A timeline of Nolan Wells’ disappearance, death and the unfolding investigation

Family handout courtesy Ben Crump Law/Reuters

In the days after the puzzling death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, investigators undertook a painstaking effort to reconstruct the events that unfolded on Horn Island, a remote barrier island about 10 miles off the Mississippi coast.

Wells disappeared on the Fourth of July from the island he was visiting with high school friends. While those friends returned to the mainland, Wells’ body was found days later in the water, prompting a search for answers that extended far beyond the remote island.

Jackson County Sheriff's Department

Nolan Wells’ body was found after a July 4 boat trip. His death has fueled speculation, grief and racial tension

As public interest escalated, investigators worked to piece together Wells’ final hours while his family continued to press for transparency and answers. The young man’s death stoked speculation and distrust in part due to Mississippi’s fraught racial history and the fact that Wells appeared to be the only person of color in an image with friends on the trip.

Here’s a timeline of key developments in the case and where the investigation stands.

Wells graduated in 2025 from Ocean Springs High School in the coastal Mississippi town of Ocean Springs, just east of Biloxi. He then enrolled in Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he was a wide receiver on their football team, according to The Associated Press.

On the evening of July 3, the teen made his family salmon for dinner before leaving to spend the night with his friends ahead of the holiday weekend.

“It was hug, kiss, and he left,” Christine Wonsley, his mother, said.

And like countless Americans across the country, Wells set out to mark the July Fourth holiday on the water.

He joined his friends for a boat trip to Horn Island – a federally protected barrier island known for its untouched beaches, shifting shoreline and quiet isolation. It wasn’t uncommon for Wells to visit the island with friends, according to his family.

The boat departed from the southern shore of Mississippi at 9:56 a.m. on July 4, arriving at the western tip of Horn Island at 11:14 a.m., documents from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources show.

Wells was supposed to return to school after the holiday weekend to start training for the upcoming football season, his father , Elmore Wonsley , said in an interview with “Good Morning America.”

In photos from the boat that day, the 18-year-old towers above his friends, his arm casually slung around their shoulders as he smiles for the camera.

At 5:44 p.m., the vessel arrived back to the mainland, according to Department of Marine Resources documents.

But by the time the group returned that afternoon, a day that began as a holiday celebration took an unsettling turn: Wells was not with them. His family reported him missing the night of July 4, after they received a phone call around 11 p.m. from one of his friends.

At some point that day, people called for towing assistance on the boat Wells had previously been aboard.

In audio from the call, obtained by CNN from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, a teenager tells an operator a pump stopped working and the boat is “sinking.” The audio file shared with CNN did not include a timestamp.

“We’re in 31 foot of water,” he says. “I want to get this boat unsank and towed back.”

Later, the teen explains there’s “like seven” other people on the boat — none of whom are 21, after being asked about how many adults are present. He also says he does not have a very high frequency, or VHF, radio and provides his location near Horn Island.

What followed was an intense search effort for Wells that would soon end tragically.

As the first hours passed without answers, Wells’ mother turned to social media, sharing desperate appeals for information about her son’s whereabouts. In a post on the morning of July 5, Christine Wonsley said she and her husband had possession of their son’s cellphone and that they’d traveled to the island to search for him.

Tashema Hands, the mother of one of Wells’ friends, retrieved the phone for the family after tracking it using Snapchat to a house where “a lot of people” were gathered, Hands told CNN’s Laura Coates, adding it took about 15 minutes for someone to find the phone and give it to her.

Christine Wonsley said when she went through her son’s phone, it struck her as “too clean” because there were no videos or pictures in Snapchat from the day he was on the island.

“I know my child well … if he has a phone out all the time at home, he’s definitely going to have a phone out whenever he’s out and he’s doing things with his friends,” she told Coates. “So that was just really hard to believe that there was nothing there.”

The worried mother posted photos she was given of Wells on the night of July 5, which she said were taken during the July 4 boat trip. The teen, at 6’1”, smiles for the camera in blue swim trunks and sunglasses.

That day, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department publicly announced it was coordinating with the United States Coast Guard and Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources to search the island.

In the early afternoon of July 5, Department of Marine Resources officials launched two drone flights to survey the western side of Horn Island, according to police documents. The excessive heat that afternoon caused the drone’s batteries to swell, cutting the flights short, and their efforts to locate Wells were unsuccessful.

Several of the friends who traveled with Wells told deputies that “when they left he was in the company of an unknown female and that he chose to remain on the island,” a Department of Marine Resources marine patrol police report shows.

But Jayvon Williams, one of Wells’ friends who had seen him on the island on July 4, said that account doesn’t square with the person he knew. “I’ve never known Nolan to stay back while his friends leave,” he told CNN. “He’s always been a guy where if he rode with you, he’s going to come back with you. That’s always how he’s been every single time.”

Wells’ family has also said they “can’t fathom” why he would separate from his group of friends. “We always taught him, ‘If you go with a group, you stay with the group,’” his father said.

On the evening of July 5, in an email to Coast Guard authorities requesting search and rescue data related to Wells, a Department of Marine Resources official relayed a physical description of the teen on July 4 and wrote that Wells’ “alcohol intake” was “heavy,” documents show.

