The family of an 18-year-old Mississippi college student found dead after disappearing during a Fourth of July outing is calling for a more extensive investigation, raising questions about the circumstances surrounding his death.
Nolan Wells traveled by boat with friends to celebrate Independence Day on a popular barrier island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. When he failed to return to the mainland with the rest of the group, his family reported him missing. After a two-day search, his body was recovered on the island’s northeast shore on July 6.
Although the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office has said investigators do not currently suspect foul play, Sheriff John Ledbetter has asked anyone who was on the island or has photos or video from the holiday weekend to come forward as authorities work to piece together Wells’s final hours.
Wells’s family, however, says too many questions remain unanswered. Relatives say they have seen video showing their son involved in an altercation before he disappeared and dispute the idea that he simply drowned, noting that he was athletic and a strong swimmer. Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, was a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and civil rights activist Al Sharpton announced Friday they have joined the family’s legal team and are calling for a more thorough investigation.
At a Friday news conference, attorneys alleged the friends Wells arrived with left the island without him, taking his phone and car keys when they departed. Crump said Wells’s family later used a phone-tracking app to locate the device on the mainland, where a friend retrieved it.
“What teenager would leave their phone behind if they’re going to stay on this island?” Crump said. “What teenager wouldn’t take their phone? It’s not adding up at all.”
Crump also said the family believes messages from social media apps had been deleted from Wells’s phone before it was returned and plans to hire forensic experts to recover any missing data.
“We just want to know what happened,” Wells’s mother said through tears. “And why our baby didn’t come home.”
Crump urged investigators to leave no stone unturned.
“They want to know that you have not taken the path of least resistance,” he said.
He also questioned whether the investigation would be handled differently under different circumstances.
“If the roles were reversed and you had three young black men on a boat with a young white man and that young white man ended up dead, what kind of investigation would be conducted by the Mississippi law enforcement officials? How many times would those three young black men be interrogated?” Crump said.
An autopsy was completed Tuesday, though authorities have said it could take several weeks before the cause and manner of death are released.
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Ledbetter told the Associated Press that Wells’s friends have been cooperative with investigators.
“From the people we’ve talked to, it sounds like he chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else,” Ledbetter said.