Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Cop Has Too Much Power // The Grant Hardin Murder Story

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Grant Hardin is former police officer and convicted felon whose criminal history spans multiple decades. He was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 2017 broad-daylight shooting murder of city worker James Appleton. After his conviction, his DNA entered into the federal database linked him to a cold case from 1997 involving the assault of a schoolteacher.

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor, free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming, Ontario. Sometimes cops are just as bad as the people they arrest, and sometimes they're worse. Now, this guy's name is Grant, and Grant is about 28 during this time, and he lives in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Grant, is a police officer, but he's the worst kind of police officer. He has anger issues, he doesn't take criticism well, he thinks he's never wrong, he's quick to use excessive force on people,

and because of this, he's been fired or forced to resign from multiple police departments. But, because it's the 90s, when he gets fired from one department, he just goes and gets hired at a new one. Then he gets fired and then gets hired again, then he gets fired and he gets hired again. It's like he keeps failing upward. Now eventually in 1996, Grant is forced to resign from the Eureka Springs Police Department because he was caught lying on an official police report and using excessive force. Surprise, surprise. But then one day in 1997, he does some really evil shit. Because it's the weekend and there's a woman working at this local elementary school. She's a third grade teacher, and there aren't many people at the school that day, because it's the weekend, and she's there prepping for classes.

And for some reason, we're not sure why he decides to target her, but he decides that he's going to attack her. So he puts on a ski mask and sunglasses, and he sneaks into the school, and he waits. And at one point, this teacher leaves the classroom to go to the restroom in the teacher's lounge. And when she comes out, boom, Grant is wrong. waiting there with a gun. And from here, he essays her multiple times. Then he flees the scene. And eventually, police investigate all this and they're able to collect DNA from the attack, but it doesn't match anyone in their database. So ultimately, the case goes cold. And Grant gets away with it completely, like it never happened. Now, from here, Grant doesn't immediately go back

into law enforcement. I couldn't find any record of his employment, so I'm not really sure what he does. But I did find that in 1998, he was arrested and charged with indecent exposure. He's showing his junk to someone, I guess. So that's fun. Years later, in 2005, he's charged again for fleeing from police in Eureka Springs, and in 2007, he's charged with domestic battery. So clearly, he's not a good guy, and he's not staying out of trouble. trouble. Oh, but it gets better because the next year in 2008, he runs for public office. He runs to be constable for District 1 in Benton County, Arkansas. I guess the voters didn't know about his violent history or they just didn't care because he actually wins that election. Okay, but here's where it

gets really crazy. So years go by, and it's now 2016, and he's like lost all his hair at this point. And he applies for a job in Gateway Arkansas. And Gateway Arkansas is a really small town, 450 people living there. In fact, it's such a small town that it has a police force consisting of only one police officer, meaning that police officer is also the chief of police. And so Grant applies for this job and he actually gets hired. So now this violent sexual predator is the chief of police. And on this job, immediately his sociopathic tendencies come out, and he abuses every bit of power that he has.

He carries his police-issued gun around, on duty, and off-duty. He chases cars around town and stalks people he doesn't like. If someone pisses him off on the road, he'll chase them down and he'll approach them and point his gun right at them. And people in Gateway quickly start hating him. All 450 of them, I guess. He's just too much to deal with. And a few months go by. And one day, Grant is out on patrol, and he sees a car driving around, and he decides he wants to investigate it.

So he follows it, and he pulls off the road onto this area with a lot of brush. So Grant, he's driving around this brushy area, and boom, he runs over a tree stump. And this damages the hell out of the undercarriage of the police cruiser he's driving. Now, him wrecking his own police car, it's not like a huge scandal, but it would make him look incompetent to the rest of the town who already hates him. So he wants to get it fixed fast before anyone notices, and he takes the car to a guy to fix it. This guy, Appleton. Appleton works for the local water department, and he's just known to be good at fixing things. So Grant goes to Appleton's workplace, and he asks him to fix his cruiser.

And his entitled ass wants it done for free. But Appleton, he doesn't like Grant, because no one does. So he's like, no. Because he wants people in town to see that this incompetent police chief wrecked his own car. And he's not going to help cover it up. And Grant does not like being told no. In fact, he says straight up, you don't say no to me? And this sparks an argument.

And this argument gets heated. and these two guys get right in each other's faces. So now they officially hate each other. And over the next few weeks, Grant and Appleton run into each other again and again and again, and each time they exchange words and they get into an argument and they get into each other's faces. Now, unlike Grant, Appleton is a very well-respected guy around Gateway.

Everyone there knows him. Everyone there knows he's a stand-up dude. And this story of their feud and how Grant tried to get him to fix his police cruiser to cover up the fact that he himself wrecked his own car, it eventually reaches the city council. And so the city council reviews the situation and they discovered that Grant lied about how the car was wrecked and he claimed that he was involved in some high speed chase, which he wasn't. So now the city council knows that he lied and that everyone in town has been complaining about him. So they decide to give him an ultimatum. Resign right now or they're going

to fire him. So after only four months in that position as chief of police in Gateway, Arkansas, Grant resigns in disgrace. And of course, he is super pissed off about this. I mean, he finally had a high-powered police job and he lost it because of Appleton. He is not going to let this slide. So about nine months go by. And Grant, he gets a new job. He works as a correctional officer in Fayetteville. because I guess none of these places do proper background checks. I don't know. Anyway, Grant's petty ass still hasn't let this go. He's still holding a grudge against Appleton,

and he isn't going to allow himself to lose. And so one day, he's outside working in his yard, and he sees Appleton drive past his house in his work truck. And for whatever reason, Grant decides that right now is the time that he's going to get his revenge. So he gets into his car and he starts following him, and Appleton pulls over to the side of the road to make a phone call, and Grant pulls up right behind him. Then, while Appleton is sitting in his truck talking on the phone, Grant pulls his car up right beside him and he points a gun at him and blam! He shoots him. And this, unfortunately, kills him. But there were witnesses driving by and they see Grant driving away from the murder scene.

So they call the police. And later that night, bam, Grant is arrested. Here's his mugshot. And so he takes a plea deal and he gets sentenced to 30 years in prison. But once he's in the system, he has to submit a DNA sample and enter it into the national database. And what do you know? Boom. It matches the DNA collected from the sexual assault he committed all the way back in 1997.

So he pleads guilty to that too. and another 50 years is added to his sentence. Good.