Nolan Wells' parents and human rights advocates have called for a federal investigation into the case
The parents of 18-year-old student Nolan Wells, who was found dead on July 6 after a boat trip with friends, have called for a federal review of the investigation into his disappearance and death. At the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta, they spoke alongside civil rights attorney Ben Crump and civil rights activist Al Sharpton.
The young man’s mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, and his father, Elmore Wonsley, spoke about their search for their son after he went missing on July 4. According to Wells-Wonsley, she was unable to reach Nolan by phone. Later, one of his friends asked if she had heard from her son. When his mother mentioned that the Life360 app showed Wells’s phone in the Ocean Springs area, she was told, she said, that her son had stayed on the island with a girl he had met that day.
The parents said they contacted the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the Coast Guard, the Ocean Springs Police Department, and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, but were initially told that the matter did not fall under the jurisdiction of those agencies. According to them, after midnight they provided the information to an officer in the parking lot near McDonald’s, but did not see an immediate response. The next morning, the family, along with Wells’ high school football coach—who provided his boat—set out on their own to the island to search for the teenager.
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Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter previously stated that he does not suspect Wells’s death was the result of foul play, and that the other participants in the boat trip are cooperating with the investigation. No suspects have been named in the case, and no one has been detained in connection with the student’s disappearance and death. The three people who were on the boat with Wells have hired attorneys.
According to The Guardian World, the family still does not know why Wells did not return with his friends, nor when or how he died. Mississippi authorities have not yet released the autopsy results. The district attorney stated that the report will not be published until a grand jury is convened, and an independent autopsy commissioned by the family did not determine the cause of death.
Kramp said the family is seeking “truth” and “transparency.” Sharpton and Georgia Representative Lucy McBath also joined the call for a federal investigation. Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette D. Clark and other caucus members sent a letter to Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel requesting an independent review of the case.
