MINI TRUE CRIME ROUNDUP: What happened to Nolan Wells? Here's a new timeline of the events surrounding his mysterious death

Las Vegas was built for stars. And on August 22nd, two of boxing's biggest take center stage. Raleigh Romero never follows the script. This is my game. Tio Fimo Lopez has never needed one. This guy's got a big mouth. For years, they've had plenty to say. All your do is tall. But with world championship gold on the line, can they back it? Tio, I'm here. I'm going all in. It's time to put up or shut up. Raleigh Romero versus Tiofimo Lopez. August 22nd. I'll shut you up. Watch on Dazone, and Dazone on Prime. Video. It's Sophia with an F, Franklin with the Y, and if you're looking for some bubble gum dumb dumb podcast, then you are in the wrong place, baby. Whether I'm reminiscing on the trials and tribulations of working in the corporate world to recapping today's latest reality TV show, you're going to want to pull up a chair and stick around. It's a good time and always 100% unfiltered. Follow and listen to Sophia with an F wherever you get your podcast. This is a true crime roundup from the On Deadline podcast. We explore crime stories reported on by Odyssey's radio newsrooms across the country. I'm your host, Lauren Barry. This week we have updates into the Nolan Wells' death investigation. Wells was an 18-year-old whose body was found after he went missing while partying on Horn Island in Mississippi for July 4th. His staff has been met with rumors, conspiracy theories, and questions about race. Scoot from Odyssey Station WWL in New Orleans has been following the story, and he put together a timeline this week that we'll share in this episode. What happened to Nolan Wells? It's a question that people are asking all over the country after the young black athlete was found dead near a Gulf Coast island amid July 4th festivities. By this point, it's been weeks since he's been found. And the case seems as mysterious as ever. Here's Scoot from Odyssey Station, WWL in New Orleans, with an update this week. So here is some new information on the Nolan Wells case. Nolan Wells was found off the coast of Horn Island. Horn Island has one side in the Mississippi Sound. The other side is the Gulf of Mexico. So... Nolan was with friends on July 4th. This was a big blowout on Horn Island. I did not know this, but I've learned this from this story. That Horn Island is, you know, I knew this. It's uninhabited. There's nobody there. But I didn't realize that so many people went to Horn Island. And I guess that's why they go. But Horn Island is apparently usually populated with a lot of boats.

Depending on the boat and the water conditions, it's a 20 to 60-minute ride out to Horn Island. Now, Ship Island has a big concession stand. I don't know what they have added. I haven't been there in years, but I used to love taking the excursion boat out to Ship Island. But Horn Island is one of the islands just off the coast of the Gulf Coast, where there's nothing. But people go there to party, and they park their boats, and they all get together. So this 18-year-old Nolan Wells was part of this, you know, last hurrah on July 4th weekend before the... The students were going to have to start reporting to college soon. So he was with his friends on July 4th, and apparently he wanted to go talk to a girl, and he said, I will find a way home. The three friends that he was with left. and they went back to, you know, the Gulf Coast. So he is on the island, and nobody seems to know exactly what happened on July 4th, but he at some point disappeared, and his body was found two days later off the coast of Horn Island. So I'm bringing you up to date if you have missed this whole story. One thing that has made me curious is why there's such a delay in releasing autopsy information from the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office. Are they protecting somebody? And here's something that complicates matters. Nolan Wells is African American. His three friends were white. You know, when you think about young people today, and I don't know, maybe you have no contact with young people at all, but younger generations just seem to... blend together. Like race doesn't seem to be a big deal to them like it was to boomers growing up. And I mean, I had an African-American friend that at East Jefferson. He was one of my close friends there. And, you know, I'm sorry that I'm not in contact with him today. Because, you know, we went our separate ways and that was it. But as you know, I love flying soloed when I was 16 and I wasn't able to continue for a couple of reasons, but I love flying. And I would have loved to have become an airline pilot. And Glenn, my friend at East Jefferson, his goal in life was to become an airline pilot. So, you know, we had that in common. He was a good guy. But the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office seems to be reluctant to release some official autopsy information. And the information that came out from an independent study from the family was that they don't know how he died. Now, do the Mississippi examiners know? I don't know. But here's the timeline. This is some new information that we know. This is according to documents that were obtained by ABC News. Now...

