A Georgia man who was found dead rolled up in a rug in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after disappearing during a business trip died of an accidental drug overdose, according to the coroner.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office determined 42-year-old Nathan Millard died of a fatal combination of fentanyl, cocaine and ethanol after the drugs were found in his system, according to a statement from the office obtained by Oxygen.com.
The autopsy, which was conducted earlier this month, found “no evidence of internal or external trauma,” leading the coroner to conclude Millard’s death was “accidental.”
Millard disappeared after traveling to Baton Rouge in February to attend a Louisiana State University basketball game with a client, according to NBC News.
The Georgia father was last seen Feb. 22 leaving Happy’s Irish Pub on foot around 11:30 p.m. and was believed at the time to be heading back to his hotel, Texas Equusearch reported after the disappearance.
But authorities now believe that Millard met up with some strangers to do drugs and ended up dying at a run-down drug house on Lorri Burgess Ave. as the night got out of control, according to arrest warrants obtained by WBRZ.
Derrick Perkins, 45, was arrested earlier this month and charged with unlawful disposal of remains, obstruction of justice, simple criminal damage to property and failure to seek assistance after police alleged he dumped Millard’s body in a vacant lot rolled up in a carpet. He was also accused of illegally using Millard’s debit card.
Perkins told police that he picked up Millard and two others, identified only as “L.M.” and “C,” up on Convention St. after the group was looking for some drugs in the early morning hours of Feb. 23, according to the court records.
Perkins told authorities that they all drove around “getting high” on crack cocaine before they stopped at a Circle K gas station and Millard and the two others went inside. Millard returned and asked Perkins to drive somewhere else because he was worried the other two people were planning to “set him up to rob him,” according to the warrants.
Millard asked Perkins to get him a “white girl” and take him to “somewhere safe,” authorities alleged.
Perkins picked up Tiffany Ann Guidry and the three went to a nearby house, police said. Perkins then left to get another woman, Tabbetha Barner, after Millard allegedly said he wanted more “white girls,” according to the court records.
According to Perkins’ account, Millard and the two women began to shoot up with a syringe while he waited outside, authorities said.
Perkins said the group asked him to go pick up some items from a store using Millard’s debit card and later requested he go get some more drugs. At some point during the early morning hours, Perkins told police Barner came running out of the house and told him that Perkins was dead.
Someone in the group tried to administer Narcan, a drug that can reverse overdoses, but it was too late, authorities said. Perkins told police the women asked him to “get rid of the body” and he “panicked” and agreed, rolling Millard up in a rug and loading him into the trunk of his car, according to the arrest warrants.
Millard’s remains were later found in the vacant lot on March 6.
Phone records also placed Perkins near the lot where Millard was found, according to an affidavit obtained by WXIA.
Baton Rouge Police announced last week that they had active warrants out for both women. Guidry, who is facing charges of unlawful disposal of human remains, prostitution and failure to seek assistance, was later taken into custody Friday after she was spotted standing on the corner of Nicholson Drive and Terrance St.
Barner, who is facing charges of prostitution and failure to seek assistance, is still wanted.
Barner allegedly told police in earlier interviews that she never met Millard and only supplied the Narcan after Perkins came to her home looking for help. She said she had tried to ride along but Guidry was riding in the front passenger seat and the back didn’t have any room for her, according to WBRZ. She told authorities that she saw Perkins again later that morning when she saw him using Millard’s debit card. She agreed to go with him back to the home, but said she never went inside or saw Millard, according to the court documents.
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