Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells had been drinking heavily before he disappeared during a Fourth of July outing with friends, and witnesses told investigators he stayed behind on Horn Island with an “unknown female” after the group left, according to records.
The details were included in a document sent July 5 by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, just hours after Wells was reported missing on Horn Island, a remote barrier island about 10 miles off the Mississippi coast, ABC News reported.
Witnesses told investigators that Wells, 18, had been drinking alcohol, despite being under the legal drinking age.
The document also listed information about the student-athlete’s physical description to help authorities as the search for the missing Ocean Springs teen unfolded.
According to a Mississippi Department of Marine Resources police report obtained by ABC News, Wells’ friends said “that when they left he was in the company of an unknown female and that he chose to remain at the island.”
The friends maintained that they did not abandon Wells. They told investigators they had to return to shore because their boat was having mechanical trouble and taking on water.
Wells was found dead on July 6 by a National Park Service ranger in an area the United Cajun Navy described as known for “powerful rip currents.” He was wearing only blue swim shorts when he was discovered.
Authorities believe Wells drowned, and investigators have said they do not suspect foul play.
But his cause of death and date of death remains unknown as the Mississippi state autopsy results have not yet been released.
Amid the uncertainty, his family and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump requested an independent autopsy – but the results came back inconclusive.
Roger Mitchell, the chair of pathology at Howard University College of Medicine who conducted the independent autopsy, said he couldn’t rule out the possibility that Wells may have suffered a neck injury as his thyroid bone and trachea were not sent with the rest of the body, according to WKRG.
Mitchell also spotted red discoloration at the back of Wells’ head, which Crump said was “something of great concern” for the pathologist.
“He [Mitchell] could not directly view the stomach for contents or gastric gases,” Crump read from the report.
“He could not see the condition of the body when it was pulled from the water.”
Crump also said Mitchell didn’t know if Wells was conscious when he went into the water, or whether he was forced into the sea.
“All that information is very important in determining the cause and manner of death,” the civil rights lawyer said.
“This pathologist cannot rule out if any intervening non-accidental factors caused or led to the death of Nolan Wells. So he cannot rule out foul play.”
Investigators had warned Wells’ family state autopsy results could take weeks.
His parents Christine and Elmore Wonsley told ABC News they wanted a “thorough investigation” into their son’s death.
They were baffled as to why he was still on Horn Island while his friends had returned to the mainland.
“We always told him, if you go with a group, you stay with a group,” Elmore Wonsley said.
Christine said she and her husband “couldn’t answer” the question as to why Wells would stay on the island.
“I just, I can’t — I can’t fathom why he would,” she said.
