{"id":6658,"date":"2026-08-05T10:30:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T10:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6658"},"modified":"2026-08-05T10:30:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T10:30:30","slug":"nolan-wells-went-to-an-island-with-friends-and-never-came-home-his-death-has-renewed-debate-over-race-and-justice-in-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6658","title":{"rendered":"Nolan Wells went to an island with friends and never came home. His death has renewed debate over race and justice in Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"border-color:var(--article-border)\" class=\"dcr-18ovi4x\">\n<div class=\"content--interactive\">\n<div class=\"content--interactive-grid dcr-17dl7k8\">\n<div style=\"--grid-area:media\" data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-i4c5ct\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1mhungh\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"29717816-1f84-47e9-8b53-5d42f3f7713e\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"two parents hold a framed photo of their son\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b726e47f844c1b2d6b0b914f039441f2adf915a6\/1_0_4827_6036\/master\/4827.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"581.466749533872\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Christine Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley, the parents of Nolan Wells, stand on a stage with a photo of their son as they appear at the National Urban League&#8217;s conference to share updates on his death on 30 July 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee.<\/span> Photograph: John Amis\/AP<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"29717816-1f84-47e9-8b53-5d42f3f7713e\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Christine Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley, the parents of Nolan Wells, stand on a stage with a photo of their son as they appear at the National Urban League&#8217;s conference to share updates on his death on 30 July 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee.<\/span> Photograph: John Amis\/AP<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:border\" data-gu-name=\"border\" class=\"dcr-i4c5ct\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:headline\" data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-i4c5ct\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1mhungh\">\n<div class=\"dcr-33dfcc\">\n<h1 class=\"content__headline dcr-l0wuod\">Nolan Wells went to an island with friends and never came home. His death has renewed debate over race and justice in Mississippi<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:standfirst\" data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-i4c5ct\">\n<div class=\"content__standfirst dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Uncertainty around the investigation into the death of the 18-year-old, whose body was found after a 4 July boat trip with friends, has led some to question whether justice will be meted out equally<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"--grid-area:lines\" data-gu-name=\"lines\" class=\"dcr-i4c5ct\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1mhungh\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1r7uyhr\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<article style=\"--grid-area:body\" data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-1fblwmu\">\n<div class=\"dcr-84z8ov\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-162jgex\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector content__main-column--interactive dcr-ogvvui\">\n<figure id=\"772b3f72-10a4-4b08-a45e-826d8a01652b\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.InteractiveAtomBlockElement\" class=\"element element-atom dcr-d9bay7\">\n<div class=\"interactive interactive-atom dcr-1psevrk\" data-atom-id=\"interactives\/2023\/01\/interactive-article-structure\/portrait-image-mainmedia-feature-dark\" data-atom-type=\"interactive-layout\">\n<div class=\"interactive-wrapper\">\n<div id=\"gv-atom-portrait-image-mainmedia-feature-dark\" data-did-prerender=\"true\"> <button id=\"caption-button\" style=\"opacity: 0\"><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Almost a month after his body was found, mystery still shrouds what happened to Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old college student from Ocean Springs, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/mississippi\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">Mississippi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">There are the facts: Wells was alive on the morning of 4 July when he and a group of friends took a boat out to Horn Island, a barrier island off the coast of Mississippi. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarionledger.com\/story\/news\/2026\/07\/10\/nolan-wells-family-ben-crump-al-sharpton-say-facts-in-teen-horn-island-ms-death-do-not-make-sense\/90864358007\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Hundreds of people <\/a>were on the island, enjoying a last hurrah before returning to work or school after the holiday weekend. Wells was due to report to Southwest Mississippi Community College the following Monday for football camp, but he never returned home with his friends that day. The last known photos of him were taken around 4pm that afternoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Wells\u2019s mother, Christine Wonsley, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sunherald.com\/news\/local\/counties\/jackson-county\/article316534282.