Laura Richards (4:58)

I'm at the.

Nicholas Hamlet (4:59)

I'm at the waterfall.

Peyton Moreland (5:01)

And to make matters even worse, his phone Battery was at just 2% on this 911 call, and he was afraid that his phone would shut off before the police could find him. Brandon even warned the dispatcher that he might not be able to answer if they hung up and then tried calling him back. Now, sure enough, Brandon's phone dropped the call right after he said that, and nobody was able to reach him again. The operator kept calling over and over, but none of those calls actually made it through. Now, this is scary, alarming, and honestly, kind of eerie. I mean, it's 2024. You get a call in the middle of the night. This guy's hiking was chased by a bear and now has fallen off a cliff and needs rescued phone at 2%. All the odds are stacked against him. But luckily, the dispatcher knew just enough about Brandon's position to give the police a general description of where he might be. Like I mentioned before, they knew he was not too far from a certain highway. And. And that highway crossed very close to a popular hiking trail. So teams of rescuers scoured that region, and within a matter of hours, they actually found Brandon. But sadly, it was too late. He was already dead. His body was covered with bumps and bruises, just like you'd expect if he'd fallen off the cliff. Plus, just like he'd mentioned, there were clear signs that he had badly hit his head. Brandon had landed not too far from a bridge near a waterfall, just like how he had described on the phone. And sure enough, his body was half in the water and half on the land. He has a wallet on him, and inside, his ID said that he was Brandon, just like he had told the dispatcher. So the police figured this is the same man who called 91 1. I mean, the odds were already very low that another man had died in this exact same spot in the same way. But his ID kind of cinched it. It was enough for the investigators to call off the search and have Brandon's remains transported to the coroner's office. But when the medical examiner began their post mortem surgery, they noticed something odd. Brandon's body was covered in injuries, but none of them were consistent with a bear attack. And they honestly almost didn't match falling off a cliff either. Instead, Brandon died of blunt force trauma to the head. And the medical examiner thinks that this was no accidental bump. Instead, the coroner thought it looked like someone had beaten Brandon to death with. With a bat or some other kind of weapon. In other words, the medical examiner believes that Brandon had not died in a hiking accident. Like the person had said on the phone, he was murdered. And obviously, Brandon hadn't called the police and pretended he was being attacked by a bear while he was actually getting killed. So once all of this comes to light, the investigators actually believe that Brandon's killer had been the one to make that 911 call, pretending to be him. They'd probably figured that the police would find the body, assume Brandon had died from the bear attack and the fall and then close the case without any further investigation. Honestly, this is a pretty good way to cover up a crime. So of course, the biggest question now is who had done this? Like, they do not believe this is an accident. So the investigators pulled Brandon's records to see if he had any enemies. And once again, they found something very strange and unexpected. See, some time ago, Brandon had reported to the police that he was a victim of identity theft. A scammer had somehow accessed all of his personal information, and they were using his name and Social Security number for criminal purposes. Basically were actually multiple scammers who were conning people. And they all told their victims that they were Brandon. So when people inevitably realized that they had been ripped off and went to the police, they gave the authorities Brandon's name. And the investigators didn't know the real con artists identities. So the criminals kind of just kept getting away with it. In the past seven years, maybe longer, before 2024, there had been dozens of cases where the officials had suspected Brandon of committing one crime or another, only for further investigation to reveal his identity had been stolen once again and he was innocent. In fact, it soon became clear that the real Brandon didn't have anything to do with the dead body in the morgue either. Because get this, all of this comes to light. The id, the fact that his identity is stolen and then possibly stolen again on a phone call. Police are trying to, you know, learn about Brandon and discover he's alive. The police were able to track him down, talk to him, and confirm he's okay. The dead man was not Brandon. The murderer had put a fake ID into the victim's wallet to throw the police off their trail. Literally. Not only has Brandon been had his identity stolen his entire life, his identity was just stolen to be used on a dead body as well. Honestly, a twist no one saw coming. But if the killer really did all of this to try and cover their tracks, this part was a big mistake. Because once the investigators realized that Brandon had been a victim of identity theft, again, they were able to connect him to a particular scammer. I mean, there's a long trail of scams of people who have been using Brandon's identity for years. Someone who used Brandon's information in the past and had been caught. This was a man named Nicholas Hamlet. Now, he had been using Brandon's identity, plus several other stolen aliases since 2017. And it took no time at all for the officers to realize that Nicholas had taken out multiple life insurance policies against Brandon. This Stolen identity. Meaning this particular scammer stood to make a lot of money if Brandon was ever found dead. So he certainly had a good reason to fake Brandon's death and make it look like he had passed away in a hiking accident. Plus, Nicholas had a long history of arrests and convictions for all kinds of different crimes. Some of those had been pretty minor things like fraud or parole violations. But he had also been convicted of four separate felonies. And that wasn't counting his most alarming previous conviction. In 2009, Nicholas, our scammer, had tried to murder someone. Basically that year, Nicholas was trying to scam another man whose identity has not been released to the public. I know that Nicholas was using a fake name. And when he met this other man, he pretended to be an insurance salesman in order to gain his victim's trust. Well, one night he called his target and said he wanted to sell him an insurance plan. But he said, we can't meet in an office or make the cell over the phone. We need to see one another in person, maybe in a local park after sunset. Now, I don't know what this victim was thinking or if this set off any alarm bells for him, but the man did agree to meet Nicholas in the park for this proposed opportunity. And once they were there, Nicholas revealed, obviously there was no insurance plan, no business deal. Instead, Nicholas drew a gun. And then he marched his target over to a freshly dug grave and he told the man he was going to be buried there. Now, I honestly don't know if Nicholas was just trying to intimidate him or if he had decided to murder this man in cold blood. And I also don't know what he would have had to gain from killing this man. What I do know is that his would be victim decided this night he wasn't going to go down without a fight. He charged Nicholas and ended up in a very violent struggle with him. And by this point, Nicholas wasn't just trying to intimidate his target anymore. If that was ever even his plan, he was fully willing to kill him. Now, somewhere along the way, Nicholas dropped the gun. But then he managed to get his hands on a baseball bat. He tried to hit the other man with it. But the good news is, is that his target was much better at fighting than Nicholas was. He got the upper hand and ended up beating Nicholas so badly that he passed out. Alright, you guys, we are getting into an ad. And summer is finally here. That means more sunshine, longer days, and so many chances to do all the things we love about this season. And Honestly, who wants to be stuck in the kitchen cooking for hours when we could be out soaking up that sun? And that is exactly why I love factor. Their meals are chef crafted, dietitian approved and literally ready in just two minutes. 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Laura Richards (15:23)

