Arrest made after hiker murdered in small mountain town slaying staged as bear attack
Nicholas Hamlett is suspected of murder in Tennessee. (Monroe County Sheriff's Office)
The hunt for a fugitive who spent weeks on the run after allegedly calling in a bear attack to cover up a murder came to a close after he was recognized at a hospital this weekend.
Nicholas Wayne Hamlett pretended to be a man named Brandon Andrade when he dialed 911 around 11:34 p.m. on Oct. 24 and told police he was injured and trapped in a body of water after a bear chased him off a cliff while hiking in Hamilton County, Tennessee, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office wrote in a Facebook post at the time.
Authorities traced the call to an area near Tellico Plains, northeast of Chattanooga. There, they found a bloodied corpse with Andrade's ID – but injuries to the body were not consistent with a bear attack or a fall from a high height, authorities said, and the body was not Andrade's. The sheriff's office said the victim was later identified as 34-year-old Knoxville resident Steven Douglas Lloyd.
"Nicholas Wayne Hamlett met Steven, befriended him, and lured him into a wooded area to take Steven's life and his identity," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post on Nov. 4.
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Police said they later learned that Andrade's ID had been stolen by Hamlett and was used multiple times. Police believe Hamlett stole the ID to escape parole and then faked his death for an unknown reason.
On Sunday evening, authorities in Columbia, South Carolina, notified the Monroe County Sheriff's Office that they had found their "armed and dangerous" fugitive at a local hospital, the Tennessee agency wrote in a Facebook post.
"We would like to thank the news media for sharing Hamlett's wanted poster throughout the country," the office wrote. "The sharing of Hamlett's wanted poster led the public, whom is our most valuable resource, to act as our eyes and ears. After observing Hamlett at a local hospital, a good citizen alerted the authorities and brought this manhunt to a peaceful end."
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Members of the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Office joined Tennessee authorities on Oct. 30 at a press conference, urging the public to look for Hamlett and for the fugitive to turn himself in.
"Nick. Let’s end this peacefully. Turn yourself in. Have your day in court," Joseph Carrico, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Nashville field office, said at the press conference.
"The long arm of the law has a long and huge reach, and we will find you no matter where you hide. The deputies and investigators here now know their county well. The TBI agents know their state well. The FBI and the Marshal Service know the country well and have reach across the world. So there’s nowhere to hide," Carrico continued.
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Nicholas Wayne Hamlett was wanted for first-degree murder in Monroe County, Tennessee. He allegedly stole the identity of Brandon Andrade and claimed to be Andrade when he called 911 posing as a hiker who had been chased off a cliff by a bear. (Monro
Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones said previously that Hamlett and Lloyd knew each other for "quite a few months" before the attack took place.
Hamlett, 45, used a fake name when police questioned him about his 911 call, they said. Authorities believe he has abandoned his Tennessee home and say that he also has connections in Alabama, Montana, Alaska, Kentucky and Florida.
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"There is a risk to the public, a great risk to the public," Jones said. "The offender, he does have a history. He did know this victim. He has known him for quite a few months now. But yes, there is a risk of the public. This was not isolated incident by any means."
The U.S. Marshals Service offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the wanted man.
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In 2009, Hamlett was arrested in Niceville, Florida, after he lured a man into the woods in Alabama, according to WBS.
Hamlett held the Alabama man at gunpoint and attempted to strike him with a baseball bat before burying him in the woods, AL.com reported. He used the name Joshua Jones when he reached out to that victim so "he could get some insurance," according to court documents reviewed by the outlet.
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Hamlett was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping in 2012, but pleaded to the lesser offense of felony assault and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He had four prior felony convictions, according to Alabama court records.
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Hamlett faces charges of first-degree murder in the unidentified man's death, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.