NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A fugitive accused of killing a man in Tennessee and trying to pass off someone else’s body by calling 911, identifying himself as that person and saying he fell off a cliff while being chased by a bear has been captured in South Carolina, according to authorities. said.

In a Sunday social media post, the Columbia Police Department said Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 45, was recognized by a hospital employee in the South Carolina city. Authorities confirmed his identity with a fingerprint scanner and he is in the temporary custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending extradition to Tennessee.

Authorities in Monroe County, Tennessee and elsewhere had been searching for Hamlett since last month.

“After spotting Hamlett at a local hospital, a good citizen alerted authorities and brought this manhunt to a peaceful end,” Monroe County Sheriff Tommy Jones said in a social media post.

The sheriff’s office said last month that Hamlett called 911 on Oct. 18, claiming he had fallen off a cliff while running from a bear. Using the name Brandon Andrade, Hamlett claimed he was injured and partially in the water, authorities added.

When responders searched the area near a highway bridge in Tellico Plains where the call had come from, they found the body of a man with Andrade’s ID.

However, the authorities determined that the man was not Andrade, whose identity document was stolen and used several times. The person using Andrade’s stolen ID was Hamlett, who was wanted in Alabama on a parole violation, the sheriff’s office said. Andrade was alive and well, authorities confirmed.

Forensic officials also determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, which is not consistent with a hard fall or bear attack, Jones said.

Hamlett likely ran away from his home in Tennessee before police could verify his true identity, authorities said. This sparked a manhunt for Hamlett, who was considered armed and dangerous. The US Marshals Service has offered a reward of up to $5,000 for help finding him.

On October 31, law enforcement searched Chapin, South Carolina with helicopters and police dogs after receiving information that Hamlett was in the area, telling residents to lock their doors on Halloween night. He was seen near a high school in the city the next day.

On Nov. 4, the Tennessee Sheriff’s Office identified the dead man as Steven Douglas Lloyd, 34, of Knoxville. It was said that Hamlett befriended Lloyd, then lured him into the woods to kill him and take his identity.

According to the sheriff, Lloyd’s family said he had been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder and would leave home and live on the streets, but remained in touch with his family.

“Steven loved the outdoors and was so helpful when it came to others,” Jones wrote in a Nov. 4 social media post. “The family were shocked to learn that their beloved son’s life had been taken by someone Steven trusted.”