No signs of foul play: Authorities give update on businessman found dead rolled in carpet

BATON ROUGE, La. — “No internal or external trauma.” That was the ruling from investigators who are trying to figure out what happened to a Georgia man who was in Louisiana for business and disappeared, only to turn up dead about two weeks later.

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Nathan Millard’s body was found wrapped in plastic and a rug behind a funeral home in Baton Rouge, WSB reported.

Family members told WAFB that investigators could not find any internal or external trauma, with the Baton Rouge Police Department confirming later Tuesday that there were no signs of foul play.

“There doesn’t appear to be any foul play at this point. I know that he was placed there obviously by another individual, 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 it doesn’t appear to be any signs of foul play,” Baton Rouge police captain Kevin Heinz said during a news conference, according to WAFB.

Heinz asked that anyone who has information about Millard’s death come forward, saying that Millard might have overdosed with others who may have moved his body afterward.

“And look, we’ll ask whoever put him there. If something happened and there was a moment of panic, come forward. We just want to know what happened to him. Our goal is to find out what happened to him,” Heinz said, according to WAFB.

Toxicology results have not been returned, so the cause and manner of death are both pending the completion of the final autopsy report.

Millard had flown to Baton Rouge on Feb. 22 for a business meeting the next morning. He had a video call with his wife that evening from a Louisiana State University basketball game at around 7:30 p.m. before he went to dinner with a client at a pub around 9:30 p.m. Millard left the pub at about 10:30 p.m. after, WBRZ reported, he was cut off by a bartender for having too much to drink.

He was seen at a Greyhound Bus station at 11:30 p.m., less than a mile from the bar where a security guard asked if he needed help and offered to call him an Uber. Millard declined. Over several hours, police said Millard was seen at several businesses, but they did not give specifics.

At 9 a.m., the client that Millard had been scheduled to see asked police to conduct a welfare check after the businessman missed their meeting and did not respond to messages. At one point, Millard’s phone and wallet were found several blocks from his hotel. His debit card had been used several times after his disappearance until a family member deactivated it, The Advocate reported.

Millard’s body was found at 3 a.m. on Monday wrapped in plastic and carpet in a vacant lot after a person reported a foul smell. The location was about 3 miles from Millard’s hotel, WSB reported.