NASHVILLE, Tenn.— Authorities say they have caught the man who they say killed a man in Tennessee and tried to pass off the body as someone else’s by calling 911, saying he was that person, and saying he had fallen off a cliff while being chased by a bear.
A worker at a hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, recognized Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, on Sunday, the city’s police force said in a Facebook post. A fingerprint scanner was used to prove his identity, and he was being held by the U.S. Marshals Service until he could be sent back to Tennessee.
Since last month, people in Monroe County, Tennessee, and other places have been looking for Hamlett.
“A good citizen reported Hamlett to the police after seeing him at a local hospital. This ending of the manhunt was peaceful,” Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones wrote on social media.
Last month, the sheriff’s office said Hamlett called 911 on October 18 and said he had fallen off a cliff while running away from a bear. Authorities say Hamlett said he was hurt and partly in the water while using the name Brandon Andrade.
When police searched the area near a Tellico Plains highway bridge where the call came from, they found the body of a guy with Andrade’s ID on it.
But the police found that the man wasn’t Andrade because his ID had been stolen and used more than once. The person who used Andrade’s stolen ID was Hamlett, who the sheriff’s office said was wanted in Alabama for violating his parole. The police confirmed that Andrade was living and well.
Jones said that forensics experts also found that the death was caused by blunt force damage to the head, which doesn’t fit with a high fall or a bear attack.
They say Hamlett probably left his home in Tennessee before cops could confirm who he really was. That led to a search for Hamlett, who was thought to be armed and risky. The U.S. Marshals Service was giving up to $5,000 to anyone who could help them find him.
Police searched Chapin, South Carolina, on October 31 with police dogs and helicopters after getting word that Hamlett was in the area and asking people to lock their doors on Halloween night. On the next day, he was seen near a city high school.
On November 4, the Tennessee sheriff’s office said that the man who had died was 34-year-old Steven Douglas Lloyd from Knoxville. Police said Hamlett made friends with Lloyd and then lured him into the woods so he could kill him and steal his name.
Lloyd’s family told the sheriff that he had reactive attachment disorder and would leave home to live on the streets but stay in touch with them.
In a post on November 4, Jones said, “Steven loved the outdoors and was always willing to help others.” “Steven’s family was shocked to learn that someone they trusted had killed their beloved son.”
