The family of Nolan Xavier Wells continues to search for the truth behind the death of the 18-year-old standout athlete, who never returned from a July 4 boat outing with friends along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.
Wells had traveled with the group by boat to Horn Island but was not with them when they headed back to the mainland that afternoon as originally planned. His body was recovered two days later in the waters off the island’s coast.
On Wednesday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced that an independent autopsy ordered by the family yielded inconclusive results. Meanwhile, the Mississippi sheriff’s department handling the investigation has not issued any public updates on the case in recent days.
Wells’ parents say the situation is full of conflicting accounts and missing information. Their distrust has been compounded by the state’s deeply rooted history of racism. Wells was the only Black member of the group that day — all of his companions on the outing were white.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, grew alarmed when one of his friends called around 11 p.m. on July 4. After attempting to locate her son herself, she contacted police to report him missing. One of Wells’ friends had separately reported him missing to the U.S. Coast Guard.
While Wells never made it back to shore, his phone and car keys did. Wonsley used a tracking app to locate her son’s phone, and after a friend retrieved it from the spot on land where it had been left, she noticed that some of his messages appeared to have been erased. Wells’ father, Elmore Wonsley, went to collect his son’s keys from the boat, which was docked at the home where Wells and his friends had stayed the night before the trip. He noted that his son’s car was still sitting in the yard.
The day after Wells’ body was discovered, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told the public that Wells’ friends were cooperating with investigators and that authorities did not suspect foul play. Ledbetter said those interviewed indicated that Wells had chosen to remain on the island, under the apparent assumption that he would get a ride back to the mainland with someone else.
Crump, however, pointed to bystander video from the island that he said showed Wells in an argument with someone over his phone. Crump also said a separate witness reported that Wells had intended to leave on the boat with the rest of the group.
According to Crump, the independent autopsy report found no signs of fractures or deep tissue injuries, but noted a “red discoloration” on the back of Wells’ skull, describing it as “inconclusive” and in need of further examination.
Dr. Robert Mitchell, the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy, wrote in his report that he could not rule out the possibility that “non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death.” He listed the cause of death as “undetermined” and said the case requires additional investigation.
The autopsy faced several complicating factors. Wells’ body had already decomposed and had previously undergone a state autopsy, meaning that organs — including the lungs and neck structures — had already been removed. While organ removal is standard procedure in autopsies, it made it impossible to determine whether Wells had suffered a neck injury or whether water had entered his lungs, according to Mitchell’s report.
Crump has urged state officials to hand over that evidence for the family to examine. The Mississippi medical examiner has not yet released the results of the state’s own autopsy and did not respond to requests Wednesday for a timeline on when those findings would be made public. Toxicology results, which can take weeks to process, have also not been released.
Attorneys for the family said they spoke with the prosecuting attorney last week about procedural matters, but noted that the sheriff’s department has not shared any updates on the investigation since Wells’ body was found. Crump said he is working with the local prosecutor to examine Wells’ phone. The prosecutor has agreed to present the completed investigation to a grand jury, Crump said.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department has been asking the public to submit videos, photos, and firsthand accounts from people who were on Horn Island that day, but has not released any public statements about the case in over a week.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered the eulogy at Wells’ funeral, has announced a $100,000 reward for any new information about the circumstances surrounding Wells’ death. Sharpton noted that half of that amount will be provided by actor and producer Tyler Perry, who also covered the cost of the funeral.
During his eulogy, Sharpton drew on Mississippi’s history of racial violence, referencing the lynching of Emmett Till and the assassination of Medgar Evers. He directed a message to law enforcement: “Before we can medicate and heal today, we’ve got to look at your history.”
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick funded the independent autopsy. Other public figures who have shown support for the Wells family include filmmaker Spike Lee, former NFL player Terrell Owens, and numerous prominent Black clergy members. The autopsy findings were announced before a packed crowd at the annual NAACP National Convention in Chicago.
Wells’ parents have described their son as a peacemaker who avoided confrontation. His football coach at Southwest Mississippi Community College remembered the wide receiver as outgoing and the kind of person who never met a stranger.
Crump says the inconsistencies in the case are too significant to ignore: Why would a teenager leave his phone behind if he planned to stay on an island? Why did no one witness Wells drowning or struggling in the water? Why does one witness say Wells intended to leave on the boat, while others reportedly told the sheriff he chose to stay?
Horn Island is an uninhabited stretch of land about 11 miles (18 kilometers) long near the Alabama state line, reachable only by boat. Crump said roughly 200 people were on the island on July 4. The Wells family is urging anyone who was there that day to come forward and help piece together what happened before Wells entered the water.
