“All lies, and they knew it”: Jackson County District Attorney addresses rumors and allegations surrounding Nolan Wells investigation

JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. (WXXV)- Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath addressed rumors and accusations that spread in the weeks and months after the death of Nolan Wells.

Myers McIlrath was restricted from releasing certain information as the investigation was underway, but this week, it was announced that a Jackson County Grand Jury returned a No True Bill decision.

“The narrative that three white boys and a black boy went to an island, and only three white friends returned, spread like wildfire. This was false,” said Myers McIlrath.

The D.A. says there is no evidence to support allegations that Wells’ disappearance and death were racially motivated.

“Nolan chose to stay on the island that day, and there is not a scintilla of evidence to contradict that. 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, yet the flames of that narrative, set against the backdrop of Mississippi’s terrible history, were fanned by both people who knew the truth and those who didn’t,” she said.

Myers McIlrath says she offered to provide the grand jury with any evidence that the family wanted it to have.

“On August 13, 2026, after the Crump team conducted and released the results of its independen

t autopsy, and after receiving hundreds of tips, they advised my office that they had no evidence of a crime being committed against Nolan Wells,” she said.

One of the most prevalent false narratives, according to the D.A., was that her office refused to cooperate and/or obstructed the mutual examination of Wells’ cell phone.

“You must first understand that the state of Mississippi had no legal avenue to seize and search Nolan’s cell phone. Nolan’s family received that phone in the very early morning hours of July 5th, and it continues to remain in their possession. Nolan’s family and the Crump team have always been in complete control of Nolan’s cell phone, including when, where, how, and if the phone would be examined by the state,” said Myers McIlrath.

On July 15th, the D.A. says she agreed to an offer from the Wells family’s legal team to participate in a mutual examination of the phone. She says when the examination didn’t happen within a reasonable time, she reached out, but the family was out of town, so she set up a time and place with their attorneys.

“On the morning of the agreed-upon extraction date, our law enforcement investigators were contac

ted by privately retained examiners with Garrett Discovery Inc., advising that the mutual phone extraction would not occur, as they had begun a private extraction the evening prior, and it was incomplete,” she said.

The D.A. says she respected the family’s decision for a private examination of the phone and asked that the results be shared with her office.

“On August 28, 2026, the Crump team advised that I would receive the extraction data by FedEx within 48 hours and provided a 14-page preliminary report indicating the phone had not been accessed by anyone other than Nolan’s family, and nothing had been deleted off of the phone since Nolan’s last use. I never received the full extraction data as promised, and I never received a complete extraction report on Nolan’s cell phone,” said Myers McIlrath.

Myers McIlrath addressed claims that she kept the results of Wells’ autopsy and toxicology from his family. She says that is false and, after receiving the report, she reached out to Wells’ mother, Christine, directly. The D.A. says Christine did not respond, so she spoke with one of the family’s attorneys and shared the results with them.

“The Crump team knew better, but allowed the public to believe, among other false narratives, that our medical examiner withheld Nolan’s lungs and stomach when his body was released; that things had been deleted off of Nolan’s phone before it was given back to his family; that I refused to cooperate with the examination of Nolan’s cell phone; and that I refused to provide Nolan’s autopsy results to the family, all lies, and they knew it,” she said.