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">contacted<\/a> the Ocean Springs police department and the Mississippi department of marine resources to find out which agency should handle a missing persons report for her son. During the early morning hours of 5 July, she called the Jackson county sheriff\u2019s department, as its jurisdiction includes Ocean Springs, to report that Wells had not returned home. The search for Wells, which Wonsley amplified on social media, lasted until his body was found on Horn Island on 6 July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In a widely circulated photo of Wells and his friends from the boat, scores of people on social media have pointed out the racial makeup of the group: Wells was the only Black person, while the three others with him are white, one of whom is the stepson of the Jackson county chancery judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ashlee.cole.3110\/posts\/pfbid02eh6GE9uNpEyEGtQwyY7HagyGjeC4sKwDELXjR3jAWsDyfR7YUhZCQz9RHKTzsWBGl?rdid=ku3Etm3pVEPZ7wrQ#\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Ashlee Cole<\/a>. None of the others who were on the boat have been named suspects in connection to Wells\u2019s death, though Jackson county sheriff John Ledbetter has said that Wells\u2019s friends <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wxxv25.com\/jackson-county-sheriff-says-community-cooperating-in-nolan-wells-investigation-new-details-emerge\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">were cooperating with authorities<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The case, and the uncertainty surrounding the investigation into Wells\u2019s death, have sparked discussions about the history of racial violence in Mississippi and have led some to question whether justice will be meted out equally.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"759ba1e8-8c3d-47c6-b967-ee474b73f1a0\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"element element--inline element-inline dcr-d9bay7\">\n<div id=\"img-2\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a person looking at an image of a young boy \" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/585d5d66a715c750e2dbca9b9dde5b21e8b6a832\/322_49_7207_4807\/master\/7207.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"445\" height=\"296.8107395587623\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><a href=\"#img-2\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"759ba1e8-8c3d-47c6-b967-ee474b73f1a0\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-174mzkf\"><span class=\"dcr-vyhg7z\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">People listen as attorney Ben Crump holds a press conference with Elmore Wonsley and Christine Wells-Wonsley, the parents of Nolan Wells, at the NAACP National Convention to announce the results of an independent autopsy on 22 July 2026 in Chicago, Illinois.<\/span> Photograph: Scott Olson\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Shortly after Wells was found, Ledbetter said he <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/body-found-believed-missing-mississippi-18-year-absolutely\/story?id=134544120\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">did not suspect foul play<\/a> in his death. Days after Ledbetter\u2019s statement, Wonsley said the family <a href=\"https:\/\/thegrio.com\/2026\/07\/13\/ben-crump-nolan-wells-parents-grio-interview\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">had not heard<\/a> from local authorities, in what some interpreted as a lack of urgency. After Wells didn\u2019t return home, Wonsley said she tracked his cellphone to a friend\u2019s house. Once she retrieved the phone, Wonsley <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/19\/nolan-wells-mississippi-investigation\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">said she<\/a> found that Wells\u2019s Snapchat photos and messages from 4 July had been deleted. <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/story\/nolan-wells-mother-subpoenas-social-media-tech-companies-seeking-answers-sons-death\/19597927\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Recently,<\/a> Wonsley\u2019s legal team issued subpoenas to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok and the GPS location tracking app Life360, seeking messages, photos and videos that were sent and received from Wells\u2019s accounts along with his GPS data location and timestamps. Additionally, Wells\u2019s father, Elmore Wonsley, has said that the 18-year-old\u2019s keys were found at a different friend\u2019s home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">That a local judge\u2019s family member is one of the last people to be pictured with Wells hasn\u2019t helped quell suspicion of the case\u2019s handling, according to some community members who spoke with the Guardian. Cole, who has said that her family has been receiving death threats, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ashlee.cole.3110\/posts\/pfbid02h3QCCKCdoYPtTGtcugF3mEwVPrnwAThmZg1NyEoTMeQfiW3jLKiTVEhmjEq5go1jl\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">wrote on Facebook<\/a> that she and her family are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlox.com\/2026\/07\/11\/stepmother-nolan-wells-friend-shares-death-threats-shes-received-amid-investigation\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">cooperating