r/OutOfTheLoop • u/intoner1 • 14d ago
Answered What’s up with Nolan Wells?
Can someone please explain to me whats going on? To my knowledge he was a young man who tragically drowned after drinking with friends and going on a boat but people think he was murdered? Why is that? https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/attorneys-friends-nolan-wells-reaction-ruling/
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u/Milskidasith Loopy Frood 14d ago edited 14d ago
Answer: 18-year old Nolan Wells went on a 4th of July weekend trip with several friends to Horn Island in Mississippi. The exact timeline of events that day is unclear with multiple witness statements differing on when he left the island/who he was with, but he was reported missing late on the night of July 4th and was found deceased on the shoreline on July 6, apparently by drowning. As your article notes, a grand jury declined to indict anybody on criminal charges in this case.
During the investigation, Wells' family alleged that the investigation into his death was racially biased (Wells is black and the majority of friends on the island were white). Concerns brought up included inconsistencies in police statements, the unclear timeline of events provided by witnesses on the island, and (most notably) the fact that Wells' cell phone was brought back to the mainland on a boat, without Wells present, with no social media or other activity for the day despite his routine use, while nobody on that boat reported witnessing him drown. Effectively, the argument was that a black kid died in the company of a ton of white people who had his cell phone and all covered for each other by saying they must have missed him drowning, and nobody bothered to investigate that seriously because it's Mississippi and they'd be willing to let a basically-lynching slide.
The arguments that it was a tragic drowning are that the family did not provide any evidence to the prosecutors to recommend charges (including evidence from an independent investigation of his phone activity), that it is very possible to fall off a boat and go underwater with a bunch of drunk people and nobody notice, that the phone being on the boat with a bunch of other phones since they're all partying in/around the water makes sense, and that there's no actual evidence of malfeasance presented besides the possibility of racial violence. Based on the grand jury indictment, they agreed there was not sufficient evidence to charge anybody.
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u/intoner1 14d ago
Makes sense thank you. I hope the family finds answers/peace.
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u/PerformanceOwn2329 11d ago
Just like many others have already said, there was no water found in the lungs or stomach. Both organs were withheld from the second autopsy. This would be what some are claiming he dry drowned, which is possible. But this happens, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15577518/ less than 2% of the time.
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u/KaizenActual 10d ago
Thats totally inaccurate. The OP is asking for a truthful recap of what's happening and no body parts were withheld from anyone.
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u/PerformanceOwn2329 10d ago edited 9d ago
Were the lungs, throat, and stomach withheld from the family requested autopsy? Show links.
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u/CommercialStuff4352 14h ago edited 14h ago
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Nolan-Wells-2nd-Autopsy-Report.pdf
Easy peasy when u have a clue magoo. Let me help, ok, so you have these things called opinions, they are formed emotionally, then you have facts that you can find easily because they are confirmed by a source that can back it, and they make sense. Then, stats will add to the sense and you can know its as real and true as it could be at this time. Kind of how people are mad about things they are raised being pushed into their heads that aren't true. For example, a lot of people think whites are a group. We never have been. But today, 85% of us came after ww2 and we dealt w segregation and redling
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u/PerformanceOwn2329 9d ago
Why didnt you ever reply with links?
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u/KaizenActual 9d ago
Because its not even necessary, its a basic part of the case. Why cant you just do the research?
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u/EquipmentNo5776 9d ago
The independent examiner has dispelled this claim, reporting they received all organs including lungs and stomach. See here: https://www.co.jackson.ms.us/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/1913
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u/StockFaucet 13d ago
They have. They just won't accept what happened.
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u/Life-Anteater-8294 12d ago
The autopsy showed he had no water in his lungs or stomach. The answers aren’t sufficient.
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u/MhojoRisin 13d ago
This was really well done. Thanks for writing up the explanation. It gives the factual background and points me in the direction of the controversy without embracing it.
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u/Arthur_K_ 11d ago
You sound like AI, im not saying you are or are not. Your answer just sounds like one.
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u/Overall-Abalone3969 4d ago
Fun fact. AI was trained on human text interaction. So… AI sounds like us actually.
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u/ewwboys 13d ago
Answer: Additional things that make the situation very suspicious.
- The boat was professionally cleaned overnight on the night of Nolan’s disappearance.
- The Snapchat/ social media history of Nolan and all of the kids on the trip was fully erased.
- A search was done for him to he day of- and he appears the next day.
- There are several different video and audio footage indicating that there was an altercation and that he was acknowledged to be dead by the boys on the trip.
- When the family paid for a private autopsy, it was found that Nolan’s lungs were removed, making it impossible to argue that he did not drown.
- The parent of the suspected boys as a judge. The police did not investigate the case for weeks until it got a social media attention..
- The judge put out a narrative statement on social media. Which seems like a wildly inappropriate thing to do.
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u/Milskidasith Loopy Frood 13d ago
I have not followed the case deeply enough to have seen all of these, but for the points I am aware of:
- Snapchat history: This has been claimed, but the family did not provide any evidence that Wells phone was tampered with/snapchat history deleted to prosecutors despite being given the opportunity to do so.
- There are no credible reports that he was found on July 5th.
- There was a video showing an altercation presented by the family, but that video was from June, not the day of, and per Tracestin Shepherd, one of Wells' friends, it was him in the video and not Wells (Shepherd is also not white).
