Original subtitles

[recording playing]

This is the story of one of the most evil and dangerous criminals

I have ever prosecuted because

the person does not at first appear to be that way.

He was right there, and nobody knew.

[man] I heard what I thought was, someone had fired a rifle.

[gunshot]

He took a lot away from us.

Sometimes, I still tell myself it's not real.

That that didn't happen.

I'll never forget what I have seen.

You know, it's just disgusting to think that one man

has that much power to do that.

If he's not a psychopath or a sociopath,

we're gonna have to redefine the term.

[instrumental music playing]

[Amy] I did get married young.

Uh, we met when I was, we were both 21,

and got married when we were 23.

So we still had a couple more years of college left

until we both graduated in 1995.

And then we moved into northwest Arkansas after that.

We went up there so that

my husband could work as a police officer.

[indistinct conversation on radio]

I didn't even get to see Rogers itself

before we moved there.

I had no idea what we were moving to.

So I was having a culture shock.

We had a lot of churches on many corners.

And things just sort of shut down on Sundays.

It was pretty much a very conservative,

conventional, quiet sort of place.

In 1997,

I was happy being a teacher.

I loved my students.

You know, Andrew being a police officer,

and I was a teacher,

you know, it just kind of seemed idyllic.

Until that day.

[ominous music playing]

I went to school on that Sunday morning

probably about 9:30 or so,

wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt,

you know, long sleeve shirt.

The classroom that we were using was basically two classrooms

with the wall knocked down in the middle.

So it was a large classroom, had two doors.

Um, I had both doors locked.

I knew people were going to church in the cafeteria,

and I didn't wanna disrupt them.

I also didn't wanna invite any disruptions.

So, um, you know, I just kind of worked quietly in my locked classroom.

And I guess it was about, I don't know, 10:30 or so.

I had been there a little while.

I hear a rattle of the door handle,

you know, one of the doors of my classroom,

and I waited a few minutes and then I kind of peeked out the door,

and I didn't see anybody so I closed the door back.

And a little while later,

I decided I needed to go to the restroom,

so I went out one of the classroom doors,

and just probably,

15-20 feet to the corridor,

I turned to go into the teachers' lounge.

Went to the bathroom, and the lounge was... bathrooms were set up in a way

that they were self-contained.

Two self-contained stalls and had a full-on door.

So, when I was coming out of the bathroom,

there he was, with a gun in my face.

Now, he was wearing a ski cap and sunglasses

and so, really, the only facial features

that I could make out was from here down.

So I got a pretty good look at him at the time,

but, you know, the shock of having a gun in your face,

it was very jarring and unsettling.

The guy had a gun. I thought maybe I was gonna die.

All I could think was,

I'm just gonna do whatever I need to do

to get out of this situation and go home.

He told me to back up into the bathroom.

He had me take off some of my clothes

and, uh, was telling me what to do to him.

After that, he decided to take me

to, um, another classroom that was next to the teachers' lounge.

And that's where he continued to rape me.

I just kept thinking this is terrifying.

I'm angry with this guy.

There weren't complete thoughts being created.

It was just sort of a gut, animalistic feeling.

Felt like forever but I'm guessing that probably

it was only a couple of minutes in real time.

He just stood up real quick and said, "Don't go anywhere.

You stay right here. Don't come out until I leave."

I just was in panic.

I thought, "I need to find somebody. I need to get to safety."

I did run across the custodian and all I could say was,

"I need to call the police. I've been attacked."

[recording playing]

[operator] Ma'am. Okay.

[Hayes] So it was a Sunday morning. I was at home.

Pager goes off, and it was a 911 page.

You know? Like, "Don't dilly-dally, call me right away."

And it was to the main dispatch line.

Called in. I remember exactly the dispatch who I talked to.

She told me Amy Harrison's been raped at the school.

And to respond immediately.

Obviously, I knew who it was.

Because Amy at the time was married to a Rogers police officer.

-[siren wailing] -Got in the car and hauled ass down here.

We did everything we could to try to get,

you know, whatever kind of forensic evidence there was.

You know, there was a rug.

It was where one of the assaults had taken place.