Christine, Nolan's mom, reported her son missing at 1222 a.m. on July 5th. Last time she saw him was July 3rd. So he goes off. So now it's July 5th and she hasn't heard from her son. At 1222 in the morning on July 5th, she's responding to officers saying that she was responding to the call that she made about her son being missing. And apparently friends said... that they last saw him at 3 p.m. on July 4th. So this is when, at 3 p.m. on July 4th, this is when his friends apparently went back to the Gulf Coast shore, and they didn't see him again. So apparently... Nobody had seen him, or we don't know of anybody having seen him. GPS data from the boat that Nolan Wells rode on with his friends Two Horn Island shows that the boat left the island at 9.56 a.m. on July 4th and arrived at the shore at 11.14 a.m. So that's like 10 o'clock in the morning on July 4th. So what time did they get to Horn Island? I mean, it's pretty early for them to be leaving Horn Island at like essentially 10 o'clock on the morning of July 4th. So, you know, this is this is what we know. But what we're missing is like who saw him last and at what point did he disappear? Or did something happen that... caused him to no longer be in contact with people. So, you know, I'm a little curious still about why the state of Mississippi is withholding information. One of the reasons they gave was because they wanted to protect the information for the grand jury and that this is not that unusual. But it seems like we should know more. In particular, we should know, I think, by this point, if somebody drowned. It doesn't seem like it's that difficult. I mean, what I've read, based on doing research for this story, is that after two or three days, you should have pretty concrete evidence as to whether or not somebody drown. And then there would be further, you know, further research and testing that would be done that might take weeks. But, you know, there should be more information out, in my opinion. And I don't know if the state of Mississippi is protecting people. This is what we don't know. And this is why a lack of information just screams out that there's something wrong with this case. And as you know, in the beginning, I thought, I just don't see how racism is part of this.

I don't see how this is a factor because, as I was saying, you know, younger generations, they just blend together. They don't think about race the way we do. I see many more mixed couples among young people than I do among other generations. So race to them is not as big a deal as it is to older people. That's a shame that it's still a big deal to a lot of older people, but apparently it still is. So I'm curious as to why we don't know more at this point, and I just hope they let us know something soon, and it's accurate information that really helps the family. This is really about the family. You know, the rest of us want to know because we're voyeuristic, and we just, you know, we're curious about what happened. But the family needs to know for their own... ability to have closure in this case. Nothing, no results are going to bring their son back, which is tragic and sad, but they need to know. If you want to join us with a comment, and look, if you're listening along the Gulf Coast, WLOX is doing a good job of covering this. Scoot took a pause to address some tax messages from listeners about the Nolan Wells case. Here's his co-host Ian Hoke. Here's a text message that says the three white friends shown with him in the picture were not the ones that he went out with. Nolan went out on another boat and there were way more than towed an actual text that he sent to Christine, Nolan's mother. Wait, so he was in... I think something's missing here. Yeah, he was in... The first sentence is the most important one. A free white friends shown with him in the picture are not the ones that he went out with. No one went out on another boat. Right. Well, we know that. I mean, yeah, we know that he didn't go back with his friends that he went there with. And I don't think that's suspicious. You know, I mean, the guy might have met somebody. You know, you just kind of make contact with somebody. You know what it's like. And you make contact with somebody and you kind of want to hang out with him. So his friends were leaving. And the timeline, which is new to me, the timeline shows that they left at 9.56 in the morning on the 4th of July. They left Horn Island at 9.56 to go back. arriving at 1114. So he went off on his own, apparently, to be with this girl. So, yeah, we know that. Here's a text. It says, you're forgetting about how Nolan Wells' mom had to track down Nolan's phone from friends. They were hiding it. Yeah, you know, they apparently were, and that is really suspicious. So why were they hiding the phone? Now, it's not unusual for Nolan's phone to have been in the boat. with the guys. Because when you're on an island like that and you're in the water, you're in the sand, where do you put your phone? You just put your phone in the boat. So the fact that he forgot his phone was in the boat and the boat left with his phone, that's not that suspicious. But what is suspicious is the way the phone apparently was handled as far as we know. And again, there's so much we don't know. Las Vegas was built for stars.

And on August 22nd, two of boxing's biggest take center stage. Raleigh Romero never follows the script. This is my game. Tio Fimo Lopez has never needed one. This guy's got a big mouth. For years, they've had plenty to say. All your do is tall. But with world championship gold on the line, can they back it? Tio, I'm here. I'm going all in. It's time to put up or shut up. Raleighamero versus Tiofimo Lopez. August 22nd. I'll shut you up. Watch on DeZone, and DeZone on Prime Video. I'm Anna Garcia, host of True Crime News, the podcast. Every week we bring you in-depth coverage on cases making headlines, as well as those that go under the radar. Tune in for murders that defy explanation, mystery seeking exploration, and shocking secrets that will leave you breathless. Each week, we honor the victims by going beyond the salacious in our search for justice. Crime never stops, and neither do we. Listen to True Crime News available now on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your... podcasts. So, Scoot decided to go over the entire timeline of the case through this Thursday. Here's what he's got so far, heavily based on reporting from WLOX, and edited down a little bit by me.

