BATON ROUGE, La. — An arrest affidavit for the man accused of disposing a Georgia husband and father's body in Baton Rouge offers several new details into the last hours of 42-year-old Nathan Millard's life.
A man in Baton Rouge, Derrick Perkins, is accused of rolling Millard's body into a carpet and dumping it after driving it around in his car for 2-4 days, according to the document.
Many of the details that preceded that are unsettling, and paint the picture of a night that spiraled out of control for Millard. He was reported missing in late February while in Baton Rouge for a business trip. He was found dead earlier this month.
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The crux of the affidavit for Perkins suggests after leaving a bar the night of his disappearance, instead of going back to his hotel Millard sought out drugs, connected with Perkins and in the early hours of Thursday, Feb. 23, died from an overdose.
11Alive, which obtained a copy of the affidavit, is withholding several details due to the sensitivity of the case.
The affidavit states Millard left the bar, Happy's Irish Pub, a little after 10 p.m. He had gone to the bar with a client, whom he was to meet the following morning at a work site, which was the reason for his business trip to Baton Rouge.
According to the document, after leaving the bar, Millard walked about a mile east to the Greyhound Station in Baton Rouge. Several people described to police Millard's time at the station, including an employee who said he offered to call a ride for the 42-year-old father of two teenage sons, two teenage stepsons and a young daughter.
"After several attempts and pleas by the bus station employee to offer Nathan Millard help and/or a ride back to his hotel, he told the employee of the bus station that he was 'looking for something to make him feel better,'" the affidavit states.
The document describes him leaving the station on foot. An individual who was with Millard at the station told detectives he then walked back a quarter-mile to an area under the interstate and introduced Millard to two more people, who eventually connected him with Perkins, described as a "known drug dealer in the area."
The report states that Perkins and Millard headed to the South Baton Rouge area known as "the Bottoms." Surveillance video, according to the affidavit, showed them arrive at a Circle K gas station about two-and-a-half miles south of the Greyhound station/interstate area a little after 4 a.m.
"The last time that Affiant observed Nathan Millard alive was on Thursday 2.23.2023 at approx. 0417 hrs to 0424 hrs. via surveillance security cameras from the convenience store," the affidavit states.
Millard had left about six hours earlier, surveillance cameras in the area showed. Some point after arriving at a house a mile-and-a-half from the Circle K, several witnesses told detectives Millard "had accidentally overdosed." It is unclear what time that may have occurred.
Perkins is then alleged to have wrapped him in the rug. At around 11 a.m. Thursday morning, March 23, the affidavit states a man identified as Perkins used Millard's credit card at a gas mart, about a mile from the Circle K they stopped at several hours earlier.
The affidavit states several people told detectives they "smelled, observed, and/or were told of the deceased body of Nathan Millard" in the trunk of the car Perkins was driving around, "until the body was dumped and/or disposed of."
The affidavit alleges Perkins, after after the body was found March 6, turned off his phone location services and it states the car he'd driven around in was found burned on March 13.
Perkins' cell phone records "placed him at or near" where Millard's body was found "on multiple occasions (almost daily) between 2.23.2023 and 3.6.2023 when Nathan Millard's body was found."
The affidavit adds that Perkins' home - the address where Millard is believed to have died - was searched on March 15.
"A detailed search of the residence yielded a roll of plastic sheeting that appeared to be consistent with the plastic used to wrap and/or dispose of Nathan Millard's body," the affidavit states.
Perkins faces four charges, all felonies. They include:
- Unlawful disposal of remains
- Obstruction of justice
- Simple criminal damage to property
- Failure to seek assistance