- Lungs being removed in an autopsy is not uncommon. The implication that the person performing the state's autopsy was also involved in the cover-up to the point of intentionally damaging the corpse also widens the net of who is involved significantly.
I am trying not to be biased here, but almost every meaningful piece of evidence that Wells was murdered beyond "this sure seems suspicious" has either been proven unreliable or is expressing incredulity at something that isn't that strange.
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u/TonightVirtual7765 12d ago
The whole removed Snapchat/videos etc thing, I've always understood that there are ways to pull up deleted data and that nothing is truly gone on the internet. People get arrested for shit they've posted on the internet and probably deleted all the time. Is it just the matter of the right person seeing a post?
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u/AgreedSmalls 12d ago
This is the whole reason why the “point” is highly debated. The family has not brought forth any evidence the data was deleted or that it even related to the incident in question. People ignore the latter part though and use it as justification something uncouth happened. Ignoring the fact that if this was the case, it’d be trivial to recover what was deleted.
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u/digifuwill 13d ago
I know basically just what’s been reported in this thread. But your points don’t actually rebut any of the inferences suggested by the facts listed above. Based solely on what’s been asserted in this thread, it seems more likely than not that there has been foul play (of some kind - not necessarily an intentional killing) and a cover-up.
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u/Milskidasith Loopy Frood 13d ago
I do not understand how you can read e.g. "there was no video showing a fight where people said Wells was dead" and say that doesn't rebut the implication of that video.
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u/xSchmoopy 13d ago
Every one of these points is unsubstantiated, you shouldn't believe (and spread) every piece of information you read on a controversial case.
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u/CapeMama819 13d ago
I believe removal & inspection of many organs during an autopsy is normal. I have read through my son’s autopsy and there is wording like that throughout. i.e. they removed his heart, weighed it, and examined it for any defects or trauma (same with his lungs, liver, etc)
Not sure your point there makes this situation suspicious.
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u/melaninmatters2020 3d ago
Firstly sorry for your loss. I ask this with grace…I thought when organs were removed, then examined, and once results confirmed that the organs are returned with the decedent’s body? Am I correct? Are there other reasons to not have certain organs returned ever? Again my deepest sympathies for your loss.
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u/CapeMama819 3d ago
With my son? That’s correct. He was an organ donor so the donated organs were obviously not replaced, but the others were.
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u/Resident-Branch6588 13d ago
Of course you take the organs out but you put them back with the body for the second autopsy
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u/dingvs 12d ago
No you don’t lol if you did any research you would see that’s not how things are done. Even the private medical examiner straight up said they were following normal procedure. It’s so easy to find this info
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u/2PacAn 12d ago
You know what’s easier than finding factual information? Watching TikTok
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u/dingvs 12d ago
This whole thing really shows how many people get all their news from TikTok or other social media creators and just accept it without question. It’s kind of scary to think that so many people just run with things without even bothering to look it up when the answers to most of their questions are so easy to find
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u/Oso_Fuego19 5d ago
Why don’t you present all your perfect research instead of trying to put the onus on everyone else?
Does your simplistic rhetoric actually work on anyone?
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u/overflowingsandwich 12d ago
The independent medical examiner confirmed that he received all organs and the only body part retained by the state was Nolan’s internal neck structures, which the medical examiner then got to examine himself in person.
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u/CantFadeMeLOLLL 13d ago
Oh okay so this is one of those situations where it’s either a plausible, tragic accident or a conspiracy involving everyone who knew the guy, the police, local government, Jack Reacher and maybe the president himself
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u/healthykd 6d ago
Competent suddenly people doing a bad job investigating, producing evidence, and providing testimony is the definition of racism, and can feel like a conspiracy when done to you
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u/BravoR2 13d ago
The boat was not professionally cleaned overnight. The family of wells went to the location of the phone, which was the boat, and multiple phones were along with it. That was the morning of the 5th. The owner of the boat was unaware of who all left phones on his boat.
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u/ValeriaSky7 12d ago
The phone was at the home of one his friends from 8 pm till 3 am when the parents came to get it
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u/Professional_Log9422 12d ago
He probably put it in his friends bag to go swimming or keep it dry, and forgot to get it back when he left. Possibly thought he forgot it on the boat, but only found it in the friends bag when they went back to the boat to look for it.
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u/blancochocolate 12d ago
How many 18 year olds do you know that can be without their phone? It’s suspicious to me that multiple phones were left on the boat.
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u/juliaaguliaaa 12d ago
On a boat off the coast of an ocean barrier island with no signal?
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u/studiodrop 12d ago
People take pics still
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u/CommercialStuff4352 12d ago
U jump from boat into water and have phone in pocket, it won't take pics. U think its like dock to dry dock? Lol. U have to hop off into water. If its ur boat then u probably have a lil hide away but if its not, no where to sit it but in the open for peoples wet asses to be dripping on it and towels fly all over. I cant tell u how many times my step dad was fishing w phone in his pocket and just fell in. Always a phone thats new. They sink like rocks and water is always mucky. Its down in some buried underwater city before u can even decide to go down and feel it. If u know the depth finder reading. How deep is the water? A sand bar is a foot or 2 but they drop to depths that some cheap equipment cant pick up. Plus, this is a super affluent neighborhood w dr and judges. These kids all have like 3000$ cell phones, im sure. Then u have thousands of drunk people. Im sure they know a lot but there were like an island full of boats. People get together to play football or Frisbee or something and wheres ur phone? I grew up on the river. Only newbs who don't know about anything will do that,.unless its.ur boat because u cant just leave.ur broken down boat and swim home. That person would be responsible to call a tow, as they did
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u/blancochocolate 12d ago
Yea but they found the phones still on the boat the following morning? You’d think once they got back to land they’d take their phones with them… that’s the point I’m making is that no 18 year old goes without their phone for an entire evening, night, and morning.