You know, just now in the cross talk with Newell about the show, I said, we'll talk about, we'll do a timeline on the murder of Nolan Wells. Well, obviously, I misspoke. You know, in my heart, I don't think this was murder. In my heart, so I did misspoke. You know, we're not approaching it from that standpoint at all. I believe that just something happened. But maybe something happened in such a way that it doesn't look good for some people. But I have a lot of questions, as do you, about why some information is being withheld. So we're going to get into that in this timeline that I don't know how long it's going to take, but it's going to unfold as we begin the show today. And I'm going to start that in just a few minutes. But I thought it would be cool if we just... kind of went through the timeline because, you know, you get this information, the next day you get this information, and it's patchwork information. So let's put it all together with a consistent timeline, and let's see what happens. It all started with a party on Horn Island, and apparently that is a place to party. I have said many times, you know, when I was young, and also even as an adult, I have taken the excursion both to Ship Island. from the Gulfport Marina. And it's so much fun. I mean, I love it. Ship Island is great. Big concession stand there. I don't know if that's changed or not. It's been years since I did that, but if it's still going and you get a chance to do it, take the excursion ship with the kids. Or if you're just a couple, just go by yourselves. And, you know, you can go to the Gulf side, or you can stay on the Mississippi Sound side of Ship Island, and the Gulf side. The water's a lot prettier. The sound side is, you know, it's murky. It's murky. But it's still nice. So I've been out to Ship Island many times. But I never knew that people went to Horn Island because there's nothing there. And I guess that's why people go. Because there's nothing there and they can all pull up in their boats and they can all have a great time. This information is taken from an article from WLOX. station that's done a great job covering this. You know, usually on the Gulf Coast, WLOX, you know, doesn't have a story like this to cover the investigation into the death of an 18-year-old. Usually they're trying to, you know, cover stories and write reports about somebody who's a fishing rod was stolen. So this is a big story for them, and they're really doing a great job. So the body of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells was found in the water off Horn Island on the morning of July the 6th. He was reported missing the night of July 4th after he didn't come back from a boating trip with friends. Now, the family has hired attorney Ben Crump. He is a civil rights attorney, and this was the first indication that for some reason the family thought that racism might be involved because this is Benjamin Netanyahu Crump's area of expertise. Now, the hiring of Benjamin Netanyahu Crump has caused a lot of people to... to want to bash the mother and bash the father, bash the family, you know, for bringing racism into this. And I think the family has a right to hire whoever they want to hire. And let's see where the information goes. So there were a lot of contradictions and they needed an attorney and they hired Ben Crump. If there is racism involved, he'll find it. Al Sharpton has become involved as well.

Now, there were the results of an independent study, an independent autopsy that was commissioned by the family through Benjamin Netanyahu Kromp. And they announced on July 22nd that there was no known cause for Nolan's death. It was an undetermined pending investigation. And the results of the original autopsy conducted by the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office has not yet been released. Now, last night, I looked up some information and found out that these officials don't have to always wait to release information. They don't have to wait until it gets to a grand jury to release information. They can release some information before. That does not jeopardize the case. So that makes it even curious as to why the Mississippi Medical Examiner's office is not releasing this information. So let's go to Friday, July 3rd. Nolan's mother, Christine Wansley, said the last time she heard from Nolan was on July 3rd. He was going to a friend's house. where they were going to spend the night. Saturday, July 4th, the 4th of July, 4th of July weekend. Nolan went to Horn Island with a group of friends. He's black, they were white. Does that matter? We don't know yet. But they were there to celebrate Independence Day. There were a lot of boats, a lot of people there. So the boat left a private dock in Ocean Springs at 9.56 in the morning. Nolan's friend, Warren Hudson, didn't go out on the boat with Nolan, but had conversations with him that day. And later, Warren Hudson told a podcaster that a large group of people left Ocean Springs on multiple boats, and they all headed out to Horn Island. There was a press conference with attorney Benjamin Netanyahu Krump, and it did mention video of an alleged argument that took place on the island, and this is circulating on social media. This is where Nolan could be heard saying, give me the freaking phone. What are you freaking doing? Well, that has come into question. And I think they were, again, identifying this voice because of what other people said as the voice of Nolan. But on July 13th, Tristan Shepherd, a friend of Nolan's, came forward and told ABC that it was actually him that was yelling. It was Tristan, Shepherd, who was yelling, and not Nolan. Wells. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office, who's been deeply involved in this, has not confirmed the existence of any fight that took place on the island. Nolan was last seen near the island around 3 p.m. This is the afternoon of July 4th. Nolan's friends also say they last saw him about 3 o'clock. So what happened? Las Vegas was built for stars.