My next place to buy or rent or I just want to scroll through some dream homes, we use the Redfin app and Peyton and I have actually, fun fact, been using Redfin for years.

Peyton Moreland (15:36)

We actually one of our first homes.

Laura Richards (15:39)

Was found on Redfin and I'm pretty sure we used. Didn't we use the Redfin realtor as well?

Peyton Moreland (15:44)

Yes, almost.

Laura Richards (15:45)

So. So if that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is. You can filter for price, beds, baths, square footage and so much more and you find a place you love. Redfin makes it easy to go see in person. Just schedule a tour right from the app.

Peyton Moreland (16:02)

And you know what? If. If you're not one of the people who has found the pleasure of looking at houses you cannot afford on Redfin at night in places that you do.

Laura Richards (16:13)

Not live and you're not a real.

Peyton Moreland (16:15)

Person, you need to join the club right now because there's something so fun about it. Plus, if you're looking to sell, Redfin agents know how to get you the price possible for your home. And that's because they close twice as many deals as other agents. And with a listing fee as low as 1%, Redfin's fees are half of what others often charge, which means you'll have more money to put towards your next home.

Laura Richards (16:36)

Also, my dad actually sold his Home through Redfin too. Remember that? And it was because they charged only 1% or whatever. So he's like, I'm going to sell my home through them.

Peyton Moreland (16:44)

Yep.

Laura Richards (16:44)

Anyways, we're Redfin family over here. So whether you're looking to buy, rent or sell, Redfin has got you covered. Download the Redfin app to get started.

Peyton Moreland (16:54)

