Nathan Millard’s body was found rolled up in a carpet and wrapped in plastic in an empty lot off a Louisiana road. Police don’t think he was ki*lled in any way.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office did an autopsy, and the preliminary results showed that there was “no evidence of internal or external trauma,” Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy J. Paul, Jr. said at a news conference on March 7 that was streamed by WAFB.
The chief said that the final autopsy results won’t be known until more studies are done, such as toxicology tests. He also said that the cause and way of Millard’s death won’t be known until the final autopsy report is finished.
Millard, a 42-year-old husband and father of five, was found dead near Baton Rouge’s Scenic Highway at about 3:30 a.m. on March 6.
Police told WBRZ that a passerby saw his remains, which were badly broken down, rolled up in a carpet and wrapped in plastic in an empty lot.
Captain Kevin Heinz of the Baton Rouge Police Department told the media on Tuesday that investigators are still trying to figure out how he got there.
“It looks like he was left there, but it’s unlikely that’s where he died. Heinz said, “I don’t want to get into the details of our investigation, but work is being done to find and talk to whoever may have put him there.”
The man’s family in Covington, Georgia, told WAFB that they think he “likely died of an accidental overdose.”
During the press conference, Heinz wouldn’t say anything about the rumors that Millard’s death was caused by drugs.
“We’ll ask the person who put him there to come forward if something went wrong or if there was a moment of panic. Heinz said, “All we want to know is what happened to him.”
Millard was reported missing on February 23. On the night of February 22, he left Happy’s Irish Pub on Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge by himself, according to a Facebook post from Texas EquuSearch, a non-profit group that was helping police with the search.
Amber Milllard, his wife, told WSB-TV that her husband went missing while on what was supposed to be a short business trip with a client for his Conyers, Georgia-based company, Advanced Construction.
Heinz told what police think were Millard’s last moments on Tuesday.
Heinz said that surveillance video shows that after Millard left the bar that night, he went to a Greyhound bus station.
At the bus stop, he met a security guard who offered to drive him somewhere, but Millard turned down the offer. Heinz also said that Millard didn’t look like he was in trouble and left on his own.
Heinz said that the last time Millard was seen was around 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 23. Officials say he never made it back to his hotel, the Courtyard Marriott.
11 Alive says that the client with whom Millard spent time at the bar asked for a welfare check the next morning when Millard didn’t show up for a meeting.
In the post, Texas EquuSearch said that Millard’s phone and wallet were later found a few blocks away from his hotel.
Amber Millard told WSB-TV that she had last talked to her husband earlier in the day on a video call while he was at a college basketball game with a client. After that, he went to the bar.
She told the outlet, “It’s a nightmare I want to wake up from.”
WAFB says that Millard is survived by his wife and five children, the youngest of whom is 7 years old.
Investigations are still going on.
Call Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867 if you know anything about the case.