And we, you know, took the entire rug.

The handrails that went up the stairs,

where he forced her to go

for the second part of the assault.

We took the entire handrail.

So we had kind of a two-pronged approach

and in that, you had some detectives, including myself,

who were left to process the crime scene.

[Amy] I had been moved to the hospital.

So that I could get all of the drugs

that you have to take after something like this happens.

To prevent accidental pregnancy.

To prevent HIV.

To prevent other sexually transmitted diseases

that they had medications for.

The rape kit. Get my inspection, you know.

All of this happens.

You know, things I hadn't thought about yet.

Here they come.

[recording playing]

I tried to pay attention as much as possible

to whatever I could about this person.

[recording playing]

No idea why he wasn't wearing shoes.

It seemed very odd.

I didn't hear him come in, so maybe, you know,

it was sort of a subversive technique

to prevent my awareness of his approach.

But, um, it just seemed weird.

[recording playing]

He had actually asked if I recognized his voice.

Which made me, obviously, really wonder,

you know, did I know this person?

But I could not... place him anywhere in my mind.

And it was terrifying.

One of the things that was very evident throughout her statement

was the lengths at which he went

to conceal his identity, not touch things.

And be careful with fluids and other biological evidence

that he left behind.

And at one point during the assault,

Amy felt a liquid on her leg.

And just instinctively, I think, probably,

wiped it off with her hand and just wiped it across her shirt.

[Amy] It was not a conscious thing for me to wipe away his semen.

I was definitely disgusted.

I didn't want him on me.

And he immediately says, "What was that? What did you do?"

If she hadn't done that one thing, we never would have gotten his DNA.

As we're discussing theories,

you know, it did come up at the time,

of how would a person like this know

that much about what we did to collect evidence?

They sent it to the state crime lab,

and like they do with all known samples,

they ran it through their CODIS database

to see if there was a match with anyone already in the system.

But no match.

[Amy] I had to kind of temper my hope.

I thought that the chances that

the person would already be in the system

with the DNA profile already was probably low.

Um, when they were gonna be testing people that were

involved in my life,

you know, um, at the school and in the community,

I was hopeful.

Law enforcement, police, they really pushed hard and fast.

And they went wide and they really

were open to any information and testing that information

to see if they could figure out who the guy was.

Amy was able to provide this intense level of detail.

And we had a sketch done with a kit

that had transparent slides in it

of different facial features.

"Amy, is this chin him?" "No."

And you do that for the nose.

And the eyes, the ears,

the forehead, the general shape of the face.

So we had a pretty good description of this guy from Amy,

and then, one of the church-goers that day

told us they witnessed a guy that matched that description,

uh, walking away from the school and leaving in a vehicle.

Which was a blue pick-up truck.

We were able to have Little Rock, the headquarters down there,

run a search

for every vehicle registered in Benton County

that matched the criteria

of this possible suspect vehicle.

And then so, late into the night,

we got word

that one of the detective pairs

had located the vehicle, the blue pick-up.

[Hayes] They found the vehicle north of town.

It was parked at a residence and the owner was home.

So detectives were able to talk with him.

And it was very obvious and very clear

that the man

who owned that vehicle, was driving that vehicle,

uh, was not the suspect.

He was an older man.

Um, way beyond the age of the range given, you know, for the suspect.

So we were able to rule out any connection to the crime right away.

So it kind of, you know, it sucked the wind out of your sails a little bit,

'cause you think you have a, you know, a solid lead,

and then, uh, we find it, and it,

it kind of washed out and didn't work, so.

You know, that's the way things just kind of went for the next several leads.

[Amy] I couldn't even say the word 'rape'.

I couldn't say the word 'rape' for a long time.

You hear about a woman being raped,

and you think, "Oh, that's just so awful."

"Poor thing. How is she gonna get over this?"

And I didn't wanna be that person.

The fact that it had happened to me was bad enough.

But then, to communicate in a single word,

what had happened to me,

to someone else,

was very real.

And, um, you know, comes with a whole basket load of emotions.

[Judy] It's almost as though those times are blank.

There was shock and everyone was so upset and disturbed.

