A man police wanted to speak with about the death of Georgia businessman Nathan Millard in Baton Rouge last month has been arrested on unrelated charges.
Baton Rouge police said Derrick Perkins, 45, was arrested on multiple charges, including a probation violation, criminal damage to property, 3 counts of access device fraud, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Police named him last week, saying he was “needed for questioning” about Millard’s disappearance and subsequent death, but they did not call him a suspect, as CrimeOnline reported.
Millard, 42, traveled to Louisiana on business on February 22 and went to a Louisiana State basketball game and then a pub the next night with his client. But when he failed to show up for a meeting on February 24, the client called police.
The client said Millard left the pub at about 11:30 p.m., but he never made it back to the hotel. Investigators tracked him on surveillance cameras until about 4:30 a.m.. At that point, he was missing until March 6, when his body was found about three miles from where he was last seen, wrapped in plastic and carpet.
According to WBRZ, Perkins’ arrest warrant says that he was driving a 2004 Toyota Camry that had been reported stolen on February 3 and that he had spray-painted the car’s bumper, removed a rear bumper sticker, and swapped the car’s license plate in order to “disguise” the car. He made those changes, the document says, around the time Millard’s disappearance “gained national attention.” A police spokesperson told the station that the car was found burned on Monday.
The affidavit also says that Perkins was seen on surveillance video using Millard’s debit card at two locations within days of the Georgian’s disappearance.
Additionally, Perkins’ address as recorded in the court documents is less than a mile from the empty lot where Millard’s body was found.
Police have said that preliminary information does not indicate foul play in Millard’s death, but investigators repeatedly said they wanted to speak with whoever wrapped his body and put it on the vacant lot.
Perkins was arrested on Monday and booked into jail early Tuesday. There is no current information about upcoming court appearances.
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[Featured image: Nathan Millard/handout]