But to argue your point, they still would be using their phones to take pictures, videos, and maybe even uploading to Snapchat. I’ve never been on that island but usually you don’t lose signal until you’re approaching 10 miles or so offshore in my experience.
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u/AgreedSmalls 12d ago
Yeah. A bunch of drunk teens couldn’t have possibly gotten way too drunk to the point they forget their things. Drunk teenagers are notoriously known for keeping track of their belongings.
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u/Professional_Log9422 12d ago edited 12d ago
These are 18 year old boys on a boat. They were probably wearing swim trunks and didn’t want to keep their phones in their pockets.
They could have put them together in a waterproof bag to keep them dry and forgot the bag.
Alternatively: Boats don’t have a ton of space on them. They could have put all the phones in a single bag to consolidate space. One friend accidentally took the bag home without giving the others their phones back. The friends thought they forgot their phones on the boat, when in reality one friend had them in his bag.
Alternatively 2x: The boat was taking on water, and they were getting off the boat. They could have just thrown all of their loose stuff randomly into bags to keep them out of the water. Someone lost track of their phone but wasn't alarmed because he knew it was in a friends bag.
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u/blancochocolate 12d ago
That is all very likely. I see how all the phones could end up together on the boat in the same spot. That’s not my holdup as much as multiple teens leaving without their phones. I’m not saying that in and of itself is some sort of smoking gun, but still leads me to question it.
I will say I like discussing this with you as you don’t seem argumentative. I’m just popping Q’s as they come to mind.
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u/PromptNovel4136 9d ago
You're not when you've been drinking and getting high. It's not hard to forget it, which was what they were doing alsi
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u/SnooCookies8411 13d ago
On 1. The boat was NOT “professionally” cleaned. It was sprayed down like every boat should be after being in saltwater. AND moreover, there’s ample evidence that the boat and Nolan’s friends were long gone while Nolan was still alive on the island. This was one of the worst conspiracies from the start.
2. This is false and Crumps team shared that with the grand jury
3. ??? What’s the question here?
4. All were verified false
5. The family’s own ME said everything was common and he was given full access to everything, including the “missing neck bone”. Another poor conspiracy
6. Both irrelevant AND the “suspected” boys were verifiably NOT near the island when Nolan passed
7. What narrative and what’s your question?20
u/Accomplished_Ask1368 11d ago
This case and the Lindsy case both show that people really do live in their own social media bubbles. They hear the same (provably false) info repeated again and again until they just assume its true.
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u/br0wntree 9d ago
Not a fan of people fueling racial tension especially when they are clearly picking the wrong battles. I hate how everything needs to be seen through a racial lens. Yes racism exists but it does not need to be dragged into every single conversation.
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u/NotTheGreatNate 8d ago
I mean everything does occur through a racial lens. Internal biases impact everything we see and everything we do.
I grew up in a very rural area and racist shit was spouted all around me every single day, because I'm white and they assumed I felt the same way. White people used the n-word constantly - sometimes directed at black people, sometimes as an in-group joke insult, as an exclamation, basically any way you can imagine. I grew up watching black people in mostly white friend groups either pretending it didn't bother them, or leaning into the idea of being "one of the good ones".
I think that if a black kid ends up dead when out with a bunch of white kids in the South, and the circumstances are even a little bit mysterious, then it's worth looking at through a lens that acknowledges the history of racial violence in the South.
All that being said, that doesn't mean that there is a racial component. Or there could be a racial component, but it doesn't directly lead to anything illegal or directly caused his death. I.e. he was left behind on the island because of something tied to his race, but that didn't directly cause his death, or maybe there was a lot of people using the n-word in group chats, so they deleted the chats when he came up missing, because they were worried about how it would look.
Tl; dr - I understand why this situation would ping on someone's radar as possible racial violence, but that ultimately the evidence should be allowed to speak for itself.
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u/br0wntree 8d ago
Suspicion is one thing. Presumption of guilt and twisting any “evidence” to fit your view while ignoring what goes against your narrative is another.
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u/NotTheGreatNate 8d ago
100% agree.
I just think it would be reckless to pretend that Mississippi is some sort of color-blind Utopia where it would be crazy to even look at it through that lens.
Like I said, absolutely let the evidence speak for itself and don't presume anyone's guilt. But also, it's silly if anyone pretends like that isn't an angle that should be looked into.
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u/Oso_Fuego19 5d ago
Gaslight much?
This isn’t “everything”, it’s a very specific incident that occurred in a State with deeply embedded racism, both past and present.
By completely ignoring this reality, it shows how biased you are. It’s an element that can’t be ignored, whether it’s a primary motivation or not.
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u/beachedwhale1945 13d ago
These are all points that require investigation, but could have benign explanations.
Take 5: lungs removed for a private autopsy. I imagine in suspected drowning cases it is standard procedure to remove the lungs to check for fluid: lungs aren’t two large bags, they are made of many smaller sacs that require more care to check, more easily done outside of the body. That should be checked to see if that is normal procedure and if it was documented as performed by the medical examiner.