And on August 22nd, two of boxing's biggest take center stage. Raleigh Romero never follows the script. This is my game. Tio Fimo Lopez has never needed one. This guy's got a big mouth. For years, they've had plenty to say. All your do is tall. But with world championship gold on the line, can they back it? Tio, I'm here. I'm going all in. It's time to put up or shut up. Raleigh Romero versus Tiofimo Lopez. August 22nd. I'll shut you up. Watch on DeZone and DeZone on Prime Video. Hey guys, it's Daxton. And Hayden from Blondies Out Loud. And if you've ever thought about starting a podcast or making money from one... We use Creator Lab from Odyssey for our show and it's honestly been so easy. It's free hosting and it gives you a really simple way to earn on top of whatever you're already doing. Which, of course, we love because it just adds another stream without the extra work. So, if you're a creator or podcast curious, check it out at creators.odicy. on a podcast the officer tatum show warren hudson said that nolan chose to stay behind after the boat that he and others had had taken to the island had started taking on water This is something that I hadn't heard until I started going into this timeline. So the boat was taking on water, and they're calling up, and they're saying, you know, our boat is taking on water. We've got to try to save the boat. And so we need to leave. They needed to go. And Nolan decided to stay on the island with a girl that he was with at the time. Benjamin Netanyahu Crump said one contradiction was that the boys on the boat said that Nolan was going to stay and talk to a girl, but the girl said Nolan told her that he was going back on the boat. So somebody's not telling the truth here. Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told ABC News that Nolan chose to stay on the island. But in a July 10th press conference, Nolan's parents, Christine and Elmore Wansley, they said they don't believe that Nolan would have voluntarily stayed because they always taught him to stay with the group. If you go with five, you come back with five. Do not separate from the group. Well, you know, we know that 18-year-olds don't always listen to, you know, the advice that parents give them. One of the teens on the boat that was taking on water called a private towing company C-toe about 4 o'clock. And they said, we're at the west tip of horn. Our bilge pump stopped working. We're sinking. Can you please come? So the teen said that there were seven people aboard the boat. There was a dispatcher involved, and the dispatcher said, it sounds like a bunch of kids on board on Horn Island. And he was telling this captain, I guess, of the sea tow company, he's saying the boat is sinking and he's on Horn Island. He's just a kid. There's a lot going on.

The captain said that while on the phone, the owner of the boat told him that the teens did not need any help right now, but if something changes, he will call them back. The owner of the boat is presumably one of the parents of the kids who left the island in the boat because it was apparently sinking. The company Cito said it did not end up towing the boat. Cito said in a statement to NBC News that they asked for assistance to be rendered, but the owner of the boat advised Cito that they no longer needed help. So I think that was a very, very interesting thing. So information obtained from, this is the, you know, the Mississippi, what is it? I got to get the, got to get the full name here because there's a, there's an acronym here. I want to make sure that I get this acronym right. This is for the, and this is used a lot. It's for the Mississippi State Medical Examiners Office. And they confirmed that the boat left the island at 4.31 in the afternoon. The vessel was towed, but I'm not sure by whom, was towed approximately 2.75 miles, and then it resumed normal operations. The boat had been traveling at about 34 knots at that point. Now, if you've got water in a boat, you can pull a plug. And if the boat is moving forward, the water in the boat will stream out of that hole. So, you know, maybe they needed help, and then they didn't need help. So the boat got into a Fort Bayou, about 552 in the afternoon, then returned to the dock at 606. The boat went to Fort Bayou, the boat launch at 718 p.m. was taken out of the water and traveled over land to the owner's home in Biloxi. What happened on July 4th? His body was found in the water off Horn Island on July 6th, and there's a lot of questions to be answered about what Mississippi officials did and are doing. And really, what happened to Nolan? How did he get in this situation? So on Thursday, July the 9th, the U.S. Coast Guard told WLOX on the Gulf Coast, and much of this information is coming from an article on WLOX on their website, a friend of Nolens contacted the agency around 11 o'clock the night of July 4th, and the Coast Guard would not really talk about the information that they shared.

But whatever was going on did not require Coast Guard assistance. Now, Christine, Nolan's mom, said that about 11-7 on that night, Thursday, July 4th, she got a call from Warren, one of Nolan's friends. She didn't go into any detail about what he said, but she then called her friend whose two sons are friends with Nolan and asked if they had seen him. They had not seen him. So then they tracked his phone, and they found that his phone was on land. So Nolan's missing, and his phone is not with him on the island. Around 1149, the night of July 9th, it was reported that Nolan was missing. His mom called this in, said he's missing. She said that there was a lot of going back and forth. They talked to different agencies. There was a lot of confusion about who was in charge of what area. And late that night, Nolan's parents met with a deputy in the McDonald's parking lot and told them everything that they knew at that time. Now, that night, Christine, his mom's friend, went to go pick up Nolan's phone from Nolan's friend's house. And I guess this is one of the friends who left with the boat that was sinking. So she goes to this friend's house to pick up his phone. Nolan's father, Elmore, went to get the car keys and the car at another friend's house. And the parents say that there were problems getting these items back. So why weren't they just... in a very congenial way, given the keys and given the car and given the phone. So they get to Nolan's phone and they start going through it. And Christine said that she and her sister went through it. They found no photos. And no videos on Nolan's Snapchat for that day. So this was a day of partying at Horn Island on July 4th. And they said that that was really strange because he was the kind of guy who would like do videos and he would post everything. So he posted nothing? So this led his mom, Christine, to believe that stuff had been deleted from the phones. that in the time that the friends or the parents of the friends had the phones, something might have been deleting.

