A man suspected of killing a vulnerable Tennessee man by faking a fatal bear attack was arrested in South Carolina, authorities said Monday.
Police in Columbia, S.C., arrested Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, Sunday night after a hospital worker recognized him from wanted posters and notified authorities.
Authorities started looking for Hamlett after he allegedly called 911 on Oct. 18, identifying himself as Brandon Andrade and claiming he had tumbled off a cliff while fleeing a bear, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee said. The caller said he’d been injured and was partly in the water. When cops arrived, they found the body of a man with Andrade’s ID, but who wasn’t Andrade.
The dead man was identified as Steven Douglas Lloyd, 34, of Knoxville, according to the sheriff’s office. Hamlett had befriended him to lure him into the woods, kill him and steal his identity, authorities charged. He was identified Nov. 4.
Lloyd had been a foster child “adopted by a great loving family,” police said, and suffered from trust issues and a mental health disorder.
“The family was shocked to learn that their beloved son’s life had been taken by someone who Steven trusted,” the sheriff’s office said.
According to authorities, Andrade’s ID had been stolen and reused numerous times by Hamlett, who was wanted in Alabama for violating parole. The bear story didn’t hold up either, since an animal would not have inflicted the blunt force trauma to the head that forensics officials said caused the victim’s death.
Police charged Hamlett with first-degree murder, WATE-TV reported.
With News Wire Services
