The Family Of 18-Year-Old Nolan Wells Is Pressing For Greater Transparency And A Federal Investigation After A Mississippi Grand Jury Declined To Recommend Charges In His Death
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is preparing to release a forensic examination of Nolan Wells’ cellphone as the 18-year-old Black college student’s family continues to challenge unanswered questions surrounding his death.
The cellphone report is scheduled to be released Thursday during a livestream, days after a Mississippi grand jury declined to recommend criminal charges in Wells’ death.
Crump and attorneys representing Wells’ family have called for the grand jury’s investigative materials and the official autopsy report to be made public. The family’s legal team released its final independent autopsy report Tuesday.
The grand jury reviewed information connected to Wells’ cellphone while considering the case, but details of those findings have not been released publicly.
Wells disappeared after traveling with a group of mostly white friends to a barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a July 4 boating trip and party. His body was discovered two days later.
Family Questions What Happened To Wells’ Phone
Wells’ cellphone has remained one of the central points of concern for his family.
His parents and attorneys have questioned accounts that Wells voluntarily stayed behind on the island to speak with a girl while his phone remained aboard the boat that had taken him there.
The family has also questioned why the phone contained no recordings or messages during the hours before Wells was last seen, particularly because relatives said he regularly used social media.
The grand jury report addressed several of those concerns, finding that Wells chose to stay behind and that people leaving the crowded island on different boats was not unusual. The report also said phones being left behind on boats and later returned on the mainland was not uncommon.
Jurors also rejected allegations of wrongdoing involving the friends who were with Wells before he disappeared.
The report challenged online interpretations of a call placed to a marine towing company that some people claimed contained sounds of an attack in the background, describing that interpretation as inaccurate.
Autopsies Leave Cause Of Death Undetermined
The grand jury said Wells’ death was “consistent with drowning” and concluded there was no evidence that he had been involved in a fight or altercation while on the island.
Wells’ family and Crump have questioned that conclusion because both the official and independent autopsies listed his cause of death as undetermined.
The family has also pointed to unexplained blunt force trauma found on the back of Wells’ head.
According to the grand jury report, a witness testified that Wells slipped awkwardly from the side of a boat around 3:30 p.m. on July 4. The witness said Wells continued socializing afterward and did not appear injured.
Jurors said they could not determine whether that fall caused bruising found on Wells’ body, but concluded the bruising was not fatal.
Family Calls For Independent Federal Investigation
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, joined Crump and representatives of the NAACP this week in calling for an independent investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The grand jury report indicated federal law enforcement had participated in the investigation, although the extent of that involvement remains unclear.
“What we have learned is that we still have no answers,” Wonsley said. “And the report reinforced the fact that Nolan was not given a thorough, transparent and honest investigation.”
The family has continued pressing authorities to keep the case active despite the grand jury’s decision not to recommend charges.
