A man wanted for murder in Tennessee after making a fake 911 call claiming to be a hiker who had fallen off a cliff while fleeing a bear attack was captured in South Carolina on Sunday.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office of Tennessee announced that Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, was taken into custody after he was recognized at a local hospital. His identity was confirmed through his fingerprints.
Hamlett sparked a nationwide manhunt after he allegedly made a 911 call on October 18 claiming to be a hiker by the name of “Brian Andrade” who had “fallen off a cliff while running from a bear,” and that he was injured.
When first responders got to the area of Tennessee’s Charles Hall Bridge on the Cherahola Skyway in Tellico Plains, they discovered the body of a deceased man along with identification belonging to Brandon Andrade.
But an investigation revealed that he was not Andrade and that the ID had been “stolen and used on multiple occasions,” according to the sheriff’s office.