Grand Jury Declines to Indict Anyone in Nolan Wells’ Death, Rejecting Online Rumors

A Jackson County grand jury has declined to indict anyone in connection with the death of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old who disappeared during a Fourth of July trip to Horn Island and was later found dead off the Mississippi coast.

In a report released Monday, the grand jury said it found no credible evidence to support claims that people who traveled to or from the island on three boats — the Triton, the Palm Beach and the Tideline — were involved in criminal conduct related to Wells’ death.

The case had become a focus of intense speculation on social media, with viral posts questioning what happened to Wells and alleging a cover-up. The grand jury directly rejected those claims.

“The Grand Jury finds no credible evidence to support the public allegations that any persons who rode to or from Horn Island on July 4, 2026, on the Triton, the Palm Beach, or the Tideline engaged in any criminal conduct related to the death of Mr. Wells,” the report states. “The allegations against the occupants of the Triton, the Palm Beach, and the Tideline are not based in truth, and are solely the result of public clamor and private malice.”

Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said in a video statement that grand jurors have a duty not only to pursue prosecutions but also to clear people who have been falsely accused.

“There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s disappearance and death were racially motivated,” McIlrath said. “Nolan’s friends loved Nolan, and Nolan loved them.”

Wells had gone to Horn Island with friends to celebrate Independence Day. Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said at the time that Wells did not return to the mainland with them that afternoon. He was last seen on the island around 3 p.m., according to civil rights attorney Ben Crump’s office, which represents the family. Wells’ mother reported him missing later that night.

His body was discovered on Monday, July 6, off the coast of the island, which sits about 10 miles south of the Mississippi mainland. The grand jury concluded that the position, condition, time of discovery and location of Wells’ body were consistent with drowning.

The finding closes one chapter of the criminal investigation, but it does not resolve lingering questions about what happened to Wells in his final hours. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family could not determine his cause of death, Crump said in late July. Results released by the family on Tuesday found blunt-force injuries to the back of Wells’ head and other injuries to his body. The autopsy also found alcohol in his system, but it could not determine the exact amount, when he consumed it or what his blood-alcohol level had been.

“There still remains gaps in information that would define the condition of Nolan Wells (i.e. conscious or unconscious, forced or unforced) before entering or while in the water that would lead to drowning,” independent forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell Jr. wrote in his report. “This forensic pathologist is not convinced based upon the review of the investigative witness summaries or the post-mortem toxicology that Nolan Wells was too intoxicated to swim.”

The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office has not publicly released its autopsy results. The grand jury said the state also ruled the cause of death as undetermined.

Both Mitchell’s autopsy and the state’s examination found bruising on the back of Wells’ head, according to the grand jury. But the two accounts disagreed about whether there was bruising to his buttocks and shoulder, and the grand jury said it could not definitively determine what caused any of the injuries.

Crump, speaking at a news conference with the family Tuesday, said the conflicting medical findings have only deepened the family’s anguish.

“Two medical examiners found contusions on the back of Nolan’s head, and Dr. Roger Mitchell found bruises on his back,” Crump said. “What caused them and did they contribute to his death? We’ll never know, they say.”

Wells’ friends told authorities he chose to stay behind on the island to talk with a girl and said he would return to the mainland later. His parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, have said they do not believe he would have stayed voluntarily.

“No, he wouldn’t. Nolan always stays with the group,” Elmore Wonsley told “CBS Mornings.” “If you be with me, you come back with me. So that I don’t understand, and with me being a parent, if I was in that situation, I would have told them, ‘You’re going to get back on this boat with me because I don’t want to answer to your parents if something happens to you.’”

Crump told “CBS Mornings” that the accounts from Wells’ friends and the young woman have produced contradictions that have fueled public skepticism.

“There are so many glaring contradictions, that’s why so many people all across America are chiming in, saying this is not adding up,” Crump said. “I mean, you have [his friends] say he was talking to a young lady, and she said that he said, ‘I’m going to get back on the boat with the boys.’ The boys say, ‘He said that, “No, I’m going to stay with her.”’ I mean, which is it?”

In a statement released Monday evening, Crump called on the district attorney to keep the investigation into Wells’ death open and active.

“We don’t know how Nolan died, and neither does the State of Mississippi. Mississippi must keep investigating, and if it will not pursue this to the end, the Department of Justice should,” 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.”

The grand jury consisted of 23 people who represented a cross-section of Jackson County citizens. In its report, the panel said the individuals who traveled to or from Horn Island on the Triton, the Palm Beach and the Tideline cooperated fully with the investigation, providing marine GPS devices, surveillance footage, cellphones and statements to law enforcement and to Wells’ family.

It also concluded that Wells chose to remain on Horn Island after the boat he arrived on departed — something the grand jury described as common for visitors to the island on holidays and other crowded days.

Even with the criminal inquiry effectively concluded, the case is likely to remain in the public eye. Crump’s call for continued scrutiny, along with the unresolved medical questions, suggests the family may press for further review at the state or federal level. For now, the grand jury’s report offers a firm rejection of the most explosive online theories but little comfort to parents still searching for a definitive explanation of how their son died.