So to summarize, Nicholas, this scammer that has also stolen Brandon's identity in the past, tried to murder someone in the past just for his victim to beat him up instead. Now, once Nicholas was unconscious and didn't pose a threat anymore, the man stopped the attack and called the police. They sent a helicopter to fly him to an emergency room. That's how bad this fight was. Nicholas actually spent some time in a coma, but when he woke up, he confessed to everything. He said that he had pulled a gun on this other man, that it was completely unprovoked, and that he really had been trying to kill him during the fight. Basically saying for the other man that this was self defense. Anyway, Nicholas was charged with attempted murder and kidnapping, but he agreed to a plea deal and the police dropped all the charges against him other than one count of felony assault. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and he got out early on parole. So by the time fast forward, this unidentified victim was found in Tennessee, remember, it's not Brandon. Nicholas had been a free man for several years. He had spent that time violating his parole. Nicholas lived in Tennessee even though he wasn't supposed to leave the state of Alabama. And like I mentioned earlier, he was running a lot of scams and living under several false identities, including Brandon's. So once the police learn this insane backstory, they can't ignore the similarities between Nicholas's earlier attempted murder and this one. He had tried to hit his previous victim with a baseball bat. And now another man that somehow tied to him had died of blunt force trauma to the head. Add in the motive of him allegedly wanting to fake Brandon's death and collect on his life insurance policy, it's not too hard to put two and two together and assume that Nicholas might be responsible for this murder. All the police needed to do was determine if the victim and Nicholas had actually known each other. There's a motive. There's a way. So after a bit of investigation, they learned that the deceased man who police originally assumed was Brandon was actually a 34 year old man named Stephen Douglas Lloyd. And once they learn Steven's identity and they look into his life, they learn that he had lived a hard Life. Even before his murder, he grew up in foster care, always bouncing from one home to another. He had no stability. Eventually, he did find parents who were willing to adopt him and bring him into their family. But sadly, by this point, Steven had serious problems trusting people. He was actually diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, which is a mental health condition that happens when, basically, someone struggles to form bonds. People with reactive attachment disorder sometimes can have a hard time opening up to people or being vulnerable with them. They might assume their friends and family members are out to hurt them, even if there's no evidence to suggest they're in any danger. And it seemed that in Steven's case, he never felt entirely comfortable around his new parents, Even though they loved him, supported him, wanted him to be taken care of. Stephen could never quite open up to them. And by the time he was an adult, he chose to move out of their home and. And he ended up becoming unhoused. Now, his parents assured him he could always come back whenever he wanted and he would be welcomed with open arms. But Steven was just too distrustful. He actually felt safer alone. That said, he did talk with his adoptive parents on the phone regularly. Their relationship was about as strong as it could be, given the circumstances, but at least they still had a relationship. And I want to be clear. Steven's family treated him well, as near as I can tell. And he didn't move out in an attempt to hurt them or be difficult. I just want to make it obvious that nobody was in the wrong here. This was just a very difficult situation all around. But at one point in late 2024, while Steven was unhoused, he told his family about a new friend he had made. Apparently, someone had found a way to get past his barriers and finally earn his trust. And according to him, this process took months. But along the way, Stephen became close with his new friend. You have one guess who is the new friend. Nicholas. The scammer and the attempted murderer. Except that's not the name that Steven gave his parents While they were getting to know one another. Nicholas had given Steven a fake name. He'd certainly never mentioned that he'd been in prison for attempted murder or that he was a con artist who constantly used different names. So Steven had no idea who this new person in his life was, and he had no clue about his background either way. Ironically, Steven came to trust Nicholas. It was so rare for him to feel safe around other people, but Nicholas had found a way to con this kind of relationship with Steven, which is obviously unfortunate because Nicholas was the last person Stephen should have let his guard down around the police believed that on October 18, the date of Stephen's murder, Nicholas was