MIAMI — A nationwide manhunt is underway for a man wanted in connection with a murder in Tennessee last week.
The Monroe County, Tennessee, Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help Saturday night in locating 45-year-old Nicholas Wayne Hamlett for first-degree murder. Authorities told CBS News Miami he had ties to Montana, Tennessee, Alabama, Alaska, Kentucky and Florida.
Hamlett is reported to be 5’7″ and 170 pounds and is considered armed and dangerous. Authorities said Hamlett’s location is currently unknown and if you see him, do not approach him and call 911 immediately.
Just before 11:35 p.m. on October 18, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received a call transferred from Polk County, Tennessee, regarding a hiker in distress who claimed to be a man named “Brandon Andrade,” the report said. Saturday evening press release. The man reportedly told dispatchers that he “fell off a cliff while running from a bear” and was injured and partially fell into the water. Authorities were able to pinpoint its location to the area of the Charles Hall Bridge on the Cherahola Skyway in Tellico Plains, at least 80 miles northwest of Chattanooga.
When emergency personnel and search and rescue teams from various agencies arrived, they found a dead man with Andrade’s identification card on him and took the body to the county’s regional forensic center by Knox.
Monroe County sheriff’s detectives examined the scene and learned the dead man was not Andrade and that the ID “had been stolen and used multiple times,” the news release states. Additionally, they learned that Hamlett had used Andrade’s identification card and that he was wanted out of Alabama for violating his parole. It was later determined that Hamlett used a false name when calling Knox County dispatch after the distress call. However, he reportedly fled his Tennessee home before his identity was verified.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the FBI and various other Tennessee law enforcement agencies, worked diligently to locate Hamlett and obtain more information about the deceased. The dead man was only identified as a John Doe. Special agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are currently working on sketches of John Doe that will be made public.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation and more information will be released at a later time, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.
