BATON ROUGE, La. — We now know exactly what police say happened to a missing Walton County father who was found dead two weeks after he vanished while on a business trip to Baton Rouge.
Police said Nathan Millard’s body was found wrapped in plastic and a rug in an abandoned lot on March 6. Police have since arrested a known drug dealer in the area, Derrick Perkins, 45, on several charges including improper disposal of a body.
Here’s what we now know happened that night:
TIMELINE:
(NOTE: Some details have been left out to protect the privacy of Millard’s family)
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Feb. 22:
Millard leaves from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and flies to Baton Rouge to check out a possible job site for his Conyers construction business.
7:30 p.m. -- Millard Facetimes with his wife from an LSU basketball game.
9:30 p.m. -- He has dinner with a client at Happy’s Pub around 9:30 pm.
11:17 p.m. -- Millard is last seen leaving Happy’s Irish Pub on Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge. WBRZ reports that a worker cut him off because he had too much to drink.
11:30 p.m. -- Millard arrives at a Greyhound Bus station on Florida Street, which is less than a mile from the pub. He’s with another man, according to warrants. He uses an ATM card to withdraw cash.
A security spots him and asks Millard if he needs help. Millard refuses help but tells the employee that he lost his cell phone. The employee offers to call a rideshare for him or take him back to his hotel room but Millard refuses. Millard tells the employee he’s looking for “something to make him feel better,” according to the warrant.
He walks away from the bus station with the unidentified man.
Feb. 23:
Between 11:30 p.m. 4:30 a.m.
Police say the man Millard was with introduces him to some people who flag down a known drug dealer in the area named “Stanka.”
Police have since identified “Stanka” as Derrick Perkins, who was later arrested for improperly disposing of Millard’s body, among other crimes.
Millard, Perkins and a woman get into a light blue Toyota Camry and head in the direction of South Baton Rouge.
4:24 a.m. -- Millard is last seen alive on surveillance video at a Circle K on Nicholson Drive, where he and Perkins make a pit stop and strand two people who were with them at the store.
At some point shortly thereafter, witnesses told police that Millard died of an overdose at a home on East. Washington Street.
Perkins then allegedly wrapped his body in plastic wrapping and a rug before disposing of the body several days later on Ontario Street behind a funeral home.
9 a.m. -- Millard’s client calls police to request a welfare check after he doesn’t show up to a meeting or respond to messages. At some point during the day, Millard’s wallet and phone are found on the ground several blocks from his hotel.
11:00 a.m. -- Perkins uses Millard’s ATM card at an AM Mart on Highland Road, according to the warrant.
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March 5:
12:50 a.m. -- Surveillance video shows the blue Toyota Camry traveling down Ontario Street near where Millard’s body is later found.
March 6:
3:30 a.m. -- Millard’s body is found wrapped up in plastic and in a carpet in a vacant lot on Scenic Highway, about three miles from his hotel and the pub, after a passer-by reports a foul smell.
March 7:
4 p.m. -- Police release autopsy reports finding that there was not internal or external trauma to Millard’s body and at this point, there is no indication of foul play. Police said the final determination of how Millard died is pending toxicology reports.
March 9:
Detectives obtain phone records from Perkins which link him to the Circle K where Millard was last seen alive as well as to the location where Millard’s body was found.
March 11:
Police put out a BOLO for Perkins, who they say is needed for questioning in the Millard case. He’s also wanted for probation violation, criminal damage to property, three counts of access device fraud and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
March 13:
5:15 p.m. -- Baton Rouge police are notified about a vehicle fire. Investigators responding to the scene determine it is a light blue Toyota Camry matching the description of the one Perkins was driving.
The location of the fire is approximately one block east from where Millard’s body was located.
11:24 a.m. -- Police execute a vehicle search warrant on the Camry. A K9 cadaver dog gives a positive alert to the smell of human decomposition in the trunk.
1:30 p.m. -- A search warrant is executed at Perkins’ house, which is the same home on Washington Street where witnesses said Millard died.
Police find a roll of plastic sheeting that appeared to be consistent with the plastic used to wrap up Millard’s body.
Perkins is arrested and later charged with unlawful disposal of remains, criminal damage to property, obstruction of justice and failure to seek assistance, all felony crimes.
March 23
6 p.m. -- Baton Rouge police announce they are now also looking for two women wanted on prostitution charges in connection to Millard’s death. Tabbetha Barner is wanted for prostitution and failure to seek assistance. Tiffany Ann Guidry is wanted for unlawful disposal of human remains, prostitution and failure to seek assistance.
March 24
Baton Rouge police announce that Guidry was arrested and booked on charges of unlawful disposal of human remains, prostitution and failure to seek assistance.
March 28
1 p.m. -- East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner William “Beau” Clark releases the results of the autopsy and toxicology report for Nathan Millard.
Clark ruled Millard’s death an accident. The toxicology report revealed that Millard had fentanyl, cocaine and ethanol in his system at the time of his death.
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