On Sunday, July 5th, about 138 in the morning, Mississippi officials spoke with the Ocean Springs Police Department and advised them that the Jackson County Sheriff's Office would be taking the lead in the case. Now, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office just informed the Mississippi officials that his deputies had spoken with several friends who had gone to the island on the boat with Nolan Wells. and that they left, and when they left, he was in the company of an unknown female, and that he chose to remain on the island. So now we've got Nolan breaking away from his friends. Their boat is sinking. They've got to get back to the coast shore and the marina and the boat large. And then Nolan is still missing on the island. But the last that they know is that he said he wanted to stay and hang out with this girl and he was going to get a ride back. So here it is the morning of July 5th. And Nolan's father went with Nolan's football coach in a boat. They went to Horn Island to search for the body or to search for him. Now this article says to search for the body, but. They might have been looking for him because the next day, you know, you could think that, you know, I mean, Horn Island's not that wide. It's not that long. It's not that big. But, you know, maybe somebody could have just, you know, fallen down for some reason and, you know, passed out. And they might still be alive on the island. But they went there looking for Nolan Wells. So about 8 o'clock on the morning of the 5th, Mississippi officials sent out a patrol boat. from the Biloxi Harbor, and they went to the northwest tip of Horn Island, which is apparently the last place where Nolan was. So they get close to the island, and there's another boat with people on it, and they, really, there's no real significance of that yet. But records show that Mississippi officials launched three drones. They had no success. finding Nolan or his body. Around 10.30 a.m., they requested more drones to be sent up, and they sent two more drones up, and they still didn't find anything. So on July 5th, around 1155, close to noon, the Marine Patrol sergeant was asking Mississippi officials. to find and interview multiple people that could possibly have been involved with this missing person on Horn Island. So they did the best they could. They found somebody who was on Horn Island on July 4th, who knew Nolan, but hadn't spoken to him in over a year. So they really, actually, no, wait, they were on, okay, on July 4th. This person knew Nolan, but she was on a different island. So she was out there, but she wasn't on the same island. Island. At 1226, the Coast Guard in Mobile said it received a request for assistance from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to search for a missing person around Horn Island. The Coast Guard said that there was an urgent marine information broadcast that was issued and a helicopter was sent up to search the area.

At 1231 in the afternoon, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office issued a press release saying that the search for Nolan Wells was continuing, but they hadn't found him. Around 4.30 in the afternoon, they contacted his mother, and she had previously called the C-toe company. She told an officer that her son had already spoken to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office earlier in the day. No, no, this was a mother. I'm sorry, this was a mother of one of the teens who had previously called. Let me clear that up. So at 4.30 in the afternoon. Mississippi officials contacted the mother of one of the teens who was with Nolan, one of the teens who called Cito. Because remember, the boat that they were in, the boat that Nolan had gone to Horn Island in, was taking on water. And the bilge pump wasn't working, and the boat was sinking. So there was cooperation there. The officer said that they had given consent to view the GPS on the boat. The officer observed the track lines showing that the boat was located on the northwest tip of Horn Island, the narrow part there. And that's where they were narrowing down the search to that area. And again, this information is coming from an article from WLOX, and it's a good timeline of what happened, and I wanted to share this with you today. So a number of different agencies, the Gulf Islands National Seashore, the U.S. National Park Service, the U.S. Coast Guard, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks. These agencies and a few other agencies like the Biloxi Fire Department and the Harrison County Sheriff's Office. all were involved also the United Cajun Navy. That evening, they conducted sonar surveys of the northwest area of the island. The sonar surveys were not conclusive. And they determined that due to rough weather conditions, they were not going to be able to continue. So at 9.52 that night, Mississippi officials provided the following information to the Coast Guard. The date that he went missing. July 4th, the time, 6 p.m., which reported at 6 p.m. The location, this northwest area of Horn Island, the subject, male, black, 6-1-180 pounds, food intake, unknown, alcohol intake, heavy. Clothing, shorts only. Heavy alcohol intake. Now, did that play a part in this?

