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
🚨CAPTURED🚨Fugitive & Monroe Co. Tennessee murder suspect #NicholasWayneHamlett was located & identified at a @CityofColumbia hospital a short time ago. Hamlett is in the temporary custody of @USMS_Columbia Carolinas Regional Fugitive Task Force. pic.twitter.com/CVVzQ8A92d
— Columbia Police Dept (@ColumbiaPDSC) November 10, 2024
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…