A Mississippi grand jury has determined that Nolan Wells’ death was consistent with drowning and found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing or racial motivation. In response, an attorney representing one of the men targeted by online accusations said his client plans to pursue accountability against those who spread the claims.
Wells, 19, vanished on July 4 after traveling by boat with friends to Horn Island, a barrier island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Search teams spent two days looking for him before a National Park Service ranger found his remains near the island’s northwestern end on July 6.
Several months later, a Jackson County grand jury issued a “no true bill” in the case. The decision means the panel declined to bring an indictment, and no criminal charges will be filed in connection with Wells’ death.
The grand jury said the position, condition, discovery time and location of Wells’ remains were all “consistent with drowning.”
Russell Latino, the attorney for Bart Edmiston and his family, said the case has produced what he described as “two tragedies.”
Nolan Wells smiles on the field while playing wide receiver for Southwest Mississippi Community College. (Christine Wonsley/Facebook)
“Nolan Wells’ death is a tragedy,” Latino said in a statement to News Outlet. “It is also tragic that his friends, community and state were attacked by people who spread malicious and false claims. The grand jury, which included Mississippians from a range of racial and social backgrounds, carried out its duty. Anyone familiar with the actual evidence, rather than the reckless claims circulated online, would not be surprised by the outcome. The Edmiston family intends to seek accountability from those who used this tragedy to create division and cause harm. They continue to pray for healing for Nolan’s family and their community.”
Edmiston and several other friends faced months of online speculation accusing them of playing a role in the death of Wells, who was 18 at the time he disappeared. Both the grand jury and Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath determined that those accusations were unsupported.
Edward Andrew Paltzik, who represents three of Wells’ friends, directed a sharp response toward attorney Ben Crump.
“@AttorneyCrump NO TRUE BILL,” Paltzik wrote. “You owe completely innocent young men Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour an immediate apology. You have serious questions to answer.”
Paltzik also said he had issued multiple legal notices to social media personalities and other media figures on behalf of the three men.
In a video released Monday, District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said investigators found “absolutely no evidence” that Wells’ death was connected to race.
News Outlet has contacted Crump seeking a response.
“The story that three white boys and one Black boy went to an island and that only the three white friends came back spread rapidly,” McIlrath said. “That account was false. There is absolutely no evidence that Nolan’s disappearance or death was racially motivated.”
She added that Wells and his friends cared deeply for one another, saying he chose to remain on the island that day and that investigators found “not a scintilla of evidence” contradicting that conclusion.
McIlrath also criticized Crump’s legal team, alleging that it knew early in the investigation that race was not a factor in Wells’ death.
“Nolan’s family, the Crump team and those closest to him knew his disappearance and death were not caused by racial violence or hatred,” McIlrath said. “What I am saying is that the Crump team understood the facts but failed to act accordingly.”
Nolan Xavier Wells disappeared on the Fourth of July while boating with friends, according to authorities. (Jackson County Sheriff’s Department via Facebook)
McIlrath said Wells’ family attorneys notified her office in August that their own investigation had found no indication that a crime had been committed.
“On August 13, 2026, after the Crump team completed an independent autopsy, released its findings and reviewed hundreds of tips, they informed my office that they had found no evidence of a crime against Nolan Wells,” she said.
Lawyers representing Wells’ family disputed the decision in a statement to News Outlet. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the state was closing the case before the truth had been established, citing bruising on the back of Wells’ head and an independent autopsy that he said documented blunt force injuries to Wells’ head and back. Crump said neither the family nor the state has determined how Wells died, and he urged the Justice Department to open an investigation if Mississippi declines to do so.
“Today, the State of Mississippi is attempting to close the chapter on Nolan Wells’ death without getting to the truth,” Crump said. “We are releasing the final independent autopsy report in its entirety, so everyone can read it for themselves. This grand jury result leaves us with more questions than answers. Nolan’s family will not rest until we know what happened to him, and neither will we.”
Both the Mississippi Chief Medical Examiner and the family’s pathologist, Dr. Roger Mitchell, who performed a second autopsy for the Wells family agreed that while the cause of death is undetermined, “drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion.” That means the conclusion was reached by ruling out other causes rather than by direct evidence of drowning.
The grand jury didn’t find any evidence suggesting a crime occurred, or that Wells’ death was motivated by race, and also took direct aim at the theories circulating on social media about the people on the boats.
Attorney Ben Crump, center, speaks next to Elmore and Christine Wonsley, at left, and Rev. Al Sharpton during a memorial service for Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old found dead after taking a July 4 boat trip with friends, Monday, July 20, 2026, in Ocean Springs, Miss. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
“The Grand Jury finds no credible evidence to support the public allegations that any persons who rode to or from Horn Island on July 4, 2026, on the Triton, the Palm Beach, or the Tideline engaged in any criminal conduct related to the death of Mr. Wells,” the grand jury wrote. “The allegations against the occupants of the Triton, the Palm Beach, and the Tideline are not based in truth, and are solely the result of public clamor and private malice.”
Among the many questions surrounding Wells’ death was an apparent injury to the back of his head, where bruising was found. A witness testified that he saw Wells slip off a boat, but the grand jury said it could not confirm the fall caused the bruising.
Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath delivers a video statement on the grand jury’s findings in the death investigation of Nolan Wells. (Jackson County District Attorney)
“A witness testified under oath that he saw Mr. Wells slip awkwardly off the side of a boat around the time of 3:30 p.m. on July 4, 2026, but could not say whether Mr. Wells struck his head during the fall. The witness testified that Mr. Wells continued to socialize after the fall and did not appear injured,” the grand jury report said.
The 23 grand jurors who heard the case included 12 White people, five African Americans, two Hispanics, two Native Americans, one Asian and one who identified as “other.”