So Monday, July the 6th, the United Cajun Navy Aircraft went in the air, just before 6 a.m. Monday morning, and search boats were out there again looking for the body. Around 8.45 on the morning of Monday, July the 6th, Sheriff Ledbetter of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department confirmed authorities that they had gotten a call of a reported body found on the northwest tip of Horn Island. The body was discovered by U.S. Park Service Ranger. About 11 a.m., the body was taken to the coroner's office in Pascagoula just before 1 p.m. Dolan's family confirmed his death on social media. And, you know, you can just imagine how the parents feel at this point because their son was missing for two days and they didn't know where he was. They don't know what happened to him. and they're trying to get answers, but even this early in all of this, they don't seem to be getting a fluid flow of information from Mississippi officials. So when we come back, we're going to take you to Tuesday, July 7th, the day after the body was discovered, and we'll pick up the timeline of the investigation into Nolan Wells from that point on. If you want to join us with a comment this afternoon, the Oakenhart Jewelers Talk and Text Line, It's 504-260-1-870. As you hear this, what questions come to mind? And I guess we can speculate on what we think happened, but it's just going to be speculation. It's just going to be theories. But what question do you have? And I'm going to share with you the questions that I wanted to ask WLOX, but I understand why they might not want to come on our station and... Talk about this because this, you know, is, this is their baby. On Tuesday, July 7th at 2 p.m., the family retained national renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump. And they were calling for transparency and an investigation into why and how Nolan died. Nolan's autopsy took place Tuesday at the Mississippi State Medical Examiners Office, Coast Lab. At 2 p.m. Tuesday, coroner Bruce Lynn confirmed to WLOX News that the body found was that of Nolan Wells. Just after 3.30, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office issued a press release asking anyone that had photos or videos or saw Nolan Wells or talk to him. If they noticed anything unusual, there were numbers for them to contact. So Tuesday evening at 9 p.m., Warren Hudson's... stepmom, Ashley Cole. Now, Warren Hudson was a friend of Nolan Wells. Ashley Cole put up a Facebook post and she said that the family is grieving with Nolan's family and that they want to do all they can to dispel rumors with facts. So Ashley Cole said,

that she initially deactivated her Facebook account out of fear for safety for her and her family. She said, we did not believe that it was inappropriate for our minor children's photographs to be circulated throughout the internet, presenting potential threats for their safety. Why were they so concerned about their safety? Well, there have been threats. And people have been arrested for threatening Mississippi officials, and that should not happen. You know, that's stupid. You're not supposed to do that. And there had been threats against the families of the friends and people who knew Nolan Wells. And it's just, it's really, it's absurd. So Cole said that her son Warren last saw Nolan around 3 p.m. on July 4th. So this seems to be coming up consistently. The last time Nolan Wells was seen was about 3 p.m. on July 4th. Before they left the island about 4.30, when the boat had a water issue, the boat was taking on water, the bilge pump wasn't working. Cole posted Nolan made a decision to stay on the island and return inland later with another group of friends. She said that her son has fully cooperated with law enforcement. The NAACP is going to apparently get involved in this. This is from the president in Mississippi. Curley Clark, but they don't want anybody to jump to any conclusions before the facts are known. So the NAACP is saying don't jump to conclusions until the facts are known. And I know it's difficult not to. So on Wednesday, July 8th, Benjamin Netanyahu Crump said that Nolan's body was going to be flown to Washington, D.C. for an independent autopsy. Now, the investigators conducted interviews with witnesses, but there doesn't seem to be any concrete information that's been released. On July the 8th, around 409 in the afternoon, a Jackson County captain requested the GPS file download assistance from Mississippi officials, and they reportedly got information on this boat that was sinking. That boat was registered to a friend who Warren Hudson said on a podcast helped them when the boat was taking on water. The 21-year-old owner... signed permission for Mississippi officials to search and brought the investigator to the boat. The investigator then obtained the data. At 5.10 in the afternoon, that afternoon, the captain went to go meet with the family members of the teen.

in the boat that had been reported to be sinking. They gave permission for the boat to be searched, and they gathered GPS information. On Thursday, July 9th, Attorney Benjamin Netanyahu Crump sent out a press release and said that in New York City, there was going to be this autopsy, and there's going to be a full press conference in New York about this. And so on the night of July 9th, Ashley Cole made another Facebook post revealing that she and her family were receiving numerous death threats online, posting screenshots of those threats. And in one Facebook post, Cole said that her family had not even had the opportunity to talk to Nolan Wells' parents and their attorney. On Friday, July the 10th, Nolan's parents spoke to Good Morning America along with Crump. And at this point, this was a national story. And when more information comes out, it will continue to be a national story. On Sunday, July the 12th, Nolan's mother, Christine, called for anyone that had information, photos, videos, anything about... him on Horn Island to please come forward with that information. On Monday, July 13th, on Good Morning America, Tristan Shepherd, a friend of Nolan Wells, talked about a viral video that had been studied by investigators. And a lot of people were concerned that the video showed Nolan in a confrontation. But Tristan Shepherd said that that was not the case. On Tuesday, July 14th, there was another conversation with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum officials about funeral services. And there was talk about the funeral services, and then that ultimately happened. District attorney, a district attorney, Angel Myers, I think this is pronounced, Mechlerth, Mech. Something like that. Anyway, the DA told ABC News that they would eventually decide whether the 18-year-old's death was a prosecutable case. Well, it turned out to be, yes, it is a case that can be prosecuted. And so on Wednesday, July 15th, Nolan's phone, which the team had possession of, was investigated. They were going to conduct... some kind of a search of all of that, but it really didn't provide a timeline for the release of the independent autopsy results. And at a news conference, a reporter asked about an image of an alleged pool party circulating online that Crump's page had shared on Instagram. Benjamin Netanyahu Crump and his team said that that was really... It was, well, they seem to suggest that this was a current picture, but it turned out that it wasn't. That picture was taken before July 4th. It happened in a pool, and Tristan Shepherd, Nolan's friend told Rolling Stone magazine that that pool party took place on Saturday, June 27th, before the 4th of July. So they made it seem like that the pool party was...

