A Mississippi panel of 23 people unanimously declined to bring charges over the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, leaving the precise cause of his death officially undetermined. His family says the fight continues, and its forensic team is scheduled to present findings from his phone today in Orlando.
What the Grand Jury Did
District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath revealed the outcome Monday evening in a video on her office's Facebook page, along with a redacted copy of the report. According to ABC News, the panel consisted of 13 men and ten women between 27 and 68 years old. Jurors issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses, and they reviewed GPS logs, security footage and phone extractions.
Reconstructing July 4
Wells traveled to Horn Island aboard The Triton, one of three boats in the group alongside the Palm Beach and the Tideline. On the way back, The Triton suffered bilge pump and motor trouble, and another boat towed it a short distance so the water could drain.
Jurors concluded that Wells decided to stay on the island and keep socializing. His phone reached the mainland without him, which the report describes as neither unusual nor suspicious, since other people's phones also came back on boats they had not ridden. Searchers combed the island July 5, and his body was found July 6.
Undetermined Cause, but "Consistent With Drowning"
Mississippi's chief medical examiner and the family's independent pathologist, Dr. Roger Mitchell, each could not pin down how or why Wells died. Jurors nonetheless described the position, condition and location of the body as "consistent with drowning."
The report treats drowning as a conclusion reached by ruling out other causes, and it says decomposition made toxicology results unreliable. The state examiner found bruising on the back of Wells' head that was not fatal, and its origin is unexplained. One witness testified that Wells slipped awkwardly off a boat but kept socializing and seemed uninjured.
The family's final independent autopsy, released Tuesday, describes recent unexplained blunt-force injuries to the back of the head and other parts of the back. The two autopsies also disagree about superficial bruising on his buttocks and shoulder, a gap the report does not explain.
Rumors Jurors Rejected
- A fight: The report says Wells was in no physical altercation or argument that day.
- Race: McIlrath said nothing supports a racial motive, and jurors called the claim that Wells was the only Black person on the island false.
- Viral photos and audio: The pool-party pictures were older than July 4, and the circulating tow-service call did not match the original recording.
- Retained organs: The independent pathologist received every body part except internal neck structures, which the state kept, and the report calls that standard practice.
- Substances: No cocaine was found, and Wells bought alcohol with a fake ID rather than getting it from an adult.
The panel branded the public attacks on those aboard the three boats "malicious, false" and unsupported by evidence. The attacks reached their relatives and friends, and the case drew threats across state lines.
The Family Pushes Back
At a Tuesday news conference in the Atlanta area, attorney Ben Crump said "The grand jury left us with questions." Wells' mother, Christine Wonsley, asked how jurors could settle on drowning given the trauma findings, and she and Wells' father, Elmore, reject the idea that he simply drowned by accident. Kristen Clarke, the NAACP's general counsel, urged federal involvement because most of Horn Island is federal property overseen by the National Park Service.
The two sides also dispute how the phone was handled. McIlrath said a joint examination collapsed when the family's private examiners had already begun their own, and that she received only a preliminary report and never the full data. Family attorney Ahmad Smith said the DA's terms would have required leaving the device with law enforcement. Crump's team gave jurors a 282-page selection of phone reports.
What Comes Next
Crump and forensic examiners from Garrett Discovery are due to present the phone findings Thursday in Orlando, in a livestreamed event. The family also wants the state autopsy and investigative file released and is asking for a federal review.
Legally, the door remains open. Mississippi sets no deadline for prosecuting homicide, and the report says any credible evidence of a non-accidental death should go back to the grand jury.
