded guilty back in October
Speaker 2: of twenty seventeen to first degree murder. He basically shot
Speaker 2: a fellow city employee in the head.
Speaker 1: His name was fifty nine year old. He was fifty
Speaker 1: nine years old.
Speaker 2: His name was Jamee Appleton, and he was actually on
Speaker 2: the phone with the current mayor at the time, who
Speaker 2: was his brother in law, when the gunshot went off.
Speaker 2: So this was an unbelievable crime that happened in the
Speaker 2: small town of Gateway. He worked for the water department
Speaker 2: and again just the year prior, Harden was the chief
Speaker 2: of police, So these two knew each other.
Speaker 3: I mean, so this isn't even the devil part, right,
Speaker 3: So you hear this and how heinus' this crime was.
Speaker 3: But the reason rose he ends up getting famous, if
Speaker 3: you will, with this documentary is because while he's in jail,
Speaker 3: they figure out there was something he's connected to. How
Speaker 3: far back was that crime? He was connected to a
Speaker 3: rape that was unsolved how many years before?
Speaker 1: It was thirty years earlier.
Speaker 2: So while he was behind bars facing charges of first
Speaker 2: degree murder for the shooting death of James Appleton Police
Speaker 2: his DNA from a nineteen ninety seven rape case of
Speaker 2: an elementary school teacher in Rogers. It was a big
Speaker 2: crime at the time, it was completely unsolved, unknown, but
Speaker 2: this was a violent, horrific rape. And the fact that
Speaker 2: he then gets connected to it and he goes on
Speaker 2: think about it. He's committed these horrific crimes and he's
Speaker 2: chief of police, so he's just operating right there in
Speaker 2: a position of power in a town where he has
Speaker 2: actually terrorized the area for several decades now. So this
Speaker 2: was just an eerie, evil one of those stories where
Speaker 2: you can't believe the person living next to you or
Speaker 2: working with you actually is an evil monster. And that's
Speaker 2: exactly what the case was with this man. So yes,
Speaker 2: when he got then connected to this violent rape. So
Speaker 2: he was sentenced to thirty years in prison for the murder.
Speaker 2: Then he was given another fifty years for the rape.
Speaker 2: So he's in prison for the rest of his life.
Speaker 2: A violent criminal again, who is intelligent, who has mimicked
Speaker 2: seeming normal, and has had positions of power within a community.
Speaker 2: So this is a scary, dangerous individual. The fact that
Speaker 2: he was allowed into a not maximum security prison is wild.
Speaker 3: Over a misclassification, as they say, I guess we'll figure
Speaker 3: out what that means. But for whatever reason, he wasn't
Speaker 3: labeled as the type of criminal he should have been
Speaker 3: labeled as somewhere in the system, and therefore he was
Speaker 3: able to go to a not maximum security prison. That's
Speaker 3: just bizarre, and.
Speaker 2: It's so funny that Netflix decided to label him devil
Speaker 2: Devil in the Ozarks. But nah, we don't need the
Speaker 2: devil in maximum security, I guess.
Speaker 1: But a lot of changes.
Speaker 2: So the whole point of this investigation, the whole reason
Speaker 2: why we're getting some of this information, some of these
Speaker 2: fascinating details, is because yes, that community there in Arkansas
Speaker 2: would like to make some changes so that this never
Speaker 2: happens again. But yes, two prison employees were ultimately fired,
Speaker 2: and certainly the one your favorite one on the tower guard,
Speaker 2: but there was an the other one who allowed him
Speaker 2: back on that dock unsupervised multiple times over the six months,
Speaker 2: which allowed him to collect laundry, allowed him to collect
Speaker 2: some of the things he used to make his disguise.
Speaker 2: So because he was allowed unsupervised on a back dock,
Speaker 2: which he should not have been, that.
Speaker 1: Employee was fired.
Speaker 2: The tower guard was fired, and they said they didn't
Speaker 2: give a number, but they said several other employees have
Speaker 2: either been suspended or demoted just because of the lacks
Speaker 2: security claims.
Speaker 3: Hey, look, I want to always take a beat robes
Speaker 3: to always be fair to folks, and I've been a
Speaker 3: little harsh on that tower guard. I don't know what
Speaker 3: was going on at the time and how that person
Speaker 3: might have been fool don't want to just pass it
Speaker 3: off to total incompetence and ignorance. So I don't know
Speaker 3: what was going on, but that was a tough position
Speaker 3: that person was getting put in to be literally the person. Yes,
Speaker 3: other people contributed, but there was one person who literally
Speaker 3: unlocked the door and let the devil of the Ozarks
Speaker 3: walk out. That was the tower guard, and that kind
Speaker 3: of be easy, and so I don't know, maybe give
Speaker 3: everybody a break.
Speaker 2: There was word and they did they when they were
Speaker 2: doing some of the I guess forensics behind the scenes
Speaker 2: as to how it happened the way it happened.
Speaker 1: They did say.
Speaker 2: That there were reports of guards being on the phone
Speaker 2: with girlfriends hours and hours and hours, so they were
Speaker 2: preoccupied with personal matters while on the job in a
Speaker 2: professional setting where their job was to make sure that
Speaker 2: prisoners didn't escape, but they didn't need to.
Speaker 3: Worry about it because all the prisoners here are just
Speaker 3: medium security prisoners.
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, there was some distraction that was noted in
Speaker 2: the report by some of the guards who had other
Speaker 2: priorities while on the job.
Speaker 1: Yes, so that was mentioned, I must say.
Speaker 2: But Harden, yes, has been moved to a maximum security prison.
Speaker 1: And here's the interesting thing to me. I know, this is.
Speaker 2: What you do when you're a defendant, but it's just
Speaker 2: it kind of made me chuckle to hear that he
Speaker 2: pleaded not guilty to escape charges.
Speaker 1: Don't really understand how that is a thing.
Speaker 2: But he pleaded not guilty to escape charges when we
Speaker 2: clearly see him walking out of the prison on surveillance
Speaker 2: and he was clearly caught in the woods hiding.
Speaker 3: Is it escape if someone opened the door and lets
Speaker 3: you walk in.
Speaker 1: I guess that could be the argument, lawyer.
Speaker 2: But anyway, he does have a trial date set for
Speaker 2: those charges. That is going to happen in November, so
Speaker 2: we will of course continue to follow the story. But
Speaker 2: it's just fascinating to hear how it happened because at
Speaker 2: the time it really didn't make any sense, making a
Speaker 2: lot more sense now when you see some of the
Speaker 2: things that happened leading up to that unfortunate day in May.
Speaker 2: But we want to thank you for joining us on
Speaker 2: this Saturday edition of Amy and TJ. I'm Amy Robock
Speaker 2: alongside my partner TJ.
Speaker 1: Holmes.
Speaker 2: Have a great rest of your day, Everybody,