you know, in context with the death and it really wasn't. The FBI told ABC that it was working to kind of figure out the interstate threats that were taking place against individuals in this whole case. And again, you know, these individual threats, you know, what are you going to do? You're going to threaten to kill somebody? You know, you're so upset that somebody has died and you want the truth and you threaten to kill somebody? Death threats come from nonsensical minds. They come from bitter, belligerent, evil, angry people who don't know the truth, and they just want to vent and get back at somebody. And death threats are stupid. And some of these people are in jail. Still a lot of questions to be asked, a lot of answers need to be released, and they're not coming out. And it's just so suspicious when Mississippi officials don't release as quickly as they should. This is my opinion. Now, they have said that they're not releasing certain information because they have to protect the information, the evidence, before it gets to a grand jury. Well, I read last night that... They don't really have to do that, that there's some information that can be released before the evidence goes to the grand jury. So it seems to me that the Jackson County Sheriff's Office is withholding information. Again, that's the impression I get from the reports that are out there. If that's not true, then, you know, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office can call us back because we put in calls to them. So now we're at Monday, July 20th, and this was the funeral day for... for Nolan Wells. On Wednesday, July 22nd, on a podcast, his friend Warren Hudson again said that Nolan decided to stay behind after the boat that he took to Horn Island began to take on water. And so they were headed back. He decided to stay on the island. So on July 22nd, this information came out again, just reinforcing that he decided to stay on the island. And there didn't seem to be anything that indicated there was any kind of confrontation. So what happened? Well, that's what we don't know. So Benjamin Netanyahu Kromp, the attorney for the mother and father, said that a second autopsy was conducted, but the body was decomposed because it had spent two days in the water. And the second autopsy concluded nothing. It was inconclusive. They could not even tell if there were bruises or abrasions on the body, but Benjamin Netanyahu Crump did say there was a 12 by 8 inch area of red decoloration in soft tissue on the back of Nolan's neck. Well, what was that about?

Benjamin Netanyahu Crump also said that some of the organs were missing for the second autopsy, but he said that's not that unusual when autopsies are done. And one thing that they couldn't do was determine anything about the airway because apparently the throat was missing. and they could not tell if there was water in the airway or they could not tell anything about the stomach. And, you know, where's the toxicology report? So, you know, a lot of stuff, again, is not being released, and it seems like it doesn't legally have to be that way. Now, the Office of DA McElrath confirmed that the state, and this is on Thursday, July 23rd, confirmed that the state of Mississippi's autopsy. was going to be turned over to the grand jury and that information was going to be withheld. And she said that every death in the county, except for those of natural causes and those that are not the results of criminal activity or, you know, if it's just a basic car accident, the information is held. before, is held until the grand jury gets the information. So the DA said that the public interest in the case is understandable, but she said that we just need to do the best we can to find the truth. And I really truly hope that's what they're doing. There are just some suspicious things about this, but I hope that that's what Mississippi officials are indeed doing. So on Wednesday, July 29th, the family of Bart Edmondson Jr. released a statement. This was through their attorney. And it said that they were going to seek legal recourse against the people who were going online on social media making false accusations about Edmondson Jr. in terms of being a suspect in Wells' death, or that he somehow contributed to Wells' death or was involved in the cover-up of Wells' death. So the Edmondson said that their son took his boat to Horn Island and brought it back, and it was that simple. And then the Edmondson said that their son has been very, very open with the authorities. They allowed their boat. the GPS device to be inspected, and this was without lawyers being present, and they issued a statement. And, you know, so this was all, this was all something that simply seemed up on the level. On Thursday, July 30th, the question was, why was Wells' body found in the same location where it was last seen? And I guess they're questioning, well, it's really unusual that if he was seen last at this point, why was his body found at that same point? Because it seems like that if he left and went off on his owner, went off with this girl, that it might have been somewhere else. But again, I don't know. That's just a question that he disappeared and his body was found in the same place, and nobody seems to know anything about it. Benjamin Netanyahu Crump also said that...

