A former police chief and convicted killer known as the “Devil in the Ozarks” was captured by law enforcement 1.5 miles northwest of the prison he escaped from following a massive manhunt in the mountains of northern Arkansas, authorities announced Friday.

Grant Hardin's identity was confirmed through fingerprinting, the Izard County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post.

Hardin, the former police chief in the small town of Gateway near the Arkansas-Missouri border, was serving lengthy sentences for murder and rape. He was the subject of the TV documentary "Devil in the Ozarks."

An elite and highly trained U.S. Border Patrol joined the search in the Ozark Mountains for Hardin, federal authorities announced this week.

The Border Patrol Tactical Team known as BORTAC provided "advanced

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