fully<\/a> with authorities and will \u201cdo everything within our power to assist Nolan\u2019s family in their quest for answers\u201d. She said that her family will not be speaking to the press at this time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Jackson county sheriff\u2019s office said it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlox.com\/2026\/07\/14\/sheriff-john-ledbetter-gives-latest-nolan-wells-investigation\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">interviewed witnesses<\/a> in the days and weeks after Wells\u2019s death. The state and an independent medical team <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/22\/nolan-wells-autopsy-results\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">organized<\/a> by Wells\u2019s family and the high-profile civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, completed autopsies of Wells\u2019s body. Though the results of the state\u2019s autopsy have not yet been revealed \u2013 Jackson county\u2019s district attorney, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/912005958626756\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Angel Myers McIlrath, <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mississippifreepress.org\/nolan-wells-state-autopsy-will-remain-under-seal-until-presented-to-a-grand-jury-da-says\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">said<\/a> they would not be released until a grand jury is convened \u2013 the Wells family released the results of their independent autopsy on 22 July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">At the NAACP\u2019s national convention in Chicago, Crump revealed that the state had turned over the body with <a href=\"https:\/\/mississippitoday.org\/2026\/07\/22\/nolan-wells-autopsy-ben-crump\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Wells\u2019s throat missing,<\/a> and also said there was significant red discoloration along the back of his neck and head. The cause and date of death were both inconclusive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWe are in Mississippi,\u201d Crump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/19\/nolan-wells-mississippi-investigation\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">said weeks ago<\/a>. \u201cThese were three young white men. Nolan was the only young Black man. Had the roles been reversed, we know this investigation would be going differently. It would be like The First 48. They would be interrogating those young, Black boys.\u201d (The Jackson county district attorney\u2019s office has not responded to the Guardian\u2019s request for comment.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Most recently, investigators hired by the family are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/now\/video\/family-of-nolan-wells-to-review-audio-of-sinking-boat-call-made-by-his-friends-267527749683\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">looking into audio<\/a> released by the Mississippi department of marine resources of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox10tv.com\/2026\/07\/27\/officials-release-new-audio-day-nolan-wells-disappearance\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">a distressed phone call <\/a>one of Wells\u2019s friends made to a local boat company on 4 July. The person who made the call can be heard saying that the boat was sinking.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"73fa42c5-1fdf-4156-aea0-440cec9749a2\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"element element--inline element-inline dcr-d9bay7\">\n<div id=\"img-3\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a woman looking at an image \" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/f9161829b9cedae344bf255f311c7ccc6be01318\/0_0_6844_4562\/master\/6844.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"445\" height=\"296.62331969608414\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><a href=\"#img-3\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"73fa42c5-1fdf-4156-aea0-440cec9749a2\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-174mzkf\"><span class=\"dcr-vyhg7z\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Christine Wonsley looks at a photo of her deceased son, Nolan Wells, with her husband, Elmore Wonsley, as they appear at the National Urban League\u2019s conference, on 30 July 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee.<\/span> Photograph: John Amis\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The case has received national interest \u2013 with figures such as the social justice activist Rev Al Sharpton, the former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the film-maker Tyler Perry stepping in to support the Wells family. Kaepernick paid for the independent autopsy, Perry paid for Wells\u2019s funeral, and Perry and Sharpton are offering a monetary reward for information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In the absence of answers, some social media users and community members are trying to fill in the gaps themselves. \u201cWe are not getting any information or updates around the investigation, the progress of the investigation from either Jackson county sheriff\u2019s department or the Jackson county DA\u2019s office,\u201d Lea Campbell of the Mississippi Rising Coalition, a civil rights organization, said. \u201cWe are left to fill a vacuum. There\u2019s a lot of information being shared across social media, and it\u2019s hard for folks to know what to believe and what not to believe.