Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, led his congregation in prayer for the family of Nolan Wells on Sunday as authorities continue to investigate the death of the 18-year-old whose body was found near Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast a week ago.
Bryant asked his congregation to pray for Wells’ family after their attorney, Ben Crump, provided an update on their efforts to ensure transparency in the investigation, which has sparked ongoing speculation online.
“We have to keep that fire intense until we can get to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth on why Nolan Wells, this 18-year-old college football student-athlete, is dead,” Crump told the congregation.
Wells graduated from Ocean Springs High School and was a beloved football player at Southwest Mississippi Community College. He was last seen alive on Horn Island at approximately 3 p.m. on July 4, and didn’t return to the mainland with the friends he traveled with on Saturday.
His mother reported him missing that night, and his body was found washed up on the island on July 6, after a multi-agency search involving the U.S. Coast Guard, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, the National Park Service, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the United Cajun Navy.
In a press statement Wednesday, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said they continue to “actively investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Nolan Wells,” but Crump and his family are doing an independent review, including an autopsy to determine his cause of death.
Local authorities have suggested they did not suspect any foul play in the teenager’s death and that it was likely an accidental drowning, but his parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, have raised concern mainly because of how the three friends their son traveled with to the island have responded. They have all gotten lawyers and appeared reluctant to provide details to the parents as they tried locating their son before learning he was dead.
“We did this because what we are wanting is transparency. Although I do absolutely respect law enforcement, just the fact that [the] accidental drowning thing, it made both me and his father uncomfortable. Why are we so quick to rush to this?” Christian Wonsley told reporters at a press conference in New York City last Friday.
Elmore Wonsley said when he went to retrieve his son’s keys from the friend’s house where he stayed the night before heading out to Horn Island, the friend “just acted like he didn’t know where they were.”
“It was like he was clueless. He was like, ‘Ahhh, I don’t know,’” he said.
The grieving father said he pleaded with his son’s friend to go into a room at the house so he could get the keys to his son’s car, which was parked on the property, but the friend refused. Wonsley said he was very emotional at that point. He then stepped away from the house, but about five minutes later the friend presented him with the keys to his son’s car. He said after he got the keys, the friend and his family stayed inside the home until the police arrived.
Crump told the congregation on Sunday that Wells had known these friends since high school. Still, his parents had to track down his phone to the house of one of those friends who didn’t volunteer that they had his phone in their possession.
“His mother tracks his cell phone with her sister on Life 360 ’cause people want to know where their children are, and it is at … the boy’s house who owns the boat,” the attorney said, raising concerns about racial disparity in investigations for black and white individuals.
“These were three young white men. Nolan was the only young black man and … had the roles been reversed, we know this investigation would be going differently,” Crump claimed.
“It would be like ‘First 48.’ They will be interrogating those black boys. I mean, just think about it. Three black boys and one white boy and the one white boy end up dead? We know what kind of investigation this was. And that’s why we want the same investigation for Nolan Wells.”
Crump claimed that the Department of Justice has not offered to help review the circumstances surrounding Wells’ death. However, the DOJ only handles violations of federal law and does not intervene in state or local cases unless its assistance is requested.
Crump added that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is funding the independent autopsy.
“If he went missing on July 4th, his body should have washed up on the shore July 5th,” Crump claimed. “They should have been able to see his body on July 5th. So why is it his body does not show up on the shore until July 6th, two days later? So it’s a lot of things. We have to dot the Is, we have to cross the Ts. We have to turn over every rock, because I know that if this was your child, you will [sic] want everybody to help you get the answers.”
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