Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old college freshman from Mississippi, was reported missing on 4 July after attending a gathering of approximately 300 young adults on Horn Island, a barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf coast. While Wells’s friends, phone, and keys returned from the island that day, Wells did not. His body was discovered on 6 July following a search that drew national attention. The official cause and circumstances of his death remain under investigation by local authorities.
Wells’s family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, has expressed skepticism about aspects of the investigation and initial official statements. According to Crump, a preliminary statement by Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter that “no foul play was suspected” came before the autopsy was completed. The family has raised questions about claims that Wells separated from his group to meet a young woman, citing their teachings that he should remain with his companions for safety. Additionally, Wells’s phone, which was recovered at the home of one of his companions, showed deleted messages, and snapshots from the day of the gathering had been removed from the application where they would normally be preserved.
Discussions surrounding Wells’s death have centered on racial dimensions of the case, as Wells was Black while several of his companions were white. At a press conference in New York on 10 July, Wells’s mother, Christine Wonsley, appeared alongside Sharpton and Crump. Crump stated that the investigation would likely proceed differently if the circumstances were reversed, and the Congressional Black Caucus called for “a full, transparent, independent and timely investigation” into Wells’s disappearance and death.
A judge and mother of one of Wells’s white friends denied that her family had hindered the investigation, stating that her son had been interviewed by sheriff’s office authorities. She also alleged that Wells departed the island with a different group of friends. Wells’s family remains skeptical of such claims and continues seeking clarity about what transpired. An autopsy funded by Colin Kaepernick has been completed by state authorities, though results have not yet been released. Wells’s funeral services are scheduled for Monday at his church in Ocean Springs, with expenses being covered by actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry.
Originally reported by The Guardian. Read the full story →