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Nolan Wells Family Seeks Justice After No Charges

18 sources · updated 2026-09-23
Left 0% Center 100% Right 0%
0 left · 3 center · 0 right

What happened

Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black college football player, disappeared on July 4 after traveling by boat with friends to Horn Island, a barrier island off Mississippi's Gulf Coast, to celebrate Independence Day; his body was recovered in the water near the island on July 6. Friends who departed earlier said their boat had begun taking on water and that Wells chose to remain and return later with others. A Jackson County grand jury that heard from 43 witnesses, issued 132 subpoenas, and reviewed physical evidence, digital records, police reports, and autopsy materials returned a no true bill, declining to charge anyone. The panel found that the position, condition, time of discovery, and location of Wells's body were consistent with drowning, that bruising on the back of his head was not a fatal injury, and that there was no credible evidence anyone who rode to or from the island that day engaged in criminal conduct related to his death. District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath announced the result; Wells's family, represented by attorney Ben Crump, rejected the conclusion and called for continued investigation, including by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sourcing check · Partly on the record · 4 articles

1 of 3 articles cite a named source for the story. It started with unnamed sources; a named source appeared the next day.

What these terms mean and how they're counted
On the record · names a source 1 of 3
On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Crump
Primary evidence · cites a document or data 0 of 3
Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: None cited.
Credits another outlet 0 of 3
The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: Each article presents its own reporting.
Unnamed sources 0 of 3
The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
How it developed
When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Sep 23, 00:32 UTC by OAN, with no named source. First named source the next day, from NewsNation.
Not counted 1
Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out

Unpacked

Left-leaning coverage never reports the district attorney's finding that the viral racial story of the trip was untrue. That finding is quoted in Fox as "This was false," and it is absent from BBC, which still introduces the death through white friends on the boat. A reader can keep the white-friends boat as the relevant setup rather than a story the DA called untrue. Right-leaning coverage leads with cleared friends and a collapsed race theory. Left-leaning follow-ups lead with the parents at the podium. The follow-up that ran with the family vowing they will "never stop" is NBC's; Daily Wire does not make that turn. What did the boat GPS and phone forensics actually show after he was last seen?
Bottom line

BBC's writeup of the Wells no-bill still opened on a boat trip with white friends and never used the DA's "This was false," which Fox ran with the same decision.

The receipts — 5 facts one side's coverage lacks
  • DA Angel Myers McIlrath said the narrative that three white boys and a Black boy went to the island and only three white friends returned was false official statementin Fox News, Daily Wire · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • Coroner Bruce Lynd said the state's autopsy report cannot be released because Mississippi law limits release of autopsy reports legal rulingin NBC News · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • Family pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell wrote that the record does not establish whether Wells entered the water on his own or was forced, or whether he was conscious official statementin The Guardian · absent from right-leaning coverage
  • An attorney for Bart Edmiston said his client intends to hold online accusers accountable official statementin Fox News · absent from left-leaning coverage
  • Elmore Wonsley said the family taught Nolan that if you go with a group, you stay with a group individual casein The Guardian · absent from right-leaning coverage
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets treat the no-bill as leaving the death unexplained rather than settled. They stress that both the state medical examiner and the family's pathologist listed cause and manner of death as undetermined, that drowning is a "diagnosis of exclusion," and that "recent unexplained blunt force injuries" to Wells's head and back have not been accounted for. Crump is quoted saying a "No True Bill Does Not Resolve How Nolan Wells Died" and that "the public still deserves a clear account supported by records, evidence and independent scrutiny." Coverage foregrounds the parents' belief that Wells would not have separated from his group, questions about his phone returning to the mainland without him, and Rev. Al Sharpton's claim that "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." NBC and ABC report the mother calling the investigation not "thorough, transparent and honest" and the DA's notification a "lack of empathy"; the Guardian and BBC note Crump's earlier framing that Wells "ended up dead after going out on a boat with three young white men."
The Right View
Right-leaning outlets present the no-bill as a rebuke of what they call a racially charged campaign of "public clamor and private malice." They highlight McIlrath's statements that there is "absolutely no evidence" the death was racially motivated, that "Nolan's friends loved Nolan, and Nolan loved them," and that "the Crump team knew better but did not do better" after telling her office in August it had found no evidence a crime was committed. The Daily Wire and Fox News emphasize that the "narrative that three white boys and a black boy went to an island and only three white friends returned" was "false," that friends, witnesses, and officials faced threats and reputational harm, and that attorneys for the young men intend to hold online accusers accountable. Coverage casts Crump as having advanced "politically charged racial narratives" in prior high-profile cases and quotes the DA that a grand jury must also "exonerate those who have been falsely accused."
Our Take (balanced)
The left's strongest argument is that a no-bill is not a complete medical account: both pathologists called the cause undetermined, drowning was reached by ruling other causes out, and the head and back injuries remain unexplained, which is why the family treats the case as unfinished. The right's strongest argument is the scale of the record already examined—a diverse 23-member panel, dozens of witnesses, extensive digital and physical evidence, and even the family's lawyers advising prosecutors they had no evidence of a crime—together with the finding that racial-motive claims lacked a factual basis. The central unresolved tension is whether those remaining forensic unknowns justify keeping a criminal and racial theory of the death in circulation, or whether they are being used to sustain a narrative after the available evidence has already failed to support charges.

18 sources

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