\u201d Some, including Crump, have likened Wells\u2019s disappearance and death to the 1955 lynching of <a href=\"https:\/\/nmaahc.si.edu\/explore\/stories\/emmett-tills-death-inspired-movement\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Emmett Till,<\/a> a 14-year-old Black boy who was murdered in Drew, Mississippi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In the meantime, Wells\u2019s parents are committed to continuing the search for answers. On her Facebook page on 2 August, Christine Wonsley posted: \u201cIf ADVOCATING for our deceased child to have a fair, honest and transparent investigation while asking local authorities to treat his case as if it were their own makes you feel some type of way please UNFRIEND and BLOCK me because this is MY SOCIAL MEDIA PAGE. We are not asking for special treatment. We just want the TRUTH! His father and I WILL NOT STOP SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH! NOLAN WELLS * NOLAN WELLS * NOLAN WELLS. #JusticeForNolanWells #Forever18\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"folks-dont-have-a-lot-of-trust-at-this-point\" class=\"dcr-8418j6\"><strong>\u2018Folks don\u2019t have a lot of trust at this point\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Last year, Ocean Springs, where Wells was from, was voted the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clarionledger.com\/story\/news\/2025\/05\/30\/world-atlas-calls-ms-city-friendliest-small-town-on-the-gulf-coast\/83941807007\/?gnt-cfr=1&amp;gca-cat=p&amp;gca-uir=true&amp;gca-epti=z115939p001350c001350e002900v115939d--59--b--59--&amp;gca-ft=159&amp;gca-ds=sophi\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">friendliest small town<\/a> on the Gulf Coast\u201d by World Atlas, a publishing resource for geography and travel. The town is nearly 80% white.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Some locals painted a different picture, as tensions across the Gulf Coast are \u201cdefinitely heightened\u201d, Campbell said. \u201cGiven the historical context here in Mississippi around the deaths of Black people and the white power structure in Mississippi, protecting white folks who have committed violence against Black folks or killed them, it\u2019s understandable that folks don\u2019t have a lot of trust at this point,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want and folks want answers. Folks deserve answers. There\u2019s a lot of anxiety that can\u2019t be separated from the context of Ocean Springs itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Mississippi Rising Coalition was active in the statewide fight to change Mississippi\u2019s state flag, which, until 2020, had a Confederate battle emblem on it, Campbell said. During those efforts, the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist and domestic terrorist hate group, <a href=\"https:\/\/mississippitoday.org\/2018\/03\/30\/group-working-to-change-state-flag-reports-kkk-threat\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">threatened <\/a>the activist organization. \u201cThere was a lot of racism that surfaced publicly then,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThis tragedy does not exist in a vacuum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe Jackson county sheriff came out very shortly after the body was discovered and made a public statement that <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7news.com\/post\/nolan-wells-family-searches-answers-18-year-olds-mysterious-death-following-july-4-boat-trip\/19486080\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">no foul play was suspected<\/a>, Campbell added. Then you have the state medical examiner who sends the body to the independent pathologist for an independent autopsy and doesn\u2019t send <a href=\"https:\/\/mississippitoday.org\/2026\/07\/22\/nolan-wells-autopsy-ben-crump\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">the throat.<\/a> Then you have the Jackson county DA coming out and giving a very nicely worded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/912005958626756\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">statement to all of us<\/a>, lecturing us to have blind trust \u2026 Layer all of these things in and it\u2019s no wonder this is getting the attention that it\u2019s getting \u2013 it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">That context and history are personal for John H Whitfield, a Black pastor who grew up on the coast near where Wells lived. As a boy, Whitfield said his parents told him to stay out of Jackson county. He recalls a memory from his childhood where a Black man was picked up by police in Jackson county, allegedly for driving while intoxicated. \u201cHe never walked out of that jail,\u201d Whitfield said. \u201cThey said he hung himself and nobody ever believed that. You can\u2019t look at these things in silos and isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"1798406f-7488-4d61-921e-5fa938bcece8\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.ImageBlockElement\" class=\"element element--inline element-inline dcr-d9bay7\">\n<div id=\"img-4\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"a woman holding an image \" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/842f2e7ddba3a32db958e9bc84811167de8445e9\/0_0_8491_5661\/master\/8491.jpg?width=445&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"445\" height=\"296.68413614415266\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><a