U.S. Marshals Task Force Arrest Attempted Murder Suspect in Niceville

Niceville, FL – The U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force from Pensacola arrested an Alabama man this afternoon who is wanted for luring a another man into the woods where he had planned to kill him and then bury him in a grave he already dug up. Nicholas Wayne Hamlett, 31, is wanted on charges of Attempted Murder, Kidnapping and Menacing after tricking the man into following him into a wooded area where he had planned to beat the man to death. Hamlett had a baseball bat, zip ties, gasoline, a bag of lime and a pre-made hole intended to be the man’s grave waiting for him. According to reports, Hamlett first beat the man and then tied him up with the zip ties. However, at some point the unidentified man apparently broke free and beat Hamlett so severely he was in a coma for about two weeks. Hamlett was arrested without incident by Marshals and Task Force Officers from Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Niceville Police Department at an apartment complex on the 700 Block of Palm Blvd., in Niceville. Hamlett was believed to be in the Niceville area for about a month or so working as a waiter in a local restaurant. He was booked into the Okaloosa County Jail as a fugitive from justice until he can be extradited back to AL.

Also arrested by the Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force today was 52 year old Thomas John Bach of Pensacola. Bach was arrested by members Marshals and Task Force members from Santa Rosa and Escambia County Sheriff Offices on a federal warrant for Failing to Register as a Sex Offender. Bach was indicted in Federal Court under the 2006 Adam Walsh Act which allows the federal government to prosecute those who leave one state and fail to register in another. Bach allegedly had been traveling throughout the U.S. and possibly abroad the past several years never registering. The Task Force finally caught up with Bach today at the Gulf Power Crist Plant in Escambia County and arrested him without incident. Bach is in the Escambia County Jail on the federal charges.