Fugitive arrested on suspicion of murder weeks after ‘faking own death in bear attack’
Police have said Nicholas Wayne Hamlett pretended to be a man named Brandon Andrade – whose stolen identification was found on a dead body in Tennessee.
A fugitive suspected of faking his own death by calling 911 and saying he had fallen off a cliff while being chased by a bear has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, had phoned 911 pretending to be a “distressed hiker” named Brandon Andrade last month, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee said at the time.
It added that Hamlett had claimed he was injured and partially in the water.
Emergency responders later found a “deceased male” at the scene with the “identification of Mr Brandon Kristopher Andrade on his person”, the sheriff’s office said.
However, detectives later determined that the dead man was not Mr Andrade but rather that “the identification had been stolen and used on multiple occasions”.
They later discovered that Hamlett, who was wanted in Alabama on a parole violation, had been using the ID.
Meanwhile, Mr Andrade was alive and well, the authorities confirmed.
The dead man was identified as Steven Douglas Lloyd from Knoxville, by the Tennessee sheriff’s office.
Forensics officials also determined that the 34-year-old’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, which isn’t consistent with a high fall or a bear attack.
Hamlett had befriended him before luring him into the woods to take his “life and identity”, Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones said in a social media post.
Mr Lloyd had grown up in foster care and was diagnosed with a mental health condition called reactive attachment disorder, Mr Jones added.
He would often leave home and spend time living on the streets but stayed in touch with his adopted family, the sheriff continued.
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Hamlett was wanted by police for more than three weeks before he was recognised by an employee at a hospital in the city of Columbia in South Carolina on Sunday.
They alerted the police before Hamlett was arrested and his identity was confirmed with a fingerprint scanner.
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Mr Jones said he has “pending charges for first degree murder out of Monroe County, Tennessee and a parole violation out of the state of Alabama”.
He was being held in the temporary custody of the US Marshals Service on Sunday while he awaited extradition to Tennessee.
Hamlett was considered armed and dangerous during the manhunt but Mr Jones said it came to a “peaceful end”.
The US Marshals Service had been offering a reward of up to $5,000 (about £4,000) for help finding Hamlett.