href=\"#img-4\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"1798406f-7488-4d61-921e-5fa938bcece8\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-174mzkf\"><span class=\"dcr-vyhg7z\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">A person holds a picture of Nolan Wells during a news conference at National Action Network headquarters on 10 July 2026 in New York. <\/span> Photograph: Yuki Iwamura\/AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In an effort to make sense of the distrust and skepticism from the local Black community about the case, Byron D\u2019Andra Orey, a political science professor at Jackson State University, points to \u201ca theory known as \u2018racial threat\u2019\u201d. It argues that areas with a higher concentration of Black people have the most punitive laws and the most violent crimes. The state\u2019s history, he said, is inextricable from how people, both in and out of the state, are responding to what happened to Wells.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWe\u2019ve seen various incidents where justice was not handed down,\u201d Orey said. \u201cViolent incidents as it relates to violence against Black people \u2013 because it\u2019s not just Black men, but Black people in this country. In many instances, we don\u2019t see any justice. So when people see this nationally, and then to see that it\u2019s Mississippi, folks have doubt as to whether or not justice will prevail. This is a pattern that\u2019s occurred throughout the country and it\u2019s a residual that people still sit with. People come in with a predisposition that Black lives do not matter, so we do not expect for justice to prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The search for Wells and his death were a \u201cbreaking point\u201d, said Ash Dawn Caranna, an organizer of MS Gulf Coast Human Rights Organization. \u201cWe just experienced the pain and loss of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/26\/kohen-wiley-mississippi-police-killing-protest\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">one-year-old baby <\/a>in Senatobia, Mississippi, Kohen Wiley,\u201d Caranna said of the Black child who was killed by a Senatobia police officer outside a Walmart on 14 June. \u201cWith the attention that was already being put on Mississippi, once we saw the situation with Nolan, it kind of reached a boiling point for people here. Nolan Wells was deeply, deeply loved, even by people that didn\u2019t know him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">On 30 July at a conference for the National Urban League, a civil rights organization, Wells\u2019s parents and Crump were joined by the families of two other Black 18-year-old boys who died under suspicious circumstances. The attorneys said all three young men \u2013 Wells, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/texas\/news\/teen-indicted-on-evidence-tampering-charge-in-death-of-north-texas-teen-daniel-erving\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Daniel Erving,<\/a> who died in Texas in April, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wkyt.com\/2026\/08\/03\/tyler-smith-family-enlists-ben-crump-calls-transparent-investigation-into-teens-death\/\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Tyler Smith<\/a>, who died in Kentucky on 4 July \u2013 were in mostly white groups before they died.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cNobody in all three of the questionable deaths of these 18-year-old young Black kids has been held accountable in any way,\u201d Crump said at the conference. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let you sweep it under the rug. We\u2019re going to get to the answers of what happened to Nolan Wells, what happened to Daniel Erving, and what happened to Tyler Smith. Three 18-year-old black boys in a three-month period around Fourth of July 2026, who all were unalived in very similar ways as Nolan Wells.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Grand juries are empaneled just a few times a year across the state of Mississippi, and Jackson county does not list its grand jury rules online. The proceedings are secret and not open to the public. A grand jury can only return a \u201ctrue bill\u201d, which indicates an indictment will be issued, if they find probable cause that a crime has been committed by a particular person. Per <a href=\"https:\/\/courts.ms.gov\/research\/rules\/msrulesofcourt\/Rules%20of%20Criminal%20Procedure%20Post-070123.pdf\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Mississippi rules<\/a>, \u201cno publicity may be given to the existence of [an] indictment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">So far, two arrests have been made relating to Wells\u2019s case. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/nolan-wells-death-threats-officials\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Both arrests<\/a> were of people who made threats against Cole and against the Jackson county sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christine Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley, the parents of Nolan Wells, stand on a stage with a photo of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6661,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6658\/revisions\/6661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}