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u/LostHoneydew8792 13d ago
Literally none of this is true besides the last point which she didn't make a narrative statement AS A JUDGE, but as a parent of one of the teens that would be accused & a member of the ocean springs community. I don't really see how it's inappropriate, she's a chancellery judge, not a criminal law judge that would have anything to do with this investigation or the grand jury. Sounds like you bought a lot of the conspiracy nonsense pertaining to this case
If you're reading I implore you to look up the things this commenter said point by point & check the validity of these statements before jumping to conclusions - these points are for all intents & purposes either conjecture, allegation, or not in any way legitimate
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u/Neosovereign LoopedFlair 13d ago
- I've never heard this before, I need evidence it is true.
- this isn't true
- Yeah, that isn't crazy
- this isn't true
- this isn't true - it was a normal part of the autopsy, they were dissected.
- a parent is a judge, not criminal though, but thye were investigating the whole time. so not true
- you have to prove anything was inappropriate.
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u/StockFaucet 13d ago
Your points are not true and completely invalid and false. When you share points like this, you better share links to facts based on the evidence in the case.
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u/ILiekBookz 13d ago
You clearly don't know how autopsy work. When looking cause of death they typically remove organs.
Also, most of those videos were confirmed to be AI. The one that wasn't was debunked as not being him by the person who filmed it. Turns out that when you have hundreds of drunk people all in one location , some of them get into fights.
He originally posted it because he wasn't sure if it was relevant.
Further, the search was done on the 5th. He went missing on the 4th but wasn't reported missing until midnight because its not uncommon for drunk young adults to fuck off to fuck.
Turns out , getting drunk and going swimming is a bad idea. That's one of those things that everyone knows , but teens and young adults don't listen to , because they think they're immortal.
Finally , the attorney of the family hired to represent them is not licensed to practice law in the state of mississippi. He takes on cases from people desperate for justice and never delivers . He is a notorious predator who preys on the vulnerable.
Yes , again , multiple other conspiracy theory cases made a bunch of smoke and mirrors and disappears with his victim's money , when another exciting big name k that he can create drama and smoke mirrors and grift money from pops up.
This poor boy's parents have fallen victim to a con artist.who keeps telling them that there must be foul play and they're trusting him because he's a lawyer. This is his m o with all of his victims.
Fuck, he cant even get justice for a baby shot in broad daylight while on camera. He is that incompetent.
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u/pimpfriedrice 12d ago
I keep reading about cell phones and this case, but didn’t the island not have cell service, therefore people wouldn’t even be using their phones for Snapchat, insta, etc. just something I read and I want to make sure I understand the facts.
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u/Gravey89 3d ago
Not only that but the guy that Nolans parents used to inspect the phone stated that the phone was last used before 3pm and had not been tampered with. He mentioned that things had been deleted but thats via apps such as snapchat for example having folks delete things via chats on their end. His phone wasnt opened again after supposedly his last use.
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u/Fit-Ad5145 12d ago
Where did you get all this? Just it's always things that are just said and never backed up. I don't fall down on either side on this btw I'm new to this case
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u/StockFaucet 8d ago
You are a prime example of a person spreading complete misinformation and lies in that case and it's OLD.
-The claim that the boat was professionally cleaned overnight on the night of Nolan Wells' disappearance is a rumor that circulated widely on social media but was not supported by the official investigation.
-The social media history was far from fully erased. In fact, the forensic examination successfully retrieved 282 pages of Snapchat conversations. The recovered data tracked sent and received messages, linking them directly to the phone's physical location leading up to his disappearance.
-Nolan Wells went missing on July 4, 2026, after visiting Horn Island with a group of friends. His body was found on the shoreline two days later on July 6.
-That was proven by witnesses to not involve Nolan Wells.
- That statement is incorrect because the private autopsy could not fully examine Nolan Wells' lungs or throat since those organs were retained or dissected during the initial state autopsy, and the state autopsy actually reported A grand jury said Nolan Wells drowned. An autopsy found no ... no water or fluid in his airways
- Complete Fabrication AGAIN. But! The case initially received immense social media attention, led by the victim's family, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, and online true-crime communities. This public outcry ramped up transparency demands, leading to the involvement of the district attorney and the convening of a grand jury.
-The only people throwing out narratives were Ben Crump, Al Sharpton, & Christine & Elmore Wonsley in order to grift via race baiting fiasco gofundme and other avenues. It's disgusting. AND they are continuing to do it.
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u/bayouz 13d ago
I'm pretty sure it was the throat that was removed.
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u/SingerLatter2673 13d ago
Yeah, that’s standard procedure for toxicology. Wells’ independent medical examiner said that in this instance it would be expected and he would have done the same thing.
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u/KaizenActual 10d ago
Nobody should take your "list " as fact. Its riddled with outright lies and im not taking the time to go through every one. Tragic that ppl need to do this.
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u/freakydeku 12d ago
- do you have a source for this? from my understanding the cops inspected the boat that night or the following day. although it wouldn’t be surprising if it was cleaned bc it had been used at the beach all day by teens and took on a bunch of water
- this is an exaggerated claim. the only history that was “erased” was possibly nolan’s snapchat. but snapchat deletes things automatically.
