Grant Hardin had gained notoriety as the subject of the 2023 documentary “Devil in the Ozarks’’ about his 1997 rape of a school teacher and 2017 murder of a water department worker.

After a nearly two-week-long search in the rugged mountains of northern Arkansas, authorities recaptured Hardin on Friday 1.5 miles northwest of the prison.

Though Hardin was thought to have left Arkansas, investigators now believe he never got very far from the prison.