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A man told 911 a bear chased him off a cliff. Weeks later, he was arrested for murder
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In mid-October, a man called police in eastern Tennessee claiming a bear had chased him off a cliff. But authorities arrived on the scene to find the body of a different man, sparking a multistate manhunt for the caller that ended with his arrest on murder charges this weekend.
Authorities say Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, befriended and lured his victim into a wooded area to take both his life and identity. Hamlett, who was using an alias at the time, has a lengthy criminal history and was already wanted in Alabama for parole violation.
After the October incident, another warrant was issued for Hamlett's arrest on first-degree murder charges in Monroe County, Tenn.
State and federal authorities warned that Hamlett, whom they considered dangerous and potentially armed, was known to travel under aliases. They urged Hamlett to turn himself in, and asked the public for help: The U.S. Marshals Service offered up to $5,000 for information leading to his arrest.
After many weeks of searching — and one Halloween night spotting — Hamlett was taken into custody in Columbia, S.C. on Sunday.
"After observing Hamlett at a local hospital, a good citizen alerted the authorities and brought this manhunt to a peaceful end," Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones said in a release.
Columbia police say a hospital employee recognized Hamlett and alerted authorities, who verified his identity using fingerprints. They say arrangements are being made with Tennessee authorities to extradite Hamlett to Monroe County.
What happened in the woods?
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office says a distressed hiker called 911 shortly before midnight on Oct. 18 "claiming to be a Mr. Brandon Andrade."
"He advised the dispatcher that he had fallen off a cliff while running from a bear," it said, adding that the call came from near a bridge on the Cherohala Skyway — a 43-mile national scenic byway — in Tellico Plains. "The distressed caller claimed that he was injured and partially in the water."
According to the dispatch call obtained by the Knoxville News Sentinel, the male subject had "hit his head," was "unable to move" and his phone only had "2% battery — unable to get him back on 911."
Search and rescue teams rushed to the area and found a man's body "with an identification of Mr. Brandon Kristopher Andrade on his persons." He was transported to the forensic center while investigators combed the scene.
After further investigation, detectives determined that the deceased man was not Brandon Andrade. In fact, they said, that identification had been "stolen and used on multiple occasions" — in this case, as they quickly discovered, by Hamlett.
"Mr. Hamlett had used a false name when speaking with law enforcement in Knox County, TN after the distressed hiker call," the sheriff's office explained. "Before his real identity had been verified, Mr. Hamlett is believed to have fled from his Tennessee residence."
That set off a multi-agency investigation — by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, FBI and others — to locate Hamlett and identify the victim.
Who was involved?
On Nov. 4, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office announced it had identified the victim as 34-year-old Steven Douglas Lloyd of Knoxville, Tenn.
It said Lloyd, a foster child who had been adopted by a "great loving family," suffered from trust issues and mental health issues including reactive attachment disorder.
"Steven was known to leave home and live on the streets, but kept in contact with his family," the sheriff's office said. "Steven loved the outdoors and was so helpful when it came to others. The family was shocked to learn that their beloved son's life was taken by someone that Steven trusted."
Authorities did not specify how long the two men had known each other, but said Hamlett "met Steven, befriended him and lured him into a wooded area to take Steven's life and his identity."
Officials said at an Oct. 30 press conference that Lloyd's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, adding that his injuries were "not consistent with a bear attack" or "a fall from a very high elevated cliff."
They also said his killing was "not an isolated incident by any means," given Hamlett's violent criminal history.
Hamlett was arrested in Alabama in 2009 over an incident in which he held a man at gunpoint and attempted to hit him with a baseball bat, with plans to eventually bury his body in a rural area, AL.com reports.
Citing court records, the site says Hamlett was going by the name Joshua Jones when he approached the victim so "he could get some insurance." Hamlett, who had four prior felony convictions, was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping but ultimately pleaded to the lesser offense of felony assault.
Hamlett was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2012 and paroled in July 2016.
Where did Hamlett go?
In the weeks after Lloyd's death, authorities urged the public to be on the lookout and for Hamlett to turn himself in.
"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. "We will find you, no matter where you hide."
Authorities warned that Hamlett has ties to Tennessee, Montana, Alaska, Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida, suggesting he had fled to another state.
Their hunch proved correct.
On Halloween night, police in Chapin, S.C., — where Hamlett apparently has family — said he was reported to be in the area and urged trick-or-treaters to be extra vigilant. They confirmed that he was spotted near the local high school in the early morning of Nov. 1 and that state and federal authorities were searching the area.
Their efforts were unsuccessful. The following Friday, a week after the sighting, police said Hamlett was no longer believed to be in town.
Two days later, he was spotted at the hospital in Columbia, about 25 miles away.
Officials with Carolina's Region Fugitive Task Force said a dehydrated Hamlett had checked into the hospital as a John Doe, ABC affiliate WPDE reports. That's where police say an employee recognized him from a wanted poster.
"The sharing of Hamlett's wanted poster led the public, whom is our most valuable resource, to act as our eyes and ears," Jones said.
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