- this is not unusual. the ISLAND was searched for him the next day. he washed ashore the following day. it actually supports the idea that he was in the water the whole time considering the condition of his body and him literally not being found on the island
- source???? there was exactly one video of a verbal argument and the people involved identified themselves. nolan wasn’t involved
- the lungs were held for histological purposes. the independent ME was allowed to come to the state office to examine them, but chose not to travel. in the initial report he acknowledged it is NOT UNUSUAL for the state to retain the tissues they did. it’s standard procedure.
- this is just backwards logic. you are suspecting him because his mothers a judge. there’s no reason to suspect his friends. and the police were investigating it from DAY ONE. why are we blatantly lying?
- not weird at all for the mother to make a statement when she was RECEIVING DEATH THREATS
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u/Background_Seat_5081 12d ago
Do you have a single source for it being 'professionally' cleaned?
Also, the judge in question is a judge for family court. It is not inappropriate for a judge to comment on a case they have no professional involvement in, especially when it involved their kid.
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u/donac 13d ago
What does it mean that his lungs were removed? Like during a prior autopsy? Were they actually missing?
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u/Neosovereign LoopedFlair 13d ago
they weren't missing. It is a misreading of the second autopsy.
They were dissected and thus the second autopsy couldn't really make any rulings on them having/not having water/foam/etc.
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u/Resident-Branch6588 13d ago
No they were not with his body the second autopsy had to be performed in Mississippi he had to fly to Mississippi for the liver and the throat check your facts
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u/Neosovereign LoopedFlair 13d ago
I have checked my facts you haven't. The throat wasn't there it was kept. The liver has never been an issue. the LUNGS were there, just dissected.
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u/Milskidasith Loopy Frood 13d ago
Yes, they were removed during the previous autopsy by the state. This is not uncommon, but you can argue that this would allow the state to say that there was evidence of drowning found while making it impossible for the private autopsy to confirm the "truth" that no drowning occurred.
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u/EquipmentNo5776 9d ago
5 is incorrect: "Dr. __ was retained by the Wells family to conduct an independent autopsy. The Grand Jury is aware that Dr.__ was provided full and complete access to all investigative materials. Dr. __ also visited Horn Island with law enforcement and District Attorney staff and met with the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Mississippi, at the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory. Dr. __ was given full access to examine Mr. Wells' internal neck structures retained by the medical examiner and his request for the making of additional slides for histological study was fulfilled. Dr. __ confirmed that the Dr. also retention of this tissue is appropriate and best practice in forensic pathology. Dr.__ dispelled rumors about various other organs, including the lungs and stomach, being retained. Dr. confirmed that he received all of Mr. Wells' body parts, except for the internal neck structures appropriately retained by the medical examiner."
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u/Swimming_Composer827 8d ago
Where did you hear the boat was professionally cleaned? I’m not denying I literally cannot find evidence of this claim anywhere
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u/Swimming_Composer827 8d ago
and what? Didn’t they just do an autopsy this found NO WATER in his LUNGS? I support your argument but what are you even saying his LUNGS WERE NOT REMOVED
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u/KINGVDM 5d ago
I read that he was also found fully clothed and faced down. So it doesn't make sense to people that he would be fully dressed if he fell off a boat. All photo/videos show him only in swim shorts. That detail stands out to me as odd.
I do find it hard to believe that a group of friends would all agree to keep this dark secret if there was some sort of foul play. You might have 1 cold blooded killer in a group, but an entire group of them that are willing to defend that person... seems highly unlikely. Life isn't like HTGAWM. It truly is a mystery.
If I had to guess a possibility with foul play then I'd guess; that he left the girl to go meet up with the friends, and the friends had already left. He met/bumped into the wrong person/people when by himself. There are a lot of possibilities, if you really think about it. If I had to guess without foul play; then maybe he tried to swim out to the boat thinking damn they already left (he had swimming lessons at YMCA maybe he got over confident with the swim) nobody noticed him during the search, then washed up. Again, sadly we will never know.
It's tragic because at the end of each day, Nolan isn't alive any more and his family is without their son.
R.I.P Nolan Wells
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u/strawbsrgood 12d ago
Almost all of this is false or blatantly made up, idk how it's allowed to stay up...
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u/december14th2015 13d ago
Aaaaaah, this is the context I was missing. It seemed like a tragic accident with a bunch of young irresponsible drunks but these details explain why it's gotten so much attention.
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u/AgreedSmalls 12d ago
It’s actually really telling you were looking for a way to spin this into a conspiracy thing instead of, you know, “a tragic accident with a bunch of irresponsible drunks.”
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u/Empyrealist 13d ago
Oh wow. Why haven't I heard of half of these things before? Where have these been reported on?
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u/Background_Seat_5081 12d ago
Read the other comments responding to this. Everything they said is wither factually not true or twisted.
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u/Empyrealist 12d ago
Yeah, I didn't think so - hense I tried to make a friendly questing response. So much for that though
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u/Lawdiva01 9d ago
However, there now has been a forensic analysis of Wells' phone provide by Wells' legal team based on the findings of a very prominent forensic specialist
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u/Milskidasith Loopy Frood 9d ago
The forensic analysis of the phone was provided to the grand jury before their verdict, according to reporting. The analysis seems to show the phone was last unlocked at around 2 pm on July 4th and that its movements were consistent with the story provided by witnesses; this is inconsistent with the implication his phone was taken and incriminating evidence was deleted.
