Nolan Wells had no water in lungs despite drowning finding, lawyer says

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Civil rights attorney Ben Crump has released new details from a forensic examination of Nolan Wells’ cellphone and the official autopsy, days after a Mississippi grand jury found no evidence of criminal conduct in the 18-year-old college student’s death.

Wells, who was Black, was found dead two days after traveling with a group of mostly white friends to Horn Island for a July 4 party.

His family and attorneys have challenged the grand jury’s findings and called for federal authorities to investigate. They are also demanding the release of the grand jury’s investigative materials and the full official autopsy report.

Crump said Thursday that a forensic examination of Wells’ phone tracked messages and its location from the day before he disappeared until the device was returned to his family.

The grand jury had access to the cellphone evidence, including 282 pages of Snapchat conversations, when it met last week, according to its report and Crump.

“The messaging, as I said, was very telling,” Crump said, adding that some of Wells’ friends had expressed concerns about racism on Horn Island.

Forensic examiner Andrew Garrett said phone data showed Wells unlocked the device using facial recognition while it was on a boat at about 2:17 p.m. The phone was later locked and continued receiving messages as it traveled by boat and car before eventually being returned to Wells’ family.

Garrett said some Snapchat messages had been deleted but stressed that he could not determine why. No evidence was presented indicating anyone unlocked Wells’ phone after it left the island and before it was returned to his family.

Wells’ family has questioned why he would have voluntarily remained on the island without his phone after his friends left.

Attorney Edward Paltzik, who represents some of Wells’ friends, said it was unclear what new evidence the cellphone examination had uncovered. He said his clients never had Wells’ phone.

District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath also defended the investigation and called on Crump’s team to turn over any new evidence suggesting Wells was killed.

The grand jury said Wells’ death was “consistent with drowning” and found no evidence that he had been involved in a fight or altercation on the island.

However, Crump and Wells’ family have questioned that conclusion because both the official and independent autopsies listed the cause of death as undetermined.

According to Crump’s team, the official autopsy also found Wells’ airways and stomach were empty.

“What this means is that there is no water in the stomach, there is no water in the lungs and there is no water in the throat,” family attorney Liza Park said.

Both autopsies documented fresh bruising to Wells’ head. A witness told the grand jury that Wells had slipped awkwardly from the side of a boat at about 3:30 p.m. on July 4 but continued socializing afterward and did not appear injured.

The grand jury said it could not determine whether the fall caused the bruising but concluded the injury was not fatal.