A racially diverse Mississippi grand jury has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime in the July death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells on Horn Island, but said the case should be revisited “If credible evidence comes to light in the future that suggests Mr. Wells’ death was non-accidental.”
The report from the group of 23 grand jurors (13 men and 10 women) from Jackson County who reviewed the circumstances surrounding Wells’ death was released Monday by Angel Myers McIlrath, the district attorney for the 19th Circuit Court District of Mississippi, which serves Jackson, George and Greene Counties.
“After a thorough and exhaustive investigation, your grand jury met last week concerning the death investigation of Nolan Wells and unanimously returned a no true bill,” Myers McIlrath said in a video statement released with the grand jury report.
The report highlighted that Mississippi’s Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Staci Turner, and Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., a forensic pathologist hired by the family of Nolan Wells, could not determine the teenager’s cause of death. The report stated that while there was no classical evidence that Wells drowned, the grand jury concluded that the position, location, and condition of his body “is consistent with drowning.”
“Both the State of Mississippi Chief Medical Examiner and Dr. [redacted] opined that the cause and manner of Mr. Wells’ death is undetermined and that drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion. There was bruising on the back of Mr. Wells’ head which was not a fatal injury,” the report stated.
A diagnosis of exclusion is a medical diagnosis reached through a process of elimination, when a patient’s condition cannot be definitively established through direct history, physical examinations, or standard testing, according to Pediatric Care.
The report noted that the grand jury found “no evidence of any fatal injury or organic disease” on Wells’ body but noted that the forensic pathologists disagreed about the presence of bruising on his buttocks and shoulder.
Evidence concerning an injury Wells suffered to the back of his head was also reviewed, but the grand jury stated in their report that “the exact cause of the injury remains uncertain.”
“A witness testified under oath that he saw Mr. Wells slip awkwardly off the side of a boat around the time of 3:30 p.m. on July 4, 2026, but could not say whether Mr. Wells struck his head during the fall,” the report said.
“The witness testified that Mr. Wells continued to socialize after the fall and did not appear injured. The Grand Jury understands that neither forensic expert has ruled out accidental drowning as a cause of Mr. Wells’ death,” the report continued. “While the Grand Jury found no other evidence to explain the bruising on the back of Mr. Wells’ head, or the suspected bruising on his buttocks and shoulder, the Grand Jury cannot say with absolute certainty that this fall caused this bruising.”
Wells, a popular football player at Southwest Mississippi Community College, was found dead near Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast on July 6 after traveling there by boat with a group of friends to celebrate the July 4 holiday.
Local investigators previously informed the family that no foul play was involved in his death, but Wells’ grieving parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, weren’t convinced. They hired renowned civil rights attorney Ben Crump and have been joined by civil rights activist Al Sharpton in raising questions about how their son died.
In a statement Monday, Crump and his team accused McIlrath of “attempting to close the chapter on Wells’ death without getting to the bottom of what caused the blunt force trauma to the back of his head and body.”
They also called on McIlrath’s office to “keep the investigation open and active and to release the investigative file” while renewing a request that the U.S. Department of Justice open an independent federal review of the case.
Over the last several weeks, the investigation into Wells’ death has been subjected to many theories in the court of public opinion, but McIlrath stated that many of those narratives, including ones pointing to racial animus, are “false.”
“The narrative that three white boys and a black boy went to an island, and only three white friends returned, spread like wildfire. This was false. Nolan went to Horn Island on July 4th, 2026, with a large group of friends, and while on the island, he connected with even more friends,” she stated.
“There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s disappearance and death were racially motivated. Nolan’s friends loved Nolan and Nolan loved them. Nolan chose to stay on the island that day, and there is not a scintilla of evidence to contradict that,” she added.
“The family, the crime team and anyone else close to Nolan knew that his disappearance and death were not the result of racial hate or violence. Yet the flames of that narrative, set against the backdrop of Mississippi’s terrible history, were fanned by both people who knew the truth and those who didn’t.”
McIlrath further stated that she has knowledge about the case that she cannot “legally or ethically share,” and she has worked to “protect and respect the law.”
“I cannot tell you how difficult it is observing people create narratives detrimental to our community when I have true knowledge that I cannot legally or ethically share, but my job requires discipline and restraint,” she said. “I am responsible for protecting the integrity of active investigations, and I will always make decisions that most faithfully protect and respect the law, regardless of circumstances.”
Contact: [email protected] Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost
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