JACKSON, Miss. — A grand jury determined that there wasn't evidence to warrant charges in the death of Nolan Wells, a Black college student whose body was found after a July 4 boating trip and party on an island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Wells' family swiftly pushed back on the findings.
District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, who has overseen the investigation into the 18-year-old's death, announced the grand jury's findings late Monday, after months of intense speculation about how Wells went missing from the bustling party and why the friends who ferried him to Horn Island left without him.
The grand jury found no evidence of criminal conduct and said that based on various factors, including the position and condition of Wells' body when found two days after he was last seen, his death was "consistent with drowning." Although the state medical examiner's office's autopsy results haven't been made public, the grand jury report said that it and a separate autopsy conducted by a forensic pathologist hired by Wells' family found bruising on the back of his head but couldn't determine the cause of death.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, said at a news conference Tuesday that she didn't understand how the grand jury concluded that her son had accidentally drowned given the autopsy findings.
"How can a jury come to the conclusion of drowning, despite knowing that there was trauma to his body, and despite hearing many inconsistencies?" she said.
The investigation has led to rampant speculation and suspicion as people grapple with Mississippi’s history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a majority white setting. Everyone else in the group that traveled with Wells to the island is white.
Attorneys for friends of Wells who are white and have been the subject of online rumors and accusations hailed the report’s findings, with one saying his client can now properly grieve.
During its investigation into whether crimes were committed, the grand jury issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses through direct testimony, sworn statements and recorded interviews, according to the report. It weighed evidence, including cellphone data and forensic reports, videos and GPS data.
Wells' family rejects the findings
Lawyers for Wells' family, including civil rights attorney Ben Crump, said the grand jury's report yielded more questions than answers, and they accused the district attorney of ending the investigation despite not determining what caused blunt force trauma to the back of Wells' head and body.
“All other causes must be ruled out prior to certifying a death as drowning,” Crump, whose team released the final version of the independent autopsy report Tuesday, said at the news conference. “What is another cause the district attorney failed to rule out? Blunt force trauma... Common sense tells you that this child did not just drown.”
A witness testified to the grand jury that he saw Wells slip awkwardly off the side of a boat around 3:30 p.m. on July 4, but that Wells continued to socialize after the fall and didn’t appear injured, the report said. The panel said it couldn’t determine whether the fall caused the bruising on Wells’ body.
Wonsley said she was informed of the grand jury's findings only minutes before McIlrath posted a video about them on her office's Facebook page, and that this lacked empathy.
“Last night was a reminder that our son’s life does not matter to those who hold positions that are supposed to serve and protect the public,” Wonsley said, struggling through tears. “Nolan is loved. He is cherished. He is honored. And he did not deserve to have his life taken away so suddenly.”
Crump and others renewed their request Tuesday for the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an independent investigation, and called on McIlrath to release the investigation file and the state medical examiner's full autopsy report. Kristen Clarke, general counsel for the NAACP and a former head of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, said it would make sense for the Justice Department to open an investigation given that the island is a federally maintained and patrolled barrier island.
At Wells' funeral, the Rev. Al Sharpton invoked the state's racist history during his eulogy, including the lynching of Emmett Till and assassination of Medgar Evers.
“Mississippi’s history painfully teaches us exactly why families should never be expected to simply accept unanswered questions surrounding the death of a young Black person,” Sharpton said in a statement Tuesday. “Transparency and accountability matter. The truth matters. Nolan’s life mattered.”
Shortly after Wells was found dead, Jackson County sheriff’s officials said investigators didn’t suspect foul play, sparking widespread concerns about whether law enforcement would conduct a thorough investigation. McIlrath repeatedly promised a fair and thorough investigation into his death.
Prosecutor defends the probe and condemns ‘false narratives’
In her 15-minute video announcing the grand jury findings, McIlrath expressed frustration about inaccurate speculation about what happened to Wells. She also said lawyers for Wells' family told her office last month that their own investigation found no evidence of crimes.
“What I cannot accept, what I cannot ignore, is that false narratives that Nolan’s death was somehow racially motivated, and that this is a case of another young Black man denied justice by a racist, corrupt system, were perpetuated and allowed to spread. There is not a shred of evidence to support these narratives,” she said.
Attorneys for three of Wells' friends who have been subjected to widespread, unsubstantiated online rumors that they contributed to his death said the grand jury’s report is a weight off their clients’ shoulders.
“He said that he felt like he could breathe for the first time,” attorney Tyler Cox said of one of Wells’ friends. “This doesn’t bring Nolan back at all, but this can at least put them on a path where they can finally mourn Nolan now that they’ve been officially cleared of any wrongdoing.”
Questions remain about what led to Wells' death
Wells' parents and their lawyers voiced suspicions after Wells' friends left the island without him, saying he wanted to stay behind and talk to a girl. Wells' phone was on the boat that took him to the island, which was later towed partway back to the mainland after taking on water.
Crump and Wells’ parents have cast doubt on why a teenager would choose to stay on an island without his phone. They also speculated that messages on his phone had been tampered with and alleged that his friends were reluctant to turn over his phone and keys.
The grand jury was given a report from Crump’s experts on the contents of Wells’ phone, though the specific contents weren't detailed in the grand jury's redacted report.
The grand jury found that it wasn't unusual or suspicious for people to return from the island on boats they didn't take to get there, according to the report. And it noted that Wells’ phone wasn't the only one to travel back to the mainland without its owner that day.
The report also said that although alcohol was found in Wells' body, the result was highly unreliable because the testing involved decompositional fluid. Such fluid examined after someone's death may include alcohol consumed during life as well as ethanol generated after death by microbial fermentation, it said.
The grand jury report concluded with the panel expressing sympathy for Wells’ family. “The evidence received in this matter convinced the Grand Jury of Mr. Wells’ outstanding character,” it said.
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Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut, and Lauer reported from Philadelphia.