A Georgia father of five who went missing during a business trip in Louisiana has been found dead – rolled in a carpet and wrapped in plastic.
The body of Nathan Millard, 42, was discovered about 3:30 a.m. Monday in a vacant lot in Baton Rouge, about three miles from the Happy Irish Pub, WBRZ reported.
A passerby noticed a “foul odor” emanating from the lot and called 911, according to Tim Miller, founder of Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit search-and-recovery organization.
Police found Millard’s body wrapped in plastic and rolled up in a carpet.
Miller, of Covington, flew to Baton Rouge to stake out a prospective job site for his Conyers-based company, Advanced Construction, and went to the pub with a client about 9:30 p.m. Feb. 23, WMAZ reported.
Sources told WBRZ that staff at the pub cut him off because he had too much to drink. He left alone to go back to his nearby hotel, the Courtyard Marriott, at around 11:30 p.m.
The client called police and asked for a welfare check at 9 a.m. the next day when Millard failed to show up or respond to messages.
Millard’s phone and wallet were later found on the ground several blocks away, his wife Amber said.
Police questioned a homeless person who was caught on video trying to use Millard’s credit card at a bus station in Baton Rouge, though that person was later released.
Amber last spoke with her husband when he FaceTimed her to show her the seats he and the client secured for a Louisana State University basketball game.
“It was not anything I ever thought would be my last call,” Amber said.
He was last seen in surveillance video at the pub after the game.
“The cause of death is unknown at this time pending autopsy results. This is an ongoing investigation. Additional information will be released as it becomes available,” police said in a statement.
Millard leaves behind his wife, two teenage boys from a previous marriage, two teen stepsons and a 7-year-old daughter.
His eldest son, Landyn Millard, said before the body was found that he wanted “closure.”
“Me personally, I want to know what happened. I want to know the details,” he told WAFB.
“When I first heard the news, I was pretty much in shock it was very hard to comprehend because it just didn’t seem like him. He wouldn’t go — he wouldn’t disappear like that.
“So I knew immediately when I heard it and that he was missing, I knew that it was it was most likely bad,” he added.