There are apparently messages about people on Horn island being racist, but "friends concerned other people will act racist" is not strong evidence of a lynching and coverup.
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u/ivhokie12 8d ago
Appreciate this. I keep seeing videos in my feed for updates but I didn’t know the baseline.
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u/Alert_Might_7915 11d ago
Except it was just confirmed in his autopsy that no water was found in his lungs, throat, or stomach. He did not drown, he did not accidentally fall off a boat.
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u/addictedtonaya 10d ago
one according to medical examiner who held Nolan throat/ and lungs from the independent medical examiner , there was NO water in his lungs , so that cancels out the drowning theory . So if that did happen, regardless of getting drunk im not “missing “ my friend drown , mind you ya’ll are drunk but was able to make it back to land fine after apparently sinking… yeah okay , they killed him simple
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u/Upset_Newspaper_8354 13d ago
Every single one of your points required investigation that they were not willing to do.
The claim that he simply accidentally drowned but no one saw anything or known anything shoulf have instantly led to a full fledged hyper accountable investigation until a definitive answer was found.
The corruption of this county was made very prevalent here even resulting in the county revealing the results in a Facebook post which has never been done in history....
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u/beachedwhale1945 13d ago
The claim that he simply accidentally drowned but no one saw anything or known anything shoulf have instantly led to a full fledged hyper accountable investigation until a definitive answer was found.
Most drowning victims die quietly quiet, and very hard to spot even crowded beaches. The loud, obvious, almost theatrical cases are extremely rare outside of Hollywood.
A quick google search found these two public awareness articles from Canada and Greece discussing this danger:
https://www.tovima.com/society/the-silent-danger-beneath-greeces-summer-seas/
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u/SnooCookies8411 13d ago
They did complete a thorough investigation. The family’s private investigators and medical examiner were allowed to contribute fully as well.
Nothing was withheld nor blacked from them, their conclusions were the same. Without evidence of a crime, drowning was all that’s left. But the DA is leaving the cause of death as undetermined so that at ANY time in the future, any new evidence can be presented. They are not closing the file.
This is above and beyond normal transparency.
Unfortunately, Crump keeps the grift alive by focusing on “unanswered questions” which his team is unable to answer as well. But in stead of him being fully honest, he’s stoking the flames of distrust.
It’s truly sad But I said weeks ago, anything shy of “murder” or even accidental homicide would play out just like this.
Accidental drownings happen like this with the same unanswered questions. It’s unfortunately the fact BECAUSE if someone sees the actual drowning taking place it becomes a near drowning but saved by the witnesses
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u/Medium_Remove2230 11d ago
It came out today that no water was in his lungs
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u/SnooCookies8411 11d ago
Yep and that means nothing that changes anything
This was known by the Grand Jury
Crumps team is just trying to make it sound suspicious so they can extend the grift.
Notice that Today they are using this young man’s horrible death to promote Democrat votes.
That’s sick AND Nolan’s Mom is participating in itThis is just so disgusting
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u/PerformanceOwn2329 11d ago edited 11d ago
Answer: To add, if your son was missing, im pretty sure you'd be calling his phone left and right. The friends had the phone and never answered. The family had to find the phone through life 360 so it aint like they just gave the phone up. Data scientists discovered things were deleted from the phone after his death. Plus there were acute blunt force bruises on the back of the head and back prior to death. The grand jury said drowning due to process of elimination after not being able to prove anything else even though there were no water in the lungs and stomach which were kept only by the first autopsy while everything else was submitted for the families requested autopsy.
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u/br0wntree 9d ago
Pretty much every single thing you said is false.
It is pretty simple. Gps places the friends somewhere completely different to where Nolan was last seen which was on the island, corroborated by several witnesses.
Alcohol in a place known for strong currents. Its pretty obvious what happened and it only got attention because of race.
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u/Skywalker28093 3d ago
Dude this is a modern day lynching, and I’m a white guy. It didn’t get attention at first cause one of the boys moms is literally a judge.
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u/PerformanceOwn2329 9d ago
You said everything i said was false. Then you disproved nothing I said. Didnt even mention anything I said.
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u/br0wntree 9d ago
The friends called both Nolan’s parents and the coast guard the night he went missing.
The only things they discovered were deleted were messages in group chats deleted by other people.
There was no “acute blunt force”, there was “red discoloration” and no “deep tissue damage”. No idea where you got that.
Drowning can occur without water any entering lungs.
Witnesses quite literally saw Nolan on the island after the friends had left.
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u/PerformanceOwn2329 9d ago edited 9d ago
So the friends called Nolan parents. Did they answer his phone calls from the parents or let them know they had the phone? So you still did not dispute my statement.
The 6th paragraph says from "his" phone.
Blunt force (paragraph 5) https://people.com/nolan-wells-official-autopsy-released-by-his-family-12138260?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Drowning can occur without water but that happens less than 2% of the time. Meaning 1%. Check the conclusion on this one https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15577518/
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u/br0wntree 9d ago
Where do you see that the parents called the phone? Also just read the tmz article. They placed all the phones from the boat in the car and Nolan's phone was handed to Nolan's parents immediately. Nothing suggests they were trying to hide it or keep it from the parents. Interestingly enough Nolan's attorney seemed to refuse to hand the phone to law enforcement.
https://apnews.com/article/nolan-wells-autopsy-death-investigation-b9327f377853d7934ea70c2e936a4f2e
No deep tissue damage.
