A multistate manhunt has ended with the arrest of a man accused of killing a person in Tennessee and disguising the victim’s identity, officials said on Sunday.
On Oct. 18, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received an emergency call shortly before midnight from a man who said he had fallen off a cliff while running from a bear.
The distressed caller claimed he had been out hiking in Tellico plains in Eastern Tennessee and had injured himself in the fall. He identified himself as Brandon Kristopher Andrade.
The call was pinged in the area of the Charles Hall Bridge on the Cherahola Skyway.
Search and rescue teams from various agencies responded, and soon they found the body of a man who was carrying the ID of Andrade. However, investigators quickly noted that the deceased man was not Andrade and the ID he carried on his body was stolen.
Police found out that the ID had been used on several occasions prior to the murder, leading the investigation to 45-year-old Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, a man with a violent criminal history. He had been previously charged with attempted murder and was currently “wanted out of the State of Alabama on a parole violation,” according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
An arrest warrant for first-degree murder was issued on Oct. 26.
The U.S. Marshals Service put out a wanted poster for Hamlett with a $5,000 reward.
During a press conference on Oct. 30, District Attorney Stephen Hatchett asked the public for help in finding the suspect, as did Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones, who further emphasized that anyone communicating with Hamlett without notifying law enforcement, would also face criminal charges.
“There is a family suffering and there is a violent, wanted person walking our streets,” he said.
U.S. Marshal David Jolley described Hamlett as “an extremely dangerous individual” and the crime “very gruesome,” as he, too, requested citizens’ assistance.
“Our greatest assist is the public,” he added and in the end, he was correct. A hospital employee in Columbia, South Carolina, recognized Hamlett over the weekend and alerted the police.
Hamlett was arrested Sunday night by the Columbia Police Department, who confirmed his identity through fingerprints.
Hamlett is currently held in custody by the U.S. Marshals’ Carolina Regional Fugitive Task Force.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in the investigation by multiple other agencies including the Monroe County Violent Crime Task Force, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, Knoxville Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Hamlett’s victim was later identified as 34-year-old Steven Douglas Lloyd of Knoxville, Tennessee, Jones announced in a Nov. 4 Facebook post.
Jones said Lloyd was a foster child who had been adopted “by a great loving family.” However, Lloyd suffered from mental health issues, which led him to live on the streets, though he kept contact with his family.
According to the sheriff, Hamlett befriended Lloyd before luring him into the woods to take his life “and his identity,” which harks back to Hamlett’s wanted poster, stating he was “known to travel under aliases.”