trying to pull off another scam. They didn't have enough details to say exactly what the con was, but they do have a theory. At this point, they thought Nicholas had printed a fake driver's license and other documents in Brandon's name. Remember Brandon, who is still alive. But it was getting to a point where he needed to find a new person to impersonate. People were starting to catch on that this Brandon identity was not legit. So Nicholas may have decided at this point to steal Steven's information. Probably figured that since Steven was unhoused and since he didn't have a spouse or children checking up on him, it would probably take a long time for anyone to notice or report the identity theft. In fact, that was a big part of Steven's M.O. he always ripped off vulnerable people who didn't have a lot of resources to keep themselves safe. Anyway, that day Nicholas allegedly called Steven and asked him to meet him up on the remote hiking trail in Tennessee. It's hard to say what Nicholas expected to happen after that. Maybe he figured that he could just steal Steven's wallet and skip town with his id. Or maybe the plan was always to murder Steven and then try and cover it up. It's hard to say if the crime was premeditated or not. I will say it feels a little premeditated considering the life insurance policies that Nicholas had taken out on Brandon and then faked to death and pretended it was Brandon. But the police are confident of one thing. Once they were alone together on this remote trail with no witnesses, Nicholas beat Stephen to death. Then Nicholas supposedly called 91 1, pretending to be Brandon and telling this wild story about a bear attack and a fall off a cliff that happened to Brandon, who was actually Stephen. And the bear attack and fall off the cliff didn't actually happen. Nicholas had murdered him. And then Nicholas left Brandon's driver's license on Steven's body. His hope may have been that the police would find the remains, assume that Brandon had died in a hiking accident because of the 911 call, and then never confirm his real cause of death or identity. And if the plan had worked, nobody would have realized that Steven was dead, that Brandon was actually alive, that Nicholas got the life insurance policies, and also would probably be living as Steven. Now. This whole plan was very complicated. Between the fake ID and the 911 call, it took the police several days to figure out that Nicholas was a suspect. And then weeks for them to determine Steven's identity. The investigators went so far as to call this one of their most complicated cases ever during an interview with the press. And I think it's just because how many times is the person who you think dead actually not dead. They're alive, but their identity has been stolen by multiple people. So now you have multiple suspects, but then who is your actual victim? I mean, once they piece it together, they did go straight to Nicholas's house to question him, but he wasn't there. His wife didn't seem to know where he'd gone or when he'd be back. So this was enough to tell the investigators that Nicholas had probably skipped town. Town. In fact, his friends and neighbors all agreed that none of them had actually seen him since the date of the murder. Eventually, the police found evidence showing that he had bought a ticket on a Greyhound bus back on October 19th. This was the day after Stephen's homicide, and his destination had been out of state. It was to North Carolina. So this point, the Tennessee police collaborated with other departments from out of state, and they announced that they were launching a manhunt. In the midst of all this, they also had a very grim task. They needed to notify Steven's family about the case, about what had happened to him. Now, when Stephen's parents heard this entire story, they were shocked. They couldn't believe that Nicholas had managed to earn their son's trust again. It was so hard to get past his defenses, and it was unthinkable that Nicholas had pulled it off in a few short months. And then it was even harder to accept that Steven had let his guard down for his friend. And then Nicholas was so cruel as to abuse that trust and take Stephen's life. If anything, this whole story just went to show how manipulative Nicholas really was. Now, understandably, the police also understood that Nicholas was capable of seriously hurting people, and they were very worried about what he might do next. So beginning on October 25, 2024, this is about a week after Stephen's death, they hosted multiple press conferences where they showed Nicholas's picture and said he was wanted for murder. And they also warned members of the general public that Nicholas was very dangerous and that he might try to hurt or even kill someone. So they said that if anyone saw Nicholas and thought they recognized him, they should not try to talk to him or intervene personally. Instead, the detectives just wanted people to call the tip line and report any potential sightings. Now, in these press conferences, they also encouraged Nicholas to turn himself in hey lovely.

