The grand jury reviewing the case of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old who was found dead after going missing following an outing with friends on Mississippi’s Horn Island on the Fourth of July, has determined there was no criminal wrongdoing in the teen’s death.
Wells’ death sparked a considerable amount of speculation across social media, much of which was rebuked by the grand jury.
“The Grand Jury finds no credible evidence to support the public allegations that any persons who rode to or from Horn Island on July 4, 2026, on the Triton, the Palm Beach, or the Tideline engaged in any criminal conduct related to the death of Mr. Wells,” the report states. “The allegations against the occupants of the Triton, the Palm Beach, and the Tideline [boats that traveled to the island] are not based in truth, and are solely the result of public clamor and private malice.”
“In addition to bringing prosecutions against the guilty, the grand jury must also exonerate those who have been falsely accused,” Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said in a video statement.
“There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s disappearance and death were racially motivated,” she said. “Nolan’s friends loved Nolan, and Nolan loved them.”
Wells had traveled to Horn Island with his friends to celebrate the Fourth of July, but didn’t return to the mainland with them that afternoon, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said at the time.
He was last seen on the island at 3 p.m., according to the office of civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family. Wells’ mother reported him missing later that night. His body was found Monday, July 6, off the coast of the island, which is about 10 miles south of the Mississippi mainland.
According to the report, the grand jury concluded the “position of, condition of, time of discovery, and location of Mr. Wells’ body is consistent with drowning.”
An independent autopsy commissioned by the family could not determine Wells’ cause of death, Crump said in late July. The results of that independent autopsy, released by the family on Tuesday, found that Wells suffered blunt force injuries to the back of his head and to his body. The autopsy determined that although alcohol was found in his system, the exact amount could not be determined, nor was it clear when he may have consumed the alcohol or what his blood-alcohol level was.
“There still remains gaps in information that would define the condition of Nolan Wells (i.e. conscious or unconscious, forced or unforced) before entering or while in the water that would lead to drowning,” independent forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell Jr. wrote in his report. “This forensic pathologist is not convinced based upon the review of the investigative witness summaries or the post-mortem toxicology that Nolan Wells was too intoxicated to swim.”
The results of the autopsy conducted by the Mississippi State Medical Examiner have not been publicly released, but the grand jury said in its report that the state also ruled the cause of death as “undetermined.”
The grand jury stated that both Mitchell’s autopsy and the state’s found that Wells had bruising on the back of his head. However, it said the two autopsies disagreed about the “presence of bruising (non-deep tissue) on Mr. Wells’ buttocks and shoulder.”
The grand jury also noted that it could not definitively state what caused any of those injuries.
“Two medical examiners found contusions on the back of Nolan’s head, and Dr. Roger Mitchell found bruises on his back,” Crump said in a news conference alongside the family Tuesday. “What caused them and did they contribute to his death? We’ll never know, they say.”
Wells’ friends have told authorities that he chose to stay behind on the island to speak with a girl, telling them he would come back to the mainland later.
Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, previously told “CBS Mornings” they didn’t believe their son would have stayed behind by choice.
“No, he wouldn’t. Nolan always stays with the group,” Elmore Wonsley, Nolan’s father, told “CBS Mornings.” “If you be with me, you come back with me. So that I don’t understand, and with me being a parent, if I was in that situation, I would have told them, ‘You’re going to get back on this boat with me because I don’t want to answer to your parents if something happens to you.'”
Crump, who is representing the family, told “CBS Mornings,” “There are so many glaring contradictions, that’s why so many people all across America are chiming in, saying this is not adding up. I mean, you have [his friends] say he was talking to a young lady, and she said that he said, ‘I’m going to get back on the boat with the boys.’ The boys say, ‘He said that, ‘No, I’m going to stay with her.’ I mean, which is it?”
In a statement released Monday evening, Crump called on the district attorney to keep the investigation into Wells’ death open and active.
“We don’t know how Nolan died, and neither does the State of Mississippi. Mississippi must keep investigating, and if it will not pursue this to the end, the Department of Justice should,” Crump said. “This grand jury result leaves us with more questions than answers. Nolan’s family will not rest until we know what happened to him, and neither will we.”
The grand jury, which consisted of 23 people who represented a “cross section of citizens” from Jackson County, said in its report released Monday: “the individuals who traveled to or from Horn Island on the Triton, the Palm Beach, and Tideline cooperated fully with this investigation, including offering marine GPS devices, surveillance footage, cell phones, and statements to law enforcement officers and Mr. Wells’ family during this investigation.”
It also concluded that Wells “chose to remain on Horn Island after the boat he arrived on departed, which is common for visitors to Horn Island on holidays and other crowded days.”