[Amy] When my husband found out what happened to me,

he was really angry and hurt.

And being a police officer,

how frustrating, you know?

He's the guy that helps to solve the crime.

That locks the bad guy up.

And it's his own wife.

You almost can't avoid having

this event having an emotional impact.

Uh, sexual impact.

That was, for both of us, the kiss of death on our marriage.

You know, I mean, sometimes, I just needed a hug.

Sometimes, I... [sniffles] just needed space.

Sometimes I needed to just scream in a pillow

and beat something up with a bat.

But, you know, reality is,

I can only stay gone from teaching for so long

before I had to get back to work.

I had students to deal with,

you know, some of whom had,

if not outright knowledge,

some idea that I had been through something that was bad.

They tested hundreds of people.

And things just weren't coming back.

There was no match.

As time went on, I... really had to come to terms

with the fact that my case

might be one that was never solved.

[Hayes] Weren't, you know, a lot of leads coming in.

You know, it felt like the case was worked

to the level that we could at the time.

You know, this case happened in 1997, right?

And the laws of the state were very different then.

And there's something called a statute of limitations.

And basically what that means is that

after a certain length of time,

that case can no longer be prosecuted, okay?

And it starts when law enforcement finds out about the case, right?

So, on the day that this happened, the clock starts ticking for us,

and rape in Arkansas is a Class Y felony,

and in 1997,

there was a law in the books that said

all Class Y felonies have a statute of limitations of six years.

Meaning that in six years,

if we did not bring this case to a closure,

or have an active warrant for the suspect,

then we could not prosecute him, even if we found out who it was.

I thought there was no way

that this guy wasn't out there hurting other people.

And as time went on,

and DNA collection continued to be a developing thing,

and the technology was developing

and getting better and better and more specific,

I was very surprised that things weren't coming up.

Either this guy was really good and just wouldn't get caught,

or this was some sort of anomaly,

and I was just out of luck.

Never gonna know.

Fast forward to 2003.

You know, there was a lot of talk

about that statute of limitations running on us

in November of that year, and what are we gonna do about it?

And, uh, about that same time,

Wisconsin kind of pioneered what's called a John Doe DNA warrant.

And the premise of it is, is that,

you know, in a case like Amy's, you know,

the sexual assault happens and you have biological evidence

that can be basically be narrowed down

to one human being on the planet, right?

Through DNA testing.

That that is enough to identify that person as a suspect

and you could then issue a warrant

for a person with the matching DNA of, you know,

put the sequence out there

on the actual warrant.

And therefore, you stop the statute of limitations.

As time went on,

that that DNA sample would still be a viable comparison,

should they be able to find somebody.

[Hayes] You know, I typed it out.

Prosecuting attorney's office approved it.

And we go to the judge, and uh, he signed it,

which gave us then an active arrest warrant.

We just had to figure out who it was that had that DNA.

[Andrew] Gateway is in northeast Benton County.

We're probably one and a half miles from the Missouri line.

Still shoot your guns in the city limits.

But it's quiet.

This is, uh, the Mayor's office.

[producer] Who's the Mayor?

That should be me.

Gateway, 15 years ago,

we never locked anything.

Violent crime was almost non-existent.

Unless it's somebody from somewhere else.

The town has only had one police officer

probably since its existence.

This is Grant. This is his senior picture in high school.

He graduated in '86.

That's when he made constable.

And got his flag and his badges.

He was very proud of what he did and accomplished.

That was our church pictures.

Yes, that was taken about, oh, six or seven years ago.

I felt like Grant was my soulmate.

We went to church every Sunday.

He was a gentleman.

He has been a policeman

ever since I met him.

He was the chief of police.

He was also the constable.

So he took care of everybody's problems.

He was the only one that I ever trusted,

as far as men went.

He was always looking out for me.

Always protecting me.

I had Madison. She was a miracle baby

'cause I was 46 when I had her.

[Madison] When my dad was chief of police at Gateway,

he did stand a little taller, he was a little prouder.

and it seemed like he was happier with that job.

And a lot of people did respect him

'cause he was very good at his job.

In the townhall,

they saw that he was kind of the leader in that sense,

of the town.

