The body of footballer Nolan Xavier Wells, 18, who went missing during the Fourth of July celebrations, has been found in the waters off Horn Island. The Mississippi football player mysteriously vanished after going on a boat trip with friends on Saturday. He was last seen around 3 pm, reportedly ‘talking to a girl’ on the north end of Horn Island, the United Cajun Navy and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said. This is a popular barrier island about 10 miles off the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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The body was found around 8.45 am on Monday, and ‘it does match the description’ of Wells, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told The Post. ‘The body was found in the water, just offshore, just off the west end of Horn Island,’ the sheriff said.
On Sunday, Cajun Navy Incident Commander Josh Gill said the footballer was talking to a girl before he went missing. ‘He was last talking to a girl on that north end; he went out to Horn Island with some buddies yesterday on a boat, and he has not been heard from in close to 24 hours,’ Gill said in the video.
‘So guys, if you’re out there fishing, if you’re out there jet-skiing, doing whatever you guys are doing, keep your eyes out for Nolan. Guys, please, please keep your eyes out… Let’s find this young boy, his mother is worried sick,’ he added.
The teen was wearing blue swim trunks, with sunglasses and no shirt, before disappearing. He was described as an 18-year-old Black male, approximately 6 ft 1 in tall, weighing 180 pounds.
Search teams from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, the Department of Marine Resources, Gulf Islands National Seashore and the U.S. Coast Guard combed the island and surrounding waters, working out of a command post at the Lake Mars Boat Launch in Ocean Springs. The United Cajun Navy, a volunteer rescue organisation, also joined the effort, running aerial searches alongside boat crews.
On Monday, June 6, the United Cajun Navy called off the search operations. ‘The search for 18-year-old Nolan Wells has been called off after a body was located Monday morning on the north-west end of Horn Island,’ they said in a statement.
