Family of Nolan Wells, attorney demand full, transparent investigation into the Ocean Springs teen’s death

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WXXV) -The family of Nolan Wells is demanding a full and transparent investigation into the death of their 18-year-old son.

On Friday, the family’s attorney, Ben Crump, and National Action Network President Rev. Al Sharpton will come together in calling for the timely release of all investigative records, witness accounts, and findings.

“Well, we want to not speculate, but we want to investigate to what happened to Nolan Wells, because it’s not adding up. It’s just not adding up,” said Crump.

Three days after the body of ocean springs teen Nolan Wells was recovered near Horn Island, people across the nation are still wondering what happened on the fourth of July when Wells visited the island with a group of friends but did not return home.

“I mean, you had this 18-year-old kid who went out celebrating on the Fourth of July with his friends on a boat, and tragically, they all came back, but Nolan didn’t, and Nolan was the only African American in the group, and so it is not making people harken back to the sins of the past in the state of Mississippi, and so I think that’s why people are so concerned with getting to the truth of what happened to Nolan Wells,” said Crump.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate and is asking for anyone who was in the area on the fourth of July to come forward with information pertaining to Wells, along with unedited photos and videos of the northwest tip of Horn Island.

Crump says the details just don’t make sense. His team is conducting an independent review as the family has unanswered questions about how Wells was left behind.

“It is so many things that don’t pass the smell test here. Nolan was a college football player. I mean, he was in superior shape. His family and a lot of his friends are not accepting that this was a drowning, an accidental drowning,” he said.

An official cause of death has not yet been released. According to the Jackson County coroner, autopsy results are expected to come in from the state medical examiner’s office in the next week or so.

Still, the teen’s tragic death has stirred up speculation about what happened that day.

“As a civil rights lawyer, I think the public outcry is warranted because you can’t escape, you know, the history in America and especially in the Deep South, like places like Mississippi, where you have had racial killings where there was nobody held accountable, and so they are asking those questions: Are they getting a fair investigation? Is this equal justice under the law? And they want to make sure that the investigation won’t be whitewashed,” said Crump.

Attorney Ben Crump, Nolan Wells’ family, and Rev. Al Sharpton are holding a news conference in Harlem, New York on Friday to demand answers publicly. It begins at 11:00am C.T.