I did think that it was my dad

who would go out everyday and he would fight the bad guys

and it was just really cool to me.

As a little girl, I was somewhat aware

that, um, my dad's job was dangerous.

And it did worry me a little bit,

but for the most part,

I was just looking up to him and thinking,

"Wow, that's so cool. My dad's a police officer."

Like, what does your dad do? [chuckles]

Grant was a big man... at the time.

He was very muscular.

And he could pretty much take care of his self.

So he never had anybody to back him up.

'Cause he worked deep nights.

[John] I have lived in northwest Arkansas my entire life.

I run an iron shop, and then I have a farm

and run cattle as well.

On the day of this incident,

foreseen nothing being different about that day.

I went out to Bella Vista and finished up an iron fence.

Then I was headed home and returned off on Twelve Corners.

Twelve Corners turns into Gann Ridge,

and within half of a mile west of the bridge,

I've come up on the first car.

And another 150 yards probably in front of that car,

or to the east, was the pick-up.

So probably within 100 yards after I had passed the truck,

I heard what I thought was someone had fired a rifle.

-[gunshot] -[birds screeching]

James Appleton is our brother.

With us five kids, we were all together.

-We stayed... -We were like stick on bread.

And James always came by.

He could be boisterous at you,

-but still be your friend. -Yeah.

[Andrew] James' job was a Gateway public water operator.

And then he worked for the city and did maintenance on the park

and the roads, for the city.

Think James and I worked together for about three or four years.

'cause I was down helping by myself.

And James came out one night when I was working.

We had a big water main break and we couldn't find it so he helped.

And then I said, "Hey, would you like to have a job?"

And James said yeah,

so Water Board, they hired him up and he got his license

and... good employee.

[recording playing]

Uh, well, that was a unique day.

I remember it being the end of the day.

And I remember the call very well.

Came in, and get out there, to the scene.

And I could see the light flashing on the truck.

And I can see an individual...

uh, slouched over.

Uh, hands still near the steering wheel.

Foot on the brake pedal.

It was clear to us that Mr. Appleton was deceased, immediately.

So the first thing we looked for is,

okay, is this a gunshot wound?

Which we were clearly able to determine that

not only was it a gunshot wound,

that it was more than likely a shotgun,

and that it was more than likely at close range.

Very quickly, we realized,

uh, from talking to people, some of the detectives,

uh, that there was a few witnesses to this.

[recording playing]

[John] So he waved me around and a... after I passed him,

James was in front in his pick-up

and he was sitting, talking on his phone.

James kind of went like... this, to me, as I went by,

'cause he was on the phone.

And then I passed him and continued east.

James on the phone, when he called me,

he says, there's a car sitting behind me,

and he's not moving.

And then, James says, "Well, they're easing on up now."

On up, you know, beside him.

[gunshot]

And then that's when I heard something like

his truck door slammed.

He had Bluetooth on his truck, so to me it sounded like

the door slammed. The car door... the truck door slammed.

That's what it sounded like on the phone.

So probably within 100 yards after I had passed James,

and I was...

[sniffles]

So after I passed James and probably 100 yards,

I heard what I thought was someone had fired a rifle.

[gunshot]

[recording playing]

[John] ...he had caught up with me and turned left.

So when I got up to the top of the hill and turned in,

I thought, well, I should probably go back and check.

So I went up and checked on James.

[recording playing]

So the police arrived and then took me to the car

and he says, well, he says,

being that you found James,

I would like you to file a report.

I said, "Sure."

He said, "Do you have any idea who done this?"

So I told the deputy, I said, "He lives right up there."

[recording playing]

[Linda] The job made Grant feel very superior.

He could walk a lot taller when he got that job.

He thought he was invincible.

He oversteps his authority.

He carried a gun on-duty, off-duty.

If a car would make him mad,

if he was driving, he would pull up next to him

and show him his gun.

He was out chasing cars for no reason.

He was pulling guns on the citizens here in Gateway.

And then as time went on, with him being the police chief,

things just started going downhill, fast.

