Nathan Millard was found dead and rolled up in a rug early March 6, 2023 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police said.
Police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, announced that there’s no sign of foul play after a missing man was found dead and rolled up in a carpet but authorities did acknowledge, however, that someone left Nathan Millard, 42, there.
“And look, we’ll ask, whoever put him there, if something happened and there was a moment of panic, come forward,” Capt. Kevin Heinz said in a press conference on Tuesday. “We just want to know what happened to him.”
Police cited the preliminary autopsy results for why they say there’s no sign of foul play.
“No evidence of internal or external trauma noted,” said the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office in a statement obtained by Law&Crime. “Final autopsy results pending further studies including toxicology testing. Cause of Death and Manner of Death are pending completion of the final autopsy report.”
Heinz said signs of foul play would include gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma. He declined to answer a question as to whether there were any drugs involved.
As previously reported, Millard was visiting Baton Rouge from Covington, Georgia, for what was supposed to be a brief work trip. He was last seen the night of Feb. 22.
“Nathan was last seen on video leaving the Courtyard Marriott on 3rd Street and Florida Ave. wearing a black Carhartt shirt, jeans, brown boots, and a black Columbia® baseball hat,” search and recovery organization Texas EquuSearch wrote last Wednesday. “It is known that Nathan visited Happy’s Irish Pub on 3rd Street and Convention St. and is believed to have left the pub, on foot, at approximately 11:30 PM to return to the hotel. His phone and wallet were found discarded several blocks away, but there have been no sightings of Nathan.”
Heinz said on Tuesday that they used surveillance cameras from local businesses to track Millard’s whereabouts the night of Feb. 22 into early morning Feb. 23. At one point, the man wound up at a bus station, the captain said. A security guard offered to help him because she felt he was out of place, though he did not appear to be in distress. She offered to get him a ride or call police for him. Millard declined and left on his own accord, Heinz said.
According to the captain, the man was seen through the next several hours and tracked to several local businesses. He was tracked until approximately 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, said Heinz, who kept it vague because of the ongoing investigation. He declined to specify Millard’s whereabouts and circumstances at this time.
Describing the totality of this video evidence, the captain said Millard appeared to be at those locations under his own power, and he did not appear to be in distress. Heinz said there appeared to be nothing happening that was criminal in nature.
And yet Millard somehow died and wound up rolled in a rug in a vacant lot in the 2900 block of Scenic Highway. He was discovered Monday at 3:34 a.m., police previously said.
“It does appear that he was left there,” Heinz said. “That’s most likely not where he died.”
Now police want to speak to whoever left Millard there.
“I know that he was placed there, obviously by another individual,” Heinz said. “We would like to know who and why, but just from the autopsy results that were given by the coroner’s office at this time there doesn’t appear to be any signs of foul play.”
A reporter noted that the rug was left at the scene. Keeping his answer vague, Heinz said “everything that needed to be collected was collected from that scene.”
Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said that anyone with information on the case can call Crime Stoppers at 225-344-STOP (7867).
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