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The Independent UK

National

Michael R. Sisak and Claudia Lauer

A July 4 boat trip, an 18-year-old's death and a family's search for answers in the Deep South

Nolan Xavier Wells Ben Crump Christine Wonsley Elmore Wonsley South Mississippi Al Sharpton John Ledbetter The Associated Press the Fourth of July

Mississippi Island Death - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A week ago, 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells took a boat trip with friends to celebrate the Fourth of July on an island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. He never came back.

Two days later, he was found dead. What happened, Wells' parents say, is a mystery riddled with conflicting stories, implausible explanations and missing details. It is a case shadowed by the state's fraught racial history and lingering distrust in law enforcement.

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