[Andrew] Grant Hardin took the police car

up on 37, and there was a lot that was kind of rode up,

with a little bit of brush and stuff,

and they'd seen somebody drive in there,

so they drove the cop car and then they hit a stump

and busted radiator and some more stuff.

Well, it hit the underneath and tore some things loose

and he brought it back up here and told us what had happened

and that James needed to fix it.

And my brother James said,

"I'm not fixing something that you all tore up, for foolishness."

And Grant Hardin, he just kind of puffed up,

telling me, and I was like,

"You can't tell me what to do," you know, or something.

Like he's the man.

Out there in the parking lot, with James,

he bowed up to him.

So you don't cross me. I've got the power.

Totally... about power.

And that's when I think it all started.

From my understanding, they had some issues with that.

They had had some words and it seemed like

from when we talked to people, they just didn't like each other.

You know, they had actually gotten in each other's face several times.

And, who knows what the level or intensity there is,

as far as the anger.

Obviously, there was quite a bit there, you know.

And my wife, she's on the city council,

so I said, "You guys need to do something."

I said, "Or you're gonna get in a bind soon or something."

The city council made an offer to him.

Either he resign or he was gonna get fired.

He harbored resentment totally.

[news anchor] It was along this road in early 2017

Sharon's comfortable corner of the world was shattered.

[siren wailing]

-[man 1] Heard the shot. -[reporter] That's when you heard the shot?

[news anchor] A booming gunshot

followed by the discovery of a man dead

in his Gateway work truck.

[Sharon] He was an awesome brother.

[news anchor] The victim was James Appleton.

[Sharon] He was just that type of a brother that

would bend over to help anybody.

[news anchor] Moments after the deadly shot,

deputies needed help finding the suspect.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Linda] We were all home.

I was off work.

He, at the time, didn't have a job.

He was out in the front yard, doing yard work.

He came in and told us to get ready

because he was gonna take us to dinner,

but he said to take our time.

So we were in the house, taking our time,

and he was out in the front yard,

and next thing I know, I see his car leaving.

[Andrew] Only thing that I could figure out is just,

James left Grant Hardin's house.

Hardin, having been outside,

I don't think he had time to go in and get a gun and stuff.

So looks to me like that it was probably in his car,

and then when he seen James go by, then, he takes out after him.

We know that Mr. Hardin was outside, working in the yard

so it's, you know, easily could have happened.

So we had figured Mr. Hardin pulled up the side,

with a shotgun, and shot Mr. Appleton

point blank, within maybe five to ten feet away.

-[gunshot] -You know, and then, driven off.

[Linda] He was back in about 10 minutes.

I had no idea what was up

when Grant came back in.

He was just in a big rush.

He was like, "I need to go now."

Grant went home, got his family to get in another vehicle,

and they go to dinner.

[Madison] I just remember he kept saying, "I love you," "I love you," "I love you"

to both me and my mom.

And he made several statements to them

that certainly in hindsight...

because he said, "Look, if we don't see each other anymore,

just always know that I love you" and things like that.

So, looking back, you can see that he was already working out in his mind

that, that this was not gonna work out.

[indistinct chatter]

[Nathan] During that time, Sheriff's deputies had already spoken with Mr. Bray

and knew the guy they were looking for was Grant Hardin.

And so, as they're still working the scene,

later that afternoon and evening,

up pulls Mr. Hardin.

[Linda] It was dark, and they had the road block up,

um, stopping everybody,

and then when it got to us,

and he told 'em his name,

they asked him to step out of the car.

When Mr. Hardin showed back up at the crime scene, basically,

we took him out of the car, placed him in handcuffs,

transported him back to the Sheriff's office.

[recording playing]

[Grant speaking]

[Chamberlin speaking]

[Grant speaking]

[Chamberlin speaking]

[Chamberlin speaking]

Mr. Hardin basically chose to remain silent.

He did not want to give a statement.

And, you know what? That's his right.

But, uh, didn't matter. We had enough evidence against him.

[woman speaking]

[Nathan] So I do think we had a strong case at the time.

One of the ways that we connected to Mr. Hardin

was through one eye-witness.

So that's the reason for the investigation to continue

is you want to get as much evidence as you can.

