A Mississippi grand jury has decided not to bring indictments in the case of Nolan Wells, citing finding “no credible evidence” that he was murdered after being found dead off the Mississippi coast this summer after boating with several friends during Independence Day weekend.
This week, a Mississippi grand jury has decided not to bring indictments in the case of Nolan Wells, the teenager who was found dead off the Mississippi coast in early July.
“The Grand Jury finds no credible evidence to support the public allegations that any persons who rode to or from Horn Island on July 4, 2026 on the Triton, the Palm Beach, or the Tideline engaged in any criminal conduct related to the death of Mr. Wells,” the report read.
The grand jury met from September 14th to the 18th, and found that Wells’ cause of death was consistent with drowning, based on where his body was found and multiple autopsies, according to reports from NPR.
Despite the multiple autopsies, however, the cause of death was left undetermined, but without a clear presence of other causes of death, drowning was determined to be a “likely diagnosis of exclusion.”
23 jurors heard from over 40 witnesses and reviewed evidence such as GPS data, cellphone records, and photos and videos from Horn Island. Evidence was also presented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump’s team, who represents the Wells’ family.
Crump posted “No True Bill Does Not Resolve How Nolan Wells Died” on Facebook just after the report of the decision was released on Monday. He emphasized how the family and his team will continue to fight for a clear answer as to what happened to Wells on the Fourth of July weekend this year.
“The public still deserves a clear account supported by records, evidence, and independent scrutiny. Nolan Wells’s death still demands answers.”
Nolan Wells was found dead on Horn Island on July 6th after he boated there with several friends two days earlier to celebrate Independence Day. The case received widespread media coverage due to the fact that Wells was the only Black friend in the group, and was also the only friend to not return from that trip to Mississippi’s barrier islands.
The grand jury stated in their report that they found that Wells chose to stay on Horn Island on the afternoon of July 4th, citing that it was “not unusual or suspicious for individuals to return from the island on boats they did not travel…on.”
The report went on to support the accounts of the occupants of the boats that went out that day, which involved reports of a boat named the Triton that was taking on water and needed to be towed a short distance.
“Nolan chose to stay on the island that day, and there is not a scintilla of evidence to contradict that,” District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said in a recorded statement alongside the grand jury’s report.
The report also read that the grand jury found there was a “thorough search” of Horn Island on July 5th before Wells’ body was discovered on the 6th. “The Grand Jury is confident that had his body been on the island at that time, it would have been discovered during the extensive search.” However, the report did not provide any other statements from jurors as to why his body was found the next day.
Myers McIlrath went on in her statement to say that “the family, the Crump team, and anyone close to Nolan knew that his disappearance and death were not the result of racial hate or violence.”
Dr. Roger Mitchell was the forensic pathologist who performed an independent autopsy, and concluded along with the state medical examiner that the cause and manner of death is “undetermined, and drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion.”
Crump also claimed that during his independent autopsy, Dr. Mitchell was not allowed access to certain parts of Wells’ body, however, the grand jury report stated that he confirmed that he received all body parts except internal neck structures in the custody of the state medical examiner.
The bruises that were found on Wells were not considered to be fatal injuries. However, Crump addressed these findings after the report this week.
“Mississippi’s own pathologist found two bruises on the back of this young man’s head and informed investigators of them early in this investigation,” Crump stated.
“An independent autopsy documented traces of blood and recent blunt force injuries to the back of Nolan’s head and his back. To this day, not one person has explained how they got there.”
Crump also went on to release the team’s independent autopsy report on Monday, which recommends keeping the investigation open due to the uncertainties cited regarding Wells’ death and the condition he was in when he entered the water.
“The available record does not definitively establish the decedent’s condition immediately before entering the water, whether he entered voluntarily or was forced, whether he was conscious or impaired, or why he would have been unable to extricate himself despite reportedly being able to swim and while in the presence of other persons,” the independent autopsy report states.
District Attorney Myers McIlrath said:
“After the Crump team conducted and released the results of its independent autopsy and after receiving hundreds of tips, they advised my office that they had no evidence of a crime being committed against Nolan Wells.”
This has been a widely covered case ever since July due to the uncertainty surrounding it. Many don’t understand why Wells decided to stay back on the island, which his friends have claimed, and why he was found without his cell phone. Initially, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office was investigating this case as a death, not a homicide.
Wells’ parents have been consistently expressing concern over law enforcement’s initial handling of the investigation, alleging that they moved too quickly at the beginning of the investigation in assuming that there was no foul play, while also being slow in communicating with them when new information was being released to the public/media.
“Damage has already been done because that’s the narrative that’s being pushed by the general public,” Christine Wells-Wonsley, Wells’ mother, said at a press conference at the end of July.
Both his parents also said that they personally believe messages were deleted off of his phone when his parents found it after they tracked it to a friends’ house the day Wells’ body was discovered.
Myers McIlrath also addressed the criticism of how much was kept private throughout this investigation, including the state autopsy.
“The secrecy of the grand jury is not a veil that we hide behind. It is a shield that protects the integrity of prosecutions of the guilty and is meant to protect the innocent from the destruction of false allegations.”
“The Crump team knew better,” she continued, “but allowed the public to believe, among other false narratives, that our medical examiner withheld Nolan’s lungs and stomach when his body was released, that things had been deleted off of Nolan’s phone before it was given back to his family, that I refused to cooperate with the examination of Nolan’s cell phone, that I refuse to provide Nolan’s autopsy results to the family. All lies.”
“I never received the full extraction data as promised, and I never received the complete extraction report of Nolan’s cell phone. After the grand jury convened in this case, the Crump team provided a 282-page selection of reports from Nolan’s cell phone, which the grand jury considered,” she said.
The case might still be pursued by civil litigation. Attorneys for the family sent letters to both Wells’ family and friends as notice that litigation was “reasonably anticipated.” A former teammate of Wells is also looking into pursuing defamation charges after being attacked on social media and receiving an alleged death threat.
Myers McIlrath, in response, stated: “What we have seen happen in Nolan’s case, where lives and reputations have been damaged, is reprehensible. People have suffered. Public offices have been harassed. Witnesses, public officials, and others who are completely unrelated to this case have been subjected to threats of harm and intimidation by an angry mob.”
As of right now it’s a waiting game as to how this case will continue to be pursued. Mississippi doesn’t have a statute of limitations on homicide cases, so any new evidence that comes up could be considered.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
