Nolan Wells Independent Autopsy Leaves Cause of Death Undetermined
An independent autopsy has failed to determine what caused the death of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old Mississippi college football player found dead two days after a Fourth of July boating trip.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced the preliminary findings Wednesday during a news conference at Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, joined Crump as he called for greater transparency from Mississippi authorities.
The examination, conducted in Washington, D.C., by board-certified forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell, classified Wells’ cause and manner of death as “undetermined pending investigation.”
The teenager’s date of death also remains unknown.
Independent Autopsy Found Discoloration Behind Wells’ Head
Mitchell found red discoloration in the soft tissue at the back of Wells’ head near the occipital area, which is located along the lower portion of the skull.
However, the independent examination was limited because it was conducted after the original Mississippi autopsy and after Wells’ body had begun to decompose.
“This forensic pathologist identifies several limitations,” Crump said while reading from Mitchell’s findings. “Limitations during the second autopsy that create barriers to establishing a definitive cause and manner of death for Nolan Xavier Wells.”
Mitchell did not see Wells’ body when it was initially recovered. The decomposition also made it difficult to determine whether bruises, abrasions or other injuries had been present.
“What he’s saying is that because the body was so decomposed that you couldn’t tell if there were bruises or abrasions on the body when he received it on the 10th of July,” Crump said.
The teenager’s parents had his body transported more than 800 miles to Washington for the independent examination. Former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick helped cover the costs.
Throat Damage and Evidence of Drowning Could Not Be Evaluated
Mitchell was unable to fully examine several areas that could help determine what happened to Wells.
The independent autopsy could not evaluate the airway or lungs for water, the stomach for gastric contents, or the original condition of the throat, neck and other internal structures because the organs had already been removed or dissected during the initial autopsy.
The forensic pathologist therefore could not rule out whether damage to the throat caused or contributed to Wells’ death. “Unfortunately, because the body was decomposed and the organs have already been dissected, those are things we can only get from the initial autopsy,” Crump said.
Crump said the family hopes the Mississippi medical examiner will allow Mitchell to review photographs, documentation and observations collected closer to the time Wells’ body was found.
“We are hopeful that the Mississippi medical examiner would give Dr. Mitchell an opportunity to see their photographs and their observations of the condition of Nolan Wells’ body closer in time to July 4th,” Crump said.
Pathologist Says Wells’ Condition Before Entering Water Is Critical
Mitchell said determining how Wells entered the water will be central to establishing his cause and manner of death.
“In cases where a death has occurred in or around a body of water with suspicion of drowning, it is important to confirm how that person entered the water,” Crump said, summarizing the report.
That question is especially important because Wells reportedly knew how to swim.
Mitchell could not determine whether Wells was conscious or unconscious when he entered the water, whether he entered voluntarily or whether someone forced him into it.
“The condition of Nolan Wells before he entered the water would be the crux of the matter,” Crump said. “It would be of utmost importance to being able to determine a cause and manner of death.”
Wells Was Reportedly Found Face Down and Fully Clothed
Wells traveled by boat with friends to Horn Island, Mississippi, on July 4 to celebrate the holiday. When the group returned to shore, Wells was not with them. Authorities launched a full-scale search July 5, and a U.S. park ranger found his body near the northwestern tip of the island on the morning of July 6.
Todd Terrell, president of the United Cajun Navy, which assisted with the search, said Wells was found face down and fully clothed near the area where investigators believed he may have entered the water.
Crump said that detail is significant because photographs and video from earlier in the day reportedly showed Wells shirtless or wearing swimming trunks.
“At what point did he put on a shirt?” Crump asked. “Somebody saw something. There were almost 300 to 400 people. Somebody knows something.”
Family Does Not Trust Mississippi Authorities, Crump Says
Crump said Wells’ parents hired him to conduct an independent investigation because they do not trust Mississippi law enforcement officials to conduct a fair and complete inquiry.
He connected the family’s concerns to Mississippi’s history of racial violence, including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till and the murders of three civil rights workers during the 1960s.
“The history of Mississippi is something that they don’t just read about in books,” Crump said. “It’s a lived experience for many Black Americans that oftentimes when our children are killed in highly questionable situations that there is this notion that, ‘Oh, there was nothing wrong, no foul play, let’s just sweep it under the rug.’ Well, we refuse to sweep it under the rug.”
The Wells case is the second Mississippi investigation Crump has joined in recent months. He was also retained by the family of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley, who was killed when police officers fired into a moving vehicle.
Wells’ family has said the lack of information from local authorities remains both painful and alarming.
Also Read: $100,000 Reward Put Up for Answers in Nolan Wells Investigation
“It is our hope that our local authorities will do what they need to do, because us having the preliminary autopsy results and hearing nothing from them, it’s heartbreaking and it’s concerning,” the family said.
Investigator Says Wells May Have Planned Another Ride
Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told The Associated Press that investigators suspect Wells may have chosen to remain on Horn Island because he believed he would return to the mainland with someone else. Ledbetter said investigators believe Wells “chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else.”
The theory has not explained how Wells ended up in the water or why he was reportedly found fully clothed.
The official investigation remains ongoing.
