KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A murder case beginning with a bizarre 911 call citing a bear attack and a fall from a cliff, a plot for 8 million dollars in life insurance and a multi-state manhunt for the possible culprit finally ends up in court after three weeks of searching.
Below is a timeline of events in the strange Monroe County case starting with the 911 call up to the suspect’s first court appearance Monday.
A man calls the Monroe County 911 dispatch saying that he has fallen off of a cliff at a waterfall after being chased by a bear while hiking and he is bloody, sleepy and partially in the water.
When officers get to the area, they find a dead man with identification reading Brandon Andrade.
Officers later discover that the dead man was actually Steven Douglas Lloyd, 34, from Knoxville, and the man who made the initial 911 call was Nicholas Hamlett.
WBIR received the 911 call through a public records request with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. You can listen to the call below.
The call starts off with the operator telling the caller not to hang up and she transfers him to another dispatcher.
"He's got two percent left on his cell phone," the dispatcher says. "He's fell off a cliff at some waterfalls. He fell on his head. He's hurt pretty bad, said he can't lift his leg."
You can hear the dispatcher typing notes when you hear a man.
"I was running from a bear," he said.
"OK, we've got your location and we've got them headed that way OK?" the dispatcher says.
The dispatcher asks how far down he is and he replies, "I'm at the waterfall."
Then the dispatcher tell him to hold and the call ends.
Police later learned the man they found died of blunt force trauma to the head, and his injuries were inconsistent with a bear attack or a fall.
Knox County Sheriff’s Office sends sheriffs to a home in Knoxville, where they find a man who introduces himself as Nick, Andrade’s brother.
Farther into the investigation, authorities learn that Nick is actually Hamlett.
Later that same day, officials believe Hamlett took a one-way trip on a Greyhound bus from Knoxville to Columbia, South Carolina.
Monroe County investigators call Hamlett’s wife, Taylor Fiber, to ask her some questions about the ongoing investigation.
According to the affidavit, she backs up what Hamlett had said earlier and attests that Hamlett is Nick, Andrade’s brother.
Investigators later learn that she is the one who had bought his Greyhound ticket.
They also learn later that she delivered a tent she bought in Columbia to Hamlett while he was hiding at some point in time, along with a warning that law enforcement was looking for him.
October 30:
Authorities offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to Hamlett’s arrest and hold a press conference.
Police officers in Chapin, South Carolina say that Hamlett was spotted in the area and launch a search using K-9s and helicopters, but are unable to find him.
The dead man is officially identified as Steven Douglas Lloyd, a Knoxville man who struggled with his mental health and spent time on the streets because of it.
Authorities believe that Hamlett befriended him before the murder with the goal of stealing his identity later.
Dozens of people near a shelter in Knoxville recognized Douglas when shown a photo, and described him as respectful, and someone who kept to himself.
After a three-week-long manhunt in multiple states, Hamlett is arrested in South Carolina.
Someone found him along the side of a road unconscious and took him to Columbia Hospital.
When hospital staff ask for his name after he regains consciousness, he says he had amnesia and couldn’t remember anything, according to U.S. Marshal Carlos Flores.
When the workers started looking for anyone missing from local areas, they recognized him from his wanted posters and called the authorities.
Once his identity was confirmed, he was arrested.
The affidavit is released with more details on the case. In it, officials say that Hamlett had life insurance for the Brandon Andrade identity totaling more than $8 million.
They also state that he had been using the identity since 2017. This leads authorities to believe that the murder was financially motivated.
Hamlett is extradited to Tennessee.
Fiber, his wife, has her first court appearance on an accessory after the fact charge. During the hearing, she is assigned a private attorney, and the judge sets her bond at $30,000.
She makes her bond and is released with an ankle monitor and a future court date set for Nov. 26.
November 16:
Hamlett’s first court appearance was set for Monday morning. However, he did not appear because police said he was on suicide watch. The judge set arraignment for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Monroe Co. Justice Center.