Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that he was considering requesting an FBI investigation into the death of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old college freshman who went missing during a boating trip and was subsequently found on Horn Island, a barrier island off Mississippi’s coast.
Wells’s body was discovered two days after he was last seen alive on July 4. His official cause and manner of death remain undetermined, though a Jackson county grand jury concluded he had drowned. However, an independent autopsy conducted by a forensic pathologist at Howard University hospital found no evidence of drowning, citing an absence of water in Wells’s stomach, lungs and throat, and noted bruising on his head, back, left shoulder and buttocks.
The case has drawn national attention and generated debate about the handling of the investigation. Wells’s family, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, have called for a federal investigation after the Jackson county grand jury declined to indict anyone. Crump stated that the independent autopsy findings, particularly blunt force trauma to the head, warrant further examination. Multiple members of Congress, including Representatives Maxine Waters and Frederica Wilson, sent correspondence to the National Park Service requesting an investigation, noting that most of Horn Island is federally designated land.
Wells’s father, Elmore Wonsley, joined calls for FBI involvement, stating the family was seeking truth rather than special treatment. When asked by reporters as he was departing the White House whether he planned to push the FBI to launch an investigation, Trump responded, “Well, we’re looking at that. Yes, we are.” Crump subsequently characterized Trump’s statement as carrying significant weight, noting the development came approximately 100 days after Wells’s death was first being examined.
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