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The person who called 911 said he was being chased by a bear, but after his body was found with a fake ID, he is now a murder suspect | US News
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The person who called 911 said he was being chased by a bear, but after his body was found with a fake ID, he is now a murder suspect | US News

The man who called the police, saying he fell off a cliff while being chased by a bear, is wanted on suspicion of murder after a body was found in the place where he called.

Nicholas Wayne Hamlett is suspected of faking his own death by pretending to be a “distressed hiker” named Brandon Andrade while calling 911 on Oct. 18, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee said Friday.

The sheriff’s office said the caller fell off a cliff while running from a bear, was injured and was partially submerged.

The call pinged to the Charles Hall Bridge area on the Cherohala Skyway in Tellico Plains, Tennessee, a small mountain town with a population of about 800 people.

The sheriff’s office said emergency responders and search and rescue teams then went to the scene and found a “deceased male” with “the identification of Mr. Brandon Kristopher Andrade.”

However, detectives later determined that the dead man was not Mr. Andrade, but that “the identity was stolen and used multiple times.”

They later discovered that Hamlett, who was wanted in Alabama on a parole violation, was using the ID.

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The sheriff’s office said: “Mr. Hamlett used a false name when speaking to law enforcement after the distressed hiker call. Before his real identity was confirmed, Mr. Hamlett is believed to have fled his home in Tennessee.”

While Hamlett is currently wanted on suspicion of first-degree murder, authorities warn that he is armed and dangerous and is known to use various aliases.

Anyone who sees him is asked to call 911.

Multiple agencies, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and the FBI, are working to identify the dead man.