Friends of Nolan Wells Sue Terrell Owens for Defamation After He Called for Their Arrests

Three friends of Nolan Wells, the college student who vanished during a Fourth of July gathering on a Mississippi island and was later found dead, are suing former NFL player Terrell Owens for alleged defamation.

The federal complaint was filed Monday by the fathers of the three young men on their behalf. Because all three are under 21, Mississippi law recognizes them as minors.

Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour were part of a large group that took a boat with 18-year-old Wells to Horn Island on July 4. The friends have said Wells remained on the island because he was speaking with a girl, a version of events disputed by his family. His body was recovered from waters off the island two days later.

Photos of Wells, who was Black, alongside his white friends spread across social media after his disappearance. Some online commentators framed the case in racial terms and accused the friends of being involved in his death.

Owens added to that criticism in a Sept. 26 post that is still available online. The post shared an Instagram reel by creator Trent Out Loud, which alleged that the three men deleted Snapchat messages from Wells’ phone after his death and raised the possibility that they had killed him.

Andrew Garrett, a digital forensics specialist retained by attorney Benjamin Crump, reached a different conclusion after reviewing Wells’ phone. Garrett said there was no evidence anyone accessed the device between 2:18 p.m. on July 4, when Wells last unlocked it, and 3:14 a.m. the next day, when his parents opened it.

Garrett also explained that Snapchat messages may vanish from a recipient’s device when the sender deletes them remotely.

The lawsuit alleges that Owens, 52, promoted a false account of the events and accused the friends of crimes they did not commit.

“The Defamatory X Post also placed Warren, Jax, and Morgan before Owens’ audience in a false light, as murderers and participants in a murder coverup who had escaped justice,” the lawsuit states. “There was absolutely no evidence to prompt an arrest of the Plaintiffs because they had done nothing wrong, and there was no probable cause to arrest Plaintiffs because they had not committed a crime.”

News Outlet sought comment from Owens through his social media pages and SMAC Entertainment, which identifies him as a client on its website.

On Sept. 22, several days before Owens’ post, a grand jury determined that Wells’ death was “consistent with drowning” and declined to recommend criminal charges.

The panel noted, however, that both the state autopsy—which has not been released publicly—and an independent examination commissioned by Wells’ family documented bruising on the back of his head.

Roger A. Mitchell Jr., the forensic pathologist hired by the family, classified the death as “undetermined.” He said he could not exclude non-accidental causes, noting that Wells did not appear intoxicated enough to be unable to swim and had “apparent acute blunt force injuries to the head and body prior to his death.”

After the grand jury’s decision, Wells’ family called Monday for a federal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death.

“Our son was found on ​federal ⁠land and we are asking the FBI to step in and do a full investigation,” Wells’ father, Elmore Wonsley, said.