Call about hiker chased by bear leads to body; officials say it was staged, caller wanted for murder

A man who called police claiming he fell off a cliff while running from a bear — leading officials to discover a dead body — is now wanted for murder, Tennessee officials say.

The man called dispatch on Oct. 18 posing as a distressed hiker, claiming to be a man named Brandon Andrade, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Friday.

He told dispatch he had fallen off a cliff while running from a bear, and was left injured and partially in water, the sheriff's office said. That call was pinged in the area of the Charles Hall Bridge on the Cherahola Skyway in Tellico Plains, a small mountain town in Tennessee with a population of about 800 people.

Emergency services along with search and rescue teams from various agencies responded and a search was conducted for the man.

Authorities then discovered a body “with an identification of Mr. Brandon Kristopher Andrade on his persons,” officials said.

However, a the investigation found that the dead man was not Andrade, rather, “the identification had been stolen and used on multiple occasions.”

Officials said that they learned Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, had been using Andrade's stolen identification, and Hamlett was wanted in Alabama on a parole violation.

Nicholas Wayne Hamlet.Monroe County Sheriff’s Office

“Mr. Hamlett had used a false name when speaking with law enforcement in Knox County, TN after the distressed hiker call. Before his real identity had been verified, Mr. Hamlett is believed to have fled from his Tennessee residence,” the release from the sheriff's office said. 

An arrest warrant has been issued for Hamlett for first-degree murder out of Monroe County, Tennessee. 

The deceased man has not yet been identified and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is working to develop a sketch of him.

Multiple agencies, including the TBI and FBI, are looking for information on the deceased man and on Hamlett's whereabouts.

Officials warn Hamlett is considered armed and dangerous, known to use various aliases, and anyone who sees him is asked to call 911 or Monroe County Dispatch.