UPDATE on the Nolan Wells case. The official autopsy is complete — and the results have not been released.
Officials confirmed to NBC News that the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office finished the report. It was performed July 7, one day after a park ranger found the 18-year-old in the water off the northwest tip of Horn Island. The findings are being held pending toxicology.
IS THE DELAY NORMAL? Yes. A standard autopsy report takes four to eight weeks, up to twelve if toxicology backs up. By that measure the state is not late. A delay is not a cover-up. What makes this different is that the report already exists, it is finished, someone has read it — and the family has not.
THE SECOND AUTOPSY
Privately funded by Colin Kaepernick, conducted by Dr. Roger Mitchell, former chief medical examiner of Washington, D.C.
Cause of death: undetermined. Manner of death: undetermined, pending investigation.
No lacerations, no fractures, no deep-tissue injuries — but an area of red discoloration at the back of his head, with no conclusion drawn about how it occurred. The pathologist flagged multiple limitations. Attorney Ben Crump said the report had gaps because of what he described as missing body parts and incomplete procedures.
THE OTHER SIDE
Witnesses told authorities Nolan had a heavy amount of alcohol before he died. That is preliminary information, but it is on the record. Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter has said from day one that no foul play has been identified at this time. Both things can be true at once.
THE TIMELINE — STILL UNRESOLVED
9:56 AM — boat at the dock. 11:14 AM — Horn Island. (Source: MS Dept of Marine Resources)
3:00 PM — Nolan last seen.
4:00 PM — a call: “We’re sinking, can y’all please come?”
4:31 PM — the boat leaves. Without Nolan.
The boys said he stayed behind to talk to a girl. The girl said he told her he was heading back to the boat.
11:07 PM — a call. Snapchat placed the phone in one location; Life360 showed it back on land. The report wasn’t opened until midnight.
There is still no Snapchat content from July 4. His mother believes it was deleted. The FBI is examining the digital evidence.
Nolan was the only Black person on that boat. That is not an accusation — it is a fact that keeps being raised.
WHAT’S NEXT
Toxicology results, then Crump says the findings go to a grand jury. A grand jury does not decide guilt; it decides whether there is enough evidence to charge anyone at all. That decision runs through District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath. 60+ witnesses have been interviewed.
Meanwhile his mother, nurse practitioner Christine Wonsley, has received hate mail at her home and a wave of one-star reviews on her professional page while she waits.
TIPS: Jackson County Sheriff’s Office — 228-769-3063
Sources: NBC News, CNN, NPR, CBS News, ABC News, NewsNation, MS Dept of Marine Resources, Ben Crump
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