You want to collect the blood spatter

and the DNA evidence from Mr. Hardin's car.

The DNA is typically collected and that's put into their system

and run through what they call CODIS.

And run against every other known DNA offence, uh, in the country.

I was, uh, on my way to Nashville.

I was driving, headed there for a meeting.

And my... detective...

and he called, and, uh, he said,

"We got him."

I'm like, "Are you saying what I think you're saying, Dave?"

"We [bleep] got him."

And he goes, "You're never gonna [bleep] believe who it was."

And says it was Grant Hardin.

And then I was just like,

"Grant Hardin, Grant Hardin, Grant Hardin.

Wait a second. The name sounds so familiar." He goes,

"Gateway chief of police," and I was just like,

"You're [bleep] kidding me."

[Nathan] I remember at the time, there was zero connection

that Grant Hardin had to Amy Harrison, to the school,

to anything like that, so it's not as if

he had been a suspect or anything.

But when you find out that his DNA hit,

it is certainly a shock.

It almost knocks you off your feet.

[cell phone ringing]

I got a call from one of the detectives

at Rogers Police Department.

He said that they had a suspect.

And I jumped up in the middle of my living room,

off the couch, you know.

Just... in disbelief. I couldn't believe it.

When I went through the array of driver's license photos from 1997,

and it was 2018 at the time,

you know, after 21 years,

and I just put my thumb over

each driver's license head,

you know, so that I could see from the nose down.

And out of like, nine, 12 faces,

I was able to pick his out.

Having seen half his face 21 years earlier,

she picked the [bleep] out.

If that's not attention to detail, I don't know what is.

[Amy] Back then, I felt like

the guy was in law enforcement.

Just by the way he moved and his mannerisms.

And this guy was a police chief

in a very small community.

So, I had been right.

But I didn't know Grant Hardin at all.

I actually saw him for the first time in the sentencing hearing.

That was the first time I had seen his physical...

face, since that event.

When this happened 20 years ago,

we were married.

He was a policeman, so he knew

how to get away.

Because he went in in his stocking feet,

so they couldn't get shoe prints.

He would have gotten away with raping her

if he had not murdered this guy.

I sat in meetings with that [bleep].

I sat across the table from that guy.

Don't remember ever shaking his hand.

I hope I didn't.

Think about that and think,

"He was right there and nobody knew."

[Hayes] He had to know who I was.

And my involvement in the rape that he'd committed 20 years earlier.

He had to know.

If he's not a psychopath or a sociopath,

we're gonna have to re-define the terms

because how on Earth

can you know that you have raped a woman,

that DNA evidence was obtained,

and yet still go to these meetings and still do what he did?

I mean, I think it represents just an unbelievable narcissism on his part,

that he would parade himself

as, you know, the great protector of the public,

when in reality, uh, he was the greatest threat.

[news anchor] Hardin pleaded guilty to the rape.

The man who worked as a police officer,

a police chief, a county constable

and a corrections officer,

was now on the wrong side of the law.

[Linda] I remember him walking away

and he had his head down

as they took him out. I just cried.

I couldn't stop crying.

Here we are, with Chief Hayes Minor,

a photo of him.

[laughs]

The news conference after the sentencing hearing.

You know, this, um, this really drove home,

you know, for me personally,

um, the impact that a crime like this can have

on a person, a family.

[Amy] He was pretty excited.

There's a photo of me hugging the prosecutor.

[news anchor] Teacher from 1997, Amy Harrison,

spoke to a crowd of media

after learning of Hardin's guilty plea.

I don't know... I'm not sure that forgiveness is the right word that I could use.

I guess, just, um, settled.

I felt for Amy very much.

[voice trembling] I felt bad for her.

I wanted to talk to her.

But I just couldn't.

I just couldn't.

I felt glad that they had found the person that did this to her.

But in the meantime too,

I felt sad that it took my brother's life

to find this person that did this.

It took my brother to get his DNA.

I do feel like my dad did take something from all three families.

Especially from the Appleton family.

You know, it's just disgusting to think that one man has that much power to do that.

I think Grant took every step he could take

to commit the perfect crime.

Uh, except he did not count on Amy Harrison.