Man accused of staging fake Tennessee bear attack arrested for murder in South Carolina

According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, an Alabama fugitive accused of staging a murder in Tennessee last month as a bear attack, has been arrested at a South Carolina hospital. Meanwhile, the man police say Hamlett killed has been identified as new details emerge about the crime Hamlett allegedly committed.

In mid-October, Tennessee authorities said Hamlett called 911, telling them his name was Brandon Andrade and, while hiking about 80 miles northwest of Chattanooga, he had been chased by a bear off a cliff and was injured. Police pinpointed the location of the call, but when they arrived, they found a man dead with Andrade’s ID, but the body was someone else.

Police then said Hamlett stole Andrade’s ID and had used it on several occasions while on the run, wanted for a parole violation in Alabama. In 2011, Hamlett pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault stemming from a 2009 incident when he held a man at gunpoint, tried to kill him with a bat, and then attempted to bury him alive. But Hamlett was paroled in 2016 and has been a fugitive ever since.

Hamlett was recognized in the hospital

According to Monroe County authorities, Hamlett was recognized at a Columbia, SC, hospital, identified through his fingerprints, and arrested without incident. It’s unclear why Hamlett was in the hospital, but he was spotted about a week before his arrest near Chapin, SC, less than thirty miles from Columbia, according to Knoxville news outlet WVLT.

Tennessee police have also announced that 34-year-old Steven Lloyd was the man found dead with Brandon Andrade’s ID in October. The real Andrade’s status is unclear. Police have also revealed tragic details about Lloyd, who Hamlett is now accused of killing. In a Facebook post, Tennessee authorities say Lloyd died from blunt force trauma and had been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder, a rare condition that begins in childhood when infants and young children don’t “establish healthy attachments with parents or caregivers,” according to Mayo Clinic.

Lloyd was tricked, his mother said

According to Lloyd’s adoptive mother, Joanna Mcgraw, because of Reactive Attachment Disorder, Lloyd often trusted people when he shouldn’t, and based on that fact, Hamlett lured Lloyd to the wooded area where he died. “He was being tricked that he was going to get money and a house and all this stuff, and he said, ‘Momma, this is the nicest guy I‘ve ever met.’ I hope at the end Steven went out still believing that,” Mcgraw told WVLT. “I can’t stand the thought of him knowing that he was betrayed big for the final time,” she added.

In their Facebook post announcing Hamlett’s arrest, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said, “We would like to thank the news media for sharing Hamlett’s wanted poster throughout the country. The sharing of Hamlett’s wanted poster led the public, [who] 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.” Multiple reports have said Hamlett may have tried to fake his own death, killing Lloyd, who sometimes lived unhoused, and planting Andrade’s ID to then assume Lloyd’s identity, but an official motive for the crime has not yet been announced.