Nicholas Hamlet (27:33)

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Peyton Moreland (29:12)

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Honestly, my husband's parents use green light for his little siblings. It is such a great way to teach kids about money when honestly financial education is just not something that a lot of us grow up with. Greenlight is the easy, convenient way for parents to raise financially smart kids and families to navigate life together. Start your risk free greenlight trial today@Greenlight.com Dark that's Greenlight.com Dark to get started Greenlight.com Dark sadly, the police didn't have very high hopes that Nicholas was actually going to surrender. So they made statement after statement, always encouraging people to just share information and be on the lookout. They also offered a five thousand dollar reward for any tip that led to Nicholas's arrest. So all across the United States, people begin to be on the lookout for Nicholas. And eventually someone reported a very key sighting on October 31, 2024. This was Halloween evening. That's when someone in South Carolina called the police to say they had just seen Nicholas out and about. Interestingly enough, this sighting was in a town where some of Nicholas's family members lived. So the police figured, dang, he was probably staying with a relative while on the run. They issued a warning to everyone in town. I mean, concerns were high because a lot of families were out trick or treating on this night. Other people were at costume parties or bars. It was one of the worst times to be looking for a dangerous, wanted murderer. And again, people are in masks, they had their guards down, and it would have been very easy to for Nicholas to twist the situation to his advantage. Now the good news was that once people knew to be on the alert, more tips came in. Shortly after midnight on Halloween. Well, I guess it's now November 1st. Another person called the police and they told them that they had spotted Nicholas lurking somewhere near the local high school. So officers descended on the campus hoping to catch him. But to all appearances, they had just missed him. He wasn't there anymore. Search teams scoured every inch of the school and its grounds. Then they went through the nearby neighborhoods. They even brought in helicopters to fly over the area and look for Nicholas from above. Police dogs paced across yards, streets and public parks trying to pick up his scent. But none of these efforts generated any new leads. Now for the next week, all of the local police officers were on high alert, hoping that he would somehow turn up again. But it seems like the near miss had been enough to spook Nicholas. And by that Friday, the officials concluded that he had probably skipped town again and nobody knew where he had gone. So that was discouraging. And even worse after that Sighting. Another week and a half went by with no new breaks on the case. Wherever Nicholas was hiding, he was keeping a low profile. That is, until the night of November 10th. That evening, a few police officers were on patrol when they saw a man at the side of the road behaving erratically. They were in South Carolina, about 25 miles from the town where Nicholas had been spotted on Halloween. But these patrol men weren't thinking about Nicholas when they saw this man. They were just concerned about his health and well being. They picked him up and asked for his name. And when the man introduced himself, the name didn't ring any bells. He obviously didn't say he was Nicholas. So the unsuspecting officers brought him to a local hospital. And there the doctors confirmed that the patient was suffering from dehydration. So nothing serious or life threatening. But while he was getting care, one of the employees at the hospital thought he looked familiar. In fact, they realized that they recognized him from a wanted poster they had seen. Patient was indeed Nicholas Hamlet, the murder suspect. So the hospital employee went up to the police officers and was like, hey, you just brought your suspect in. The staffer basically asked them, do you realize this? And the tip was enough for the police to prevent Nicholas from checking out or getting away again. They took his fingerprints, and that was enough for them to confirm he really was Nicholas. Finally, after nearly a month long manhunt, they arrested him that same day on November 10th. They charged him with Steven's murder and with parole violations. And as of this recording, Nicholas is still awaiting his trial and so is his wife, Taylor. Fiber. Now, I know I haven't mentioned her yet, but to be clear, Taylor was not involved with Steven's actual murder, but she did allegedly help Nicholas evade the police during the manhunt. It started right at the beginning of the investigation, before the investigators had even identified Stephen as the victim. But when they still thought the dead man was named Brandon, some officers went to Nicholas's house to question him. Like I mentioned before, Nicholas wasn't home. Taylor answered. Taylor reportedly did say she knew him, that Brandon was her husband's brother. Now, obviously this is a lie, but she made it sound like Nicholas had a good reason to have all of these connections to Brandon. It wasn't because he had stolen his identity, but because they were related. Now, eventually the police realized this wasn't true, but the lie slowed them down just enough for Nicholas to go on the run because he realized police were after him. And speaking of going on the run, you'll remember how earlier I mentioned that he took a Greyhound bus out of state. Well, according to the police, his wife Taylor was the person who paid for the ticket. And they think she actually knew where he was hiding this entire time. See, there was a good reason why nobody had spotted him for almost three weeks other than Halloween night. That reason was that Nicholas wasn't staying in town or in a hotel. He was camping somewhere very remote. And of course, you need a lot of equipment, supplies, food and water if you're going to camp for a long period of time. Well, Taylor allegedly kept bringing Nicholas all of these things. There are even reports that she was always watching the news, googling new developments in the case. So the authorities believe she gave her husband regular updates on the manhunt to help him know if he was in danger of getting caught for all of this. She was charged with lying to police and, like her husband, is still awaiting trial. Except, unlike Nicholas, Taylor is currently free because she's out on bond. Now until those two cases can go to court. There are a lot of details that we don't know for sure because it hasn't been made public. We still don't know if the police's theory is correct, if Nicholas committed murder because he wanted to steal Steven's identity and collect on Brandon's life insurance, or if there was another motive. The investigators also haven't announced many details about the crime, like what Nicholas allegedly told Steven to get him to come out to that remote area or what kind of weapon was used. But one thing is clear. Steven really trusted his friend Nicholas. And if the evidence is to be believed, he was wrong to do so. I'm not saying that to victim blame him or suggest that Steven was responsible. After all, most people aren't dangerous. The world doesn't have to be a scary place. And there's nothing wrong with letting yourself be vulnerable as you live your life and make good friends. In fact, it's good and healthy to open up to people. But sadly, no matter who you surround yourself with or what kind of life you live, some people can still find a way to betray you. So, yeah, it's good to be open, but it's also worth remembering that you can never be entirely safe from danger. And that is the murder of Stephen Douglas Lloyd. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and I will see you next time as we dive further into the dark together. Goodbye.

Omaha Steaks (37:50)

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