The Nolan Wells Case, Part 2 of 3: The Investigation

When Nolan Wells’ body was found in the water near Horn Island on July 6, two days after he disappeared, the Jackson County Sheriff’s statement that “no foul play was suspected” didn’t end questions. It started them.

For his family, it was too quick.

“I do absolutely respect law enforcement,” his mother Christine Wonsley said at a July 10th press conference. “The accidental drowning thing, it made both me and his father uncomfortable. Why are we so quick to rush to this? What we’re wanting is transparency.”

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That push for transparency has defined the investigation since.

Two autopsies, no public answer

The Jackson County Coroner requested the autopsy be done at the state medical examiner’s office because of the condition the body was found in, to definitively determine if there was any trauma or foul play. That autopsy is complete, but it has not been released publicly — prosecutors have said it will be presented to a grand jury.

The family commissioned their own independent exam. Wells’ body was flown from Mississippi to Washington, DC, to a doctor with no ties to Mississippi law enforcement. On July 11, attorney Ben Crump said results were expected soon. When they came, that independent autopsy was unable to determine cause or manner of death.

As of late August, authorities still say no one has been charged in connection with Wells’ disappearance or death, and the case remains active.

The phone

One piece of evidence has gotten outsized attention: Wells’ cellphone.

Wells left it with friends and remained on the island while the rest of the group departed, his family learned. The phone was later returned to them after being tracked via Snapchat to a house where a lot of people were gathered.

Wonsley said when she looked through it, she found no videos or pictures in Snapchat from July 4th — unusual for her son.

On July 15, Wells’ parents and attorneys met with Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath. No new information was shared, but both sides agreed to a “mutual inspection” of the phone by experts from each party.

What investigators say they need

The sheriff’s department has acknowledged the speculation on social media but said investigators are working to establish facts through eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, and other reliable information.

They’ve specifically asked for original, unedited photos and videos taken on July 4th, “particularly those depicting alleged altercations or containing images of or believed to include Nolan Wells.”

They also said they are investigating online reports of an alleged altercation on the island and whether it involved Wells. In one video widely circulated after his death, someone can be heard yelling as if in a heated argument. A friend who was on the trip, Tracestin Shepherd, later said it was his voice, not Wells’, in that video.

Clearing up one viral claim

Another detail that fueled speculation — that Wells was found “fully clothed” — has been disputed by the United Cajun Navy, which assisted in the search. The group said the claim stemmed from a misunderstanding during a television interview and is not evidence of foul play.

More than a month after July 4th, the central facts remain: a boat that left at 9:56 a.m. and came back at 5:44 p.m. without one of its passengers, a phone with no photos from that day, and two autopsies that have not given the family a public cause of death.

In Part 3, we’ll look at what happened when the case went national — from GoFundMe and funeral plans to the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, and three federal cases that have nothing to do with Horn Island itself.