Missing Georgia man likely died of overdose in a home before his body was dumped, police say

The coroner said Millard’s body had no visible external or internal trauma.

Perkins, 45, is also accused of stealing a blue 2003 Toyota Camry from an unrelated victim on Feb. 3.

Multiple license plate reader scans showed that the car’s plates had been switched several times during the month of February and first week of March, documents say.

The documents note that Perkins had allegedly removed the vehicle’s bumper sticker and attempted to sand down the spot where the sticker had been, around the time that Millard’s case began to garner national attention.

The car was found, after Millard’s disappearance, near the intersection of Plank Road and Mohican Street; it had been set on fire, police have said.

On Monday, McKneely said police believe the burned car is connected to the Nathan Millard case.

Millard’s death was among the latest in a years-long surge of deadly drug overdoses in East Baton Rouge Parish.

Between 2019 and 2020, the number of accidental overdoses almost doubled, from 126 to 242 — and things continued to get worse in 2021, when 311 died, according to figures kept by the parish coroner’s office.

In 2022, 291 people died of accidental overdoses, though that number is expected to grow as test results for other deaths come in. As of March 13, 51 people have died of confirmed overdoses, the coroner’s office said, with more suspected overdose deaths awaiting lab confirmation.

Advocates and law enforcement leaders have blamed several factors for the rise in deaths, including the family and economic instability caused by the COVID pandemic. But they also point to the growing presence of fentanyl, an extremely potent synthetic opioid that can be lethal in small doses, and which is often mixed in with other drugs to increase their effects.

This is a developing story.