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Mississippi Grand Jury Clears Friends in Nolan Wells Drowning Death
A Jackson County grand jury found no evidence of a crime or racial motive in the death of 19-year-old Nolan Wells, who disappeared during a July 4 boat trip to Horn Island. Attorneys for his friends say they will pursue accountability against online accusers.
A Mississippi grand jury has declined to indict anyone in the death of Nolan Wells, the 19-year-old who disappeared during a July 4 boat trip to Horn Island and whose remains were found two days later, concluding that the evidence is consistent with drowning and that no crime or racial motive was involved.
The Jackson County panel returned a «no true bill» in the investigation, meaning no charges will be filed. In its written finding, the grand jury said the position, condition, time of discovery and location of Wells' remains were «consistent with drowning.» Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said in a video statement that there was «absolutely no evidence» the death was racially motivated.
Wells, then 18, had traveled by boat to Horn Island, a barrier island along Mississippi's Gulf Coast, with a group of friends. Search crews combed the area for two days before a National Park Service ranger discovered his remains at the island's northwestern tip on July 6.
The case drew intense national attention after online rumors and speculation suggested that Wells' friends were criminally responsible for his death. McIlrath directly addressed that narrative, saying the claim that three white friends and a Black friend went to an island and only the three white friends returned «spread like wildfire» and was false. She said Wells chose to stay on the island that day and that there is not «a scintilla of evidence» to contradict that account.
Attorneys for the friends now say they intend to pursue accountability against those who spread the allegations. Russell Latino, who represents Bart Edmiston and his family, described the episode as «two tragedies» — the death of Wells and what he called the maligning of his friends, community and state by «unscrupulous charlatans and grifters who spread false and malicious lies.»
«The grand jury, made up of Mississippians of all races and backgrounds, did its solemn duty,» Latino said. «The Edmiston family looks forward to bringing accountability to those who exploited tragedy to divide and injure.»
Edward Andrew Paltzik, an attorney representing three of Wells' friends — Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour — issued a pointed message directed at civil rights attorney Ben Crump, writing: «NO TRUE BILL. You should apologize immediately to completely innocent young men.» Paltzik said he has also sent legal notices to social media influencers and media figures on behalf of the three men.
McIlrath also criticized Crump's team, saying it knew early on that the death was not racially motivated. According to the district attorney, the family's legal team advised her office in August that it had uncovered no evidence a crime was committed against Wells. «The family, the Crump team, and anyone close to Nolan knew that his disappearance and death were not the result of racial hate or violence,» she said. «What I am suggesting is that the Crump team knew better but did not do better.»
Lawyers for Wells' family disputed the grand jury's decision. Crump said the state was closing the case before the truth had been established, citing bruising on the back of Wells' head and an independent autopsy that he said documented blunt force injuries to Wells' head and back. He said neither the family nor the state has determined how Wells died and urged the Justice Department to open an investigation if Mississippi declines to do so.
«Today, the State of Mississippi is attempting to close the chapter on Nolan Wells' death without getting to the truth,» Crump said. «This grand jury result leaves us with more questions than answers. Nolan's family will not rest until we know what happened to him, and neither will we.»
Both the Mississippi chief medical examiner and the family's pathologist, Dr. Roger Mitchell, who performed a second autopsy, agreed that while the cause of death is undetermined, «drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion» — a conclusion reached by ruling out other causes rather than by direct evidence of drowning.
The grand jury found no evidence suggesting a crime occurred or that the death was motivated by race, and it also took aim at the theories circulating on social media about the people who were with Wells that day. The case now moves to a broader fight over reputations and legal liability, with attorneys for the friends signaling that defamation claims and other legal action may follow against those who promoted the accusations.
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