Nolan Wells‘ parents say they will continue to fight for answers after a Mississippi grand jury returned a no-true-bill in his death investigation.
Jackson County District Attorney Angel McIllrath announced on Monday that no criminal charges or indictments would be issued. The DA also released a redacted report from the grand jury.
The jury, made up of 23 members, reviewed GPS logs, security camera footage, phone forensic reports, testimony from 43 witnesses, and 132 subpoenas.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, says she found out about the grand jury’s decision shortly before the DA made it public.
“To me that action showed a lack of empathy and a need to get this case done and over with,” Wonsley said.
Wells’ parents say the grand jury report still gives them no answers and reinforces their belief that their son was not given a fair and through investigation.
The grand jury’s decision comes two months after the teen went missing on Horn Island while celebrating Independence Day with friends. Two days later, searchers found his body on the northern tip of the island.
The jury found that Wells went to the island on The Triton, one of three boats used by the group of friends.
One of the other vessels later had to tow the boat after a failed bilge pump and motor caused it to take on water.
Wells’ friends maintained that Wells chose to stay on the island while they went back to shore. The jury believes Wells’ friends that he chose to stay behind to continue socializing.
“The narrative that three white boys and a black boy went to an island, and only the white friends returned, spread like wildfire. This was false,” McIllrath said in a video posted on Facebook. “There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s disappearance and death were racially motivated.”
McIllrath also addressed the rumors that she refused a mutual examination of Wells’ phone with the family’s legal team, led by Attorney Ben Crump.
Wells left his phone on The Triton, and the boat carried it back to shore. The jury justified the teen’s phone returning to the mainland without him, adding that other passengers also had phones return on different boats.
The DA claims the state had no legal avenue to seize or search the teen’s phone, leaving Wells’ family in control of when investigators could examine it.
Regarding her letter to the family asking for an examination, McIllrath says she did it because the investigation could not wait.
She says eventually the family agreed to a mutual examination. However, on the day of the extraction, a private company contacted law enforcement and said the family had conducted an incomplete examination the day before.
“I respected the family’s decision for a private examination and requested that they share those results with my office.”
McIllrath says Crump’s team promised to provide her with the extraction data. It wasn’t until after the grand jury convened that she received a 282-page selection of reports from Wells’ cell phone which she says the grand jury considered.
Attorney Ben Crump says his team will present that data to the public on Thursday.
The grand jury report also addressed Wells’ autopsy results. Both the Mississippi State Chief Medical Examiner and an independent forensic pathologist determined that Wells’ cause and manner of death remained undetermined.
Both officials found non-fatal bruising on the back of Wells’ head. A witness testified under oath that Wells slipped awkwardly off the side of the boat but continued socializing and showed no signs of injury. Neither official found evidence of fatal physical trauma.
Court documents said the evidence remained consistent with accidental drowning, which investigators had not ruled out.
“My question is how can a grand jury come to the conclusion of drowning, despite knowing that there was trauma to his body. And despite hearing many inconsistences.” Christine Wonsley said.
“Elmore and I do not believe that Nolan simply and accidently drowned,” she continued. Last night was a reminder that our son’s life does not matter to those who hold positions that are supposed to serve and protect the public.”
Regarding the family’s independent pathologist not having some of Well’s body parts, McIllrath says she extended an invitation to Dr. Roger Mitchell to come to Mississippi to examine and review whatever he needed to.
Mitchell accepted the invitation and spent August 30 through September 1 in Mississippi examining Well’s internal throat structures, according to McIllrath.
McIllrath says Dr. Mitchell also met with the State Medical Examiner and testified before the grand jury.
The toxicology report found no evidence that Wells had used cocaine. According to the report, Wells used a fake ID to buy his own alcohol, and no adults over 21 provided alcohol to him or his friends.
The grand jury report also addressed other viral speculation.
According to court documents, the grand jury reviewed online speculation about Wells’ alleged involvement in a fight and found the allegations false.
The grand jury also found that a viral post sharing audio from the call to SeaTow after The Triton began taking on water did not match the original recording.
In a statement regarding the grand jury’s decision, Crump says, “No true bill does not resolve how Nolan Wells died.”
“We are releasing the final independent autopsy report in its entirety, so everyone can read it for themselves. This grand jury result leaves us with more questions than answers. Nolan’s family will not rest until we know what happened to him, and neither will we.”
Mississippi has no statute of limitations on homicide, and credible new evidence of foul play could reopen the case and send it before another grand jury.
