UPDATED: Tennessee murder suspect that Chapin police were searching for arrested at Columbia hospital

The Chapin Police Department, in collaboration with the U.S. Marshals Service, was actively searching for a murder suspect in the Chapin area of Lexington County, but according to a release from the Columbia Police Department, the suspect was arrested on Nov. 10 at a Columbia, S.C., hospital after someone who works there recognized him and called authorities.

Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, wanted for a Tennessee murder and an Alabama parole violation, is believed to have family residing in the Chapin area.

He is a white male, 5'8", weighing 170 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. 

On Oct. 31, federal, state, county and local law enforcement officers, along with several K-9s and a helicopter from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, were dispatched to the Town of Chapin. The suspect was not located at that time.

In the early hours of Nov. 1, at 1 a.m., Hamlett was spotted near Chapin High School and Generations of Chapin close to 431 E. Boundary St. Although the SLED helicopter and K-9s were deployed again, the suspect was not located.

The Chapin Police Department urged residents and visitors of Chapin to remain alert and exercise caution. 

According to an Oct. 25 press release from the Sheriff's Office of Monroe County, Tenn., law enforcement received a call about a distressed hiker.

"He advised the dispatcher that he had fallen off a cliff while running from a bear," the release read. "The distressed caller claimed that he was injured and partially in the water." 

Authorities searched the area and discovered a deceased male with identifications saying he was Brandon Kristopher Andrade, but soon discovered that the deceased was not Andrade, and that the Andrade identification had been stolen and used on multiple occasions, according to the press release. 

It is believed that Hamlett had stolen that identification. He is wanted in Alabama on a parole violation.

"Mr. Hamlett had used a false name when speaking with law enforcement in Knox County, TN after the distressed hiker call," the release read. "Before his real identity had been verified, Mr. Hamlett is believed to have fled his Tennesee residence."