OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) — The family of Nolan Xavier Wells is still grappling for answers about what exactly led to the 18-year-old elite athlete’s death during a July 4 boat trip with friends off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Though Wells traveled by boat with his friends to Horn Island, he didn’t return with the group that afternoon as planned. His body was found two days later off the island’s coast. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family was inconclusive, civil rights attorney Ben Crump announced Wednesday, and the Mississippi sheriff’s department investigating Wells’ death hasn’t made a public statement about the case in recent days. Wells’ parents say the tragedy is riddled with conflicting stories and missing details. That distrust has been deepened by the state’s long legacy of racism. Wells was the only Black person in the group that day — everyone else on the outing was white.Here’s a look at what’s known and what’s next in the search for answers.
Wells was reported missing within hoursWells’ mother Christine Wonsley became concerned when one of his friends called around 11 p.m. on July 4. After trying to track her son down on her own, she reported him missing to police. One of Wells’ friends had also reported him missing to the U.S. Coast Guard. Wells didn’t make it back to the mainland, but his phone and car keys did. Wonsley used an app to track Wells’ phone, and, after a friend went to where it was on land to pick it up, noticed that some of his messages appeared to be deleted. Wells’ father, Elmore Wonsley, went to retrieve his son’s keys from the boat, which was at the home where Wells had stayed with his friends the night before their trip. He said his son’s car was still parked in the yard. The day after Wells’ body was found, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating with authorities and that investigators did not suspect foul play. Ledbetter said people interviewed by investigators said Wells chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else. Crump said bystander video from the island showed a person he said was Wells arguing with someone to give him his phone back. Crump said another witness reported Wells had planned to leave on the boat with his friends.