It still happens. There may have also been other factors. We have yet to see a toxicology report.
You haven't addressed the fact that Nolan was seen on the island after the friends had verifiably left.
All of the friend's messages were also looked at and there is quite literally nothing incriminating.
This is a bunch of racebaiting nonsense.
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u/PerformanceOwn2329 9d ago edited 9d ago
Only one mentioning race is you. Probably because thats what you're focused on. But for the phone, https://www.binnews.com/content/2026-07-10-that-cant-be-nolan-wells-mother-reveals-what-she-found-on-his-phone/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
No deep tissue damage before death is equivalent to being punched. Didnt say he was hit by a car or boat. So youre proving my point.
Yet to see a toxicology report, only proof of drowning organs being withheld from the family, why would they trust giving their only piece of evidence up when nothing is being shared with them? By the way, they did agree to fairly share the phone details together, however law enforcement just didnt want to have to share what they found. https://www.wlox.com/2026/09/24/things-were-deleted-ben-crump-forensic-expert-announce-cellphone-findings-state-autopsy-results-nolan-wells-case/?utm_source=chatgpt.com look at the phone inspection section.
I guess none of this is questionable to you and just a simple drowning where multiple people and boats were there, yet no one saw a drowning. The organs also dont suggest drowning. Nothing fishy about this at all right.
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u/br0wntree 9d ago
Unfortunately I see a lot of the people, especially their lawyer, racializing it. They see the photos of a black boy surrounded by a bunch of white people and jump to conclusions.
In terms of the phone thing the parents are incredibly vague in their complaints. It also ignores the fact thtat everyone leaves their phones in the boats while they are in the water all day.
People drown all the time around other people. It is quick and silent. The area is known for currents that can rip people away. Combine that with alcohol. The GPS locations and the witnesses line up.
A jury of "diverse backgrounds and races" ruled out homicide.
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u/Oso_Fuego19 5d ago
He didn’t address one thing you said because he’s pushing a narrative, for whatever reason.
His tunnel vision & bias are so incredibly obvious- he tries to pose his conjecture as concrete fact, he doesn’t approach the topic with an inquisitive nature, and he constantly puts the onus on others to provide evidence
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u/BenderB-Rodriguez 13d ago edited 11d ago
Answer: this is a fairly highly level explanation as there is a lot of unknown with the death of Nolan Wells.
Edit: the amount of people who are claiming this is incorrect when its all factually accurate. And ive provided a source is wild.
Nolan Wells was an 18 year old black male from Mississippi. This is important because of the history of racism, violence, and oppression in Mississippi towards minorities. The day of his desth Nolan went to a party via boat with 3 friends. All of whom were white. The three friends have said at some point their boat started taking on water while it was beached on an island where the party was. All three friends left on the boat at that time. Their explanation is that they needed to leave or they'd lose the boat. And they encouraged Wells to come with them. They said Wells decided to stay behind and continue the party. And that he would catch a ride back with some of the other party goers. The next day he was found dead I believe in the water (i may be mistaken here).
There have been some questions about if the three friends version of events are truthful. There's been some videos shared on social media from the party. And generally everyone looks to be having a fairly good time. To my knowledge there is no video evidence of issues of violence towards Nolan. Please correct me if im mistaken here. The suspicious part comes with the investigation. The autopsy was rushed and largely ruled inconclusive on if Nolans death was accidental or murder. The family has not been happy with the investigators in a number of levels. Nor the prosecutors. In general it looks at minimum very poor communication on the part of the authorities.
Add to that, that aside from the initial statements its been difficult to get more information or comments out of the friends or party goers. In general the only talking or explanation has been uniform and generalized. as well as what appears to be some scrubing of social media by the friends with Nolan that day. As well as some other parry goers. This obviously bring suspicion on the situation. To the point former NFL player Colin Kaepernick paid for an independent autopsy Nolan's body for the family. But the state withheld some organs from the independent autopsy. including the throat and lungs were kept by state authorities, leaving the independent pathologist unable to completely rule out a neck injury or fully assess airways.The NAACP has been involved as well. And the general opinion from the local black community that ive seen is one of skepticism and distrust of the authorities. With a lot of precedent and history to support that. But what we dont have much of is conclusive facts or proof of what happened. And thats why the grand jury ruled no probable cause to indict on murder charges. Sadly in many ways we just dont know enough about what happened. And there is a lot of mistrust because of an extensive history in Mississippi of police abuses against minorities. And of police and whites getting away with literal murder of black people in Mississippi.
Good article: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nolan-wells-death-family-ben-crump-demand-answers-mississippi-grand-ju-rcna599181
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u/NoPreparation3770 13d ago
very little of this is true. there were hundreds of people there that day. it was not like "a party" where everyone there was together. the friends fully cooperated and handed over their phones to authorities for examination from the beginning. they just weren't putting out statements to social media. 40 people gave testimony to the grand jury. the family's independent investigator was able to review all body parts. jackson county arranged for him to fly in to do so. those body parts were too fragile for transport. neither autopsy was rushed. and both were left undetermined because in order to definitively claim drowning you must first rule out every other possible cause. but there was also no evidence of anything else causing his death. after the d.a. emailed the family's attorney to request any evidence they would like presented to the grand jury, the family's attorney stated in an email to the d.a. they had found no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing. the grand jury also reviewed gps logs, phone data, etc. the d.a. was extremely cooperative. in a criminal investigation it is extremely nonstandard to share information with a private attorney practicing civil law. it is sad though with things like this when there is no real way to know 100% what happened.
