The Investigation Of The Nolan Wells Case - Part 2
Nolan Wells' parents say they will continue to fight for answers after a Mississippi grand jury returned a no-true-bill in his death investigation.
The Wells family’s independent autopsy report has now been publicly released, providing more detail about why the family disputes the drowning conclusion. The independent examination documented recent blunt-force injuries to the back of Nolan’s head and his back, along with traces of blood. The pathologist nevertheless could not determine a definitive cause or manner of death. Importantly, the report says the available evidence does not establish whether Nolan entered the water voluntarily or was forced, whether he was conscious or impaired when he entered, or why he was unable to get himself out despite reportedly knowing how to swim. The report therefore recommends that the investigation remain open. Nolan’s family and attorney Ben Crump maintain that the grand jury’s no-true-bill decision does not explain how Nolan actually died, particularly the origin of the head and back injuries.
During the Wells family’s September 24 cellphone-forensics presentation at a press conference, Independent examiner Andrew Garrett of Garrett Discovery said his team extracted more than 1 million digital artifacts from Nolan’s phone and reconstructed its movements throughout July 4. Most significantly, Garrett says the examination recovered 282 pages of Snapchat material and determined that some messages were deleted or unsent after Nolan last possessed the phone but before his parents received it. Garrett said deleting such material required user action, although investigators cannot determine who deleted/unsent the messages or why.
That is an important clarification to earlier reports suggesting there was no evidence of deleted material. Some of the recovered conversations also reportedly contain discussion among friends about “sketchy-looking” people on Horn Island and concerns about possible racism. Attorney Ben Crump stressed that this does not establish that Nolan was killed or that his death was racially motivated.
The family also released a significant new disclosure from the official Mississippi state autopsy on September 24. The medical examiner formally classified both cause and manner of death as undetermined and documented two contusions on the back of Nolan’s head. Reporting on the released report says investigators found no water in his lungs, airways, or stomach.
These findings do not prove that Nolan did not drown—a person can drown without the classic finding of substantial water in the lungs—but they reinforce that the medical examiner did not medically establish drowning as the official cause of death. The grand jury instead concluded from the overall circumstances that his death was consistent with drowning and declined to indict anyone.
Crump and Nolan’s family are continuing to seek federal review. They also indicated that independent pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell is expected to give a more detailed public comparison of the state and independent autopsies at another news conference, tentatively planned for the week beginning on September 27, 2026, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Comments