They had the audio of a phone call that was made by one of the teens on the boat that was taking on water to C-Tow, a company that tow's boats, and said that they were working with an expert to determine if that was a real call and to just go over the call in general. I mentioned earlier that... One of the fathers, I think, of one of the kids who left in the boat, called C-toe and said they didn't need help. And just so there's a little confusion in my mind about all of that. But here's the contact number for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, if you have any information. It's 228-769-3063. The number for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, 228-769-3063. And, you know, that concludes this. I just, I want to add this to it. Christine, Nolan Wells' mom, has had her license challenged. I think she's a nurse. Has had her license challenged out of nowhere. She's had her license challenge. She's apparently had this impeccable career, and suddenly now her license was challenged. I think everything turned out okay, but why was her license suddenly challenged? I mean, why did that happen? I mean, was that some kind of retaliation against her? And why? I mean, this woman didn't do anything wrong. The only thing she did was lose a son. And some people aren't happy that she hired Benjamin Netanyahu Crump, but so what? She has a right to hire Benjamin Netanyahu Crump. And hiring Benjamin Netanyahu Crump doesn't mean that it's racism. But he's looking into that possibility. After we've gone through this timeline, what question still lurks in your mind? What question do you have about this case? I think the biggest questions for me surround 3 o'clock in the afternoon on July 4th when Nolan Wells disappeared. You know, you just don't walk off the face of the earth. Because contrary to what many people believe, the earth is not flat. And you don't just walk off the end of an island and you disappear. So what happened? Somebody had to see him after 3 o'clock. Well, one would think. I mean, Horn Island's not that big. Would it be big enough for somebody to go off and stumble and fall behind? I don't know. Is there a slight dune there or something? I think so. But I've never been to Horn Island. But there might have been some dune or something. So did he trip? You know, what was he doing? And how did he get back in the water? And what happened? And what happened to the girl? I mean, I haven't heard any information about this girl that he apparently stayed behind to talk to. I still think it's curious that the Mississippi officials are not releasing some of the information that it seems like they could legally release even before it gets to a grand jury, but they're not. So my biggest question is, what happened after 3 o'clock? And did anybody see what happened after 3 o'clock? And then he went all July 5th missing.

If he was last seen at the northwest corner of Horn Island, which would be if you are looking from the beach, if you're looking from the Gulf Coast, if you're looking from Highway 90 out onto the Mississippi Sound, it would be the northwest corner would be the Mississippi Sound side and the right side of Horn Island. So if that's what he disappeared, is it interesting that his body was found in the same spot? There's a lot of questions, and there's a lot of suspicion here, and rightfully so. I don't know how this is going to turn out. But we'll continue to follow the story and bring it to you as honestly and as best we can. And thanks to WLOX, they're doing an excellent job covering this story. We did reach out to the lead reporter and he wasn't able to talk to us. So, you know, I don't know if he was told not to talk to us or if he just wasn't comfortable talking to us. So, you know, I'm not sure. But in any event, he was not able to talk and we can just leave it at that. Scoot will be keeping an ear on this case, so stay tuned to these True Crime Roundups for updates. Thank you so much for listening to this True Crime Roundup from the On Deadline podcast. This episode was written and produced by me, Lauren Barry. Special thanks to KNX News in Los Angeles, WBBM News Radio in Chicago, KYW News Radio in Philadelphia, KMOX in St. Louis, Marty Griffin out of KDCA Radio in Pittsburgh, a new morning out of WBEN News and Talk in Buffalo, and Scoot out of WWL in New Orleans. You can find these programs on the Odyssey app or wherever you find your podcasts. You can find these True Crime Roundups by subscribing to the On Deadline podcast, the Who Killed Strawberry podcast, or the Bitter Academia podcast on the Odyssey app, or wherever you find your podcasts.

Vegas was built for stars. And on August 22nd, two of boxing's biggest take center stage. Ralei Romero never follows the script. This is my game. Tio Fimo Lopez has never needed one. This guy's got a big mouth. For years, they've had plenty to say. All your do is talk. But with world championship gold on the line, can they back it? Tio, I'm here. I'm going all in. It's time to put up or shut up. Raleigh Romero versus Tiofimo Lopez. August 22nd. I'll shut you up. Watch on DeZone and DeZone on Prime Video. Hi, I'm PJ Vote, and I want to tell you about my podcast Search Engine. We try to make sense to the world, one question at a time. No question too big, no question too small. We will even answer your questions if you send them in. Stuff like, what happens when a cemetery goes out of business? What should we do about teens using AI to do their homework? Who buys luggage at the airport luggage store? Follow and listen to Search Engine, in partnership with Odyssey, wherever you get your podcasts.