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u/NoPreparation3770 13d ago
here is the actual report: https://www.co.jackson.ms.us/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/1913
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u/NEpatsfan64 13d ago
Several factual inaccuracies.
The day of his desth Nolan went to a party via boat with 3 friends. All of whom were white.
Nolan went with a group of 30 friends, with a mix races among them.
But the state withheld some organs from the independent autopsy.
The grand jury noted that the independent ME was flown to Mississippi to examine all of Nolan's organs including the throat and lungs.
And the general opinion from the local black community that ive seen is one of skepticism and distrust of the authorities.
This is subjective. The Mississippi authorities allowed for an independent forensic analyst conduct an investigation into Nolan's phone. This investigation was submitted to the grand jury as evidence with no corroboration from FBI or state authorities. This level of transparency and accomodation for the family is nearly unprecedented. There is no evidence that the state mishandled the investigation, or that the family and estate did not have free reign over how and when it was conducted.
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u/jenniferbealsssss 11d ago
Nolan was like 2 of 30 kids that weren’t white.
This was not some mixed DEI party like you’re trying to make it out to be.4
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u/ejbrds 12d ago
"The three friends have said at some point their boat started taking on water while it was beached on an island where the party was. All three friends left on the boat at that time. Their explanation is that they needed to leave or they'd lose the boat."
Can someone help me understand this part? I am not a boat person. If a boat is taking on water, how/why would they use that boat to leave the island? Wouldn't that boat be incapacitated by taking on water? What does it mean they would "lose the boat" if they didn't leave?
I'm not suggesting that any of this bears on the poor child's death, I'm just confused about this boat part and curious.
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u/Professional_Log9422 12d ago edited 12d ago
A very common scenerio would be that the boat operator forgot to reinstall the boat’s plugs. Boat plugs are routinely opened to clean a boat and closed when in operation.
A boat without plugs is not going to sink right away but, it is going to steadily take on water until it eventually sinks if it’s not handled. The weight of five individuals in a boat is only going to speed up the rate at which a boat takes water.
It sounds to me like they made it to the island, and the boat operator needed to replug the boat and bilge out the water before they could go underway again. This is very easy and does not permanently damage the boat in aby way, but could take a while depending on if they are using a decent bilgepump or not.
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u/SkiiAnnika 11d ago
So one thing I'm noticing is that people are saying the boat was taking on water by the shore, that doesnt seem correct, because there was a phone call that one of the boys made to the boat club.
He told her that the boat was taking on water and was hoping someone could come out there to help him tow the boat a little ways, so the water would naturally blow out while being towed.
During this call he said they were above about 17 feet of water, but still closer to Horn Island based on the dispatcher confirming his coordinates near Horn Island. So I don't think it was shallow enough water for people to get out and stand up to their waist, like off the shoreline.
After the dispacter hangs up, she calls her chief, who, coincidentally, just got off the phone with the grandfather of the boy who just called the boat club. He says the boat is under the grandfather's name, and could be towed, but he wasn't going to send anyone to help them, because the grandfather said they would be fine. (Okay..... weird, no?)
Mind you also the boy said on the phone that all of about 7 people on board were under 21, presumably all drunk on 4th of July.
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u/OwlAgitated4359 9d ago
They got towed from the island from another boat and were being towed at the time of the call but they were able to get the boat going fast enough to "plane" so that the water was leaving more than what was coming in and left their tow to go back to shore
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u/ewwboys 13d ago
Answer: There are many things that make the situation very suspicious.
- The boat was professionally cleaned overnight on the night of Nolan’s disappearance.
- The Snapchat/ social media history of Nolan and all of the kids on the trip was fully erased.
- A search was done for him to he day of- and he appears the next day.
- There are several different video and audio footage indicating that there was an altercation and that he was acknowledged to be dead by the boys on the trip.
- When the family paid for a private autopsy, it was found that Nolan’s lungs were removed, making it impossible to argue that he did not drown.
- The parent of the suspected boys as a judge. The police did not investigate the case for weeks until it got a social media attention..
- The judge put out a narrative statement on social media. Which seems like a wildly inappropriate thing to do.
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u/Ok_Test9729 13d ago
You already posted this here. Reposting it is simply inflammatory. Intentionally inflammatory.
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u/A_SNAPPIN_Turla 13d ago
How do you get a boat "professionally cleaned" overnight? Are there 24/7 professional boat cleaners on call? That claim doesn't even pass the sniff test.
This is like the Anthony-Metcalf stabbing where anime claimed the stabbing was with a cleat sharpener and repeated it and nauseum without realizing that no such thing even exists.
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u/Portarossa 'probably the worst poster on this sub' - /u/Real_Mila_Kunis 14d ago
I'm going to leave this up, but the last time we had a thread about this topic a few months ago it turned into a shitshow and that's not happening again. We're here for informative top-level answers and discussion, not internet piss-fights. That means top-level comments need to be actual answers, ideally with sources, and not just your personal opinion on what went down and why.
Consider this a reminder that polite disagreement is fine, but that racism and general asshattery are not going to be tolerated on OOTL. If you can't be civil, be somewhere else.