Man Who Allegedly Disguised Killing as Bear Attack Captured in South Carolina | South Carolina

Authorities in South Carolina have arrested a man who allegedly murdered a hiker in a wooded area in Tennessee and then tried to disguise the murder as a bear attack.

Nicholas Wayne Hamlett was arrested Sunday night in Columbia, nearly a month after police found the body of hiker Steven Lloyd of Knoxville, Tennessee, near the Cherahola Skyway in Monroe County, 80 miles northeast of Chattanooga.

On October 18, the Monroe Sheriff received a call from a person who identified himself as Brandon Andrade, claiming to be injured and partially submerged after being chased by a bear and falling over a cliff.

Rescuers found a body with Andrade’s ID on it – but investigators quickly determined that the victim was Lloyd. They said Hamlett stole Andrade’s identity and used it multiple times to avoid arrest for a probation violation in Alabama.

Sunday’s arrest in South Carolina ended a manhunt in several states to which Hamlett, 45, was known to have ties. He was recognized at a local hospital and identified by the FBI through fingerprints after his arrest.

Hamlett now faces extradition to Tennessee, where he faces first-degree murder charges after investigators concluded he befriended 34-year-old Lloyd and then killed him before making the false 911 call about a bear attack has.

He is also wanted by authorities for violating his probation in Alabama, where he was previously charged with two counts of attempted murder and various other crimes, including kidnapping and forgery.

According to al.com, FBI agents worked with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and local police to locate Hamlett, who was arrested in Florida more than a decade ago after allegedly luring a man into the woods in Coosada, Alabama had.

The Alabama News Agency said Hamlett held the victim at gunpoint in that case and tried to hit him with a baseball bat before attempting to bury him alive. He was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping – but accepted a deal in 2012 to aggravated assault and a 20-year prison sentence.

According to al.com, this episode involved a trust scam in which Hamlett used the name Joshua Jones when addressing the victim so “he could get insurance.”

Court records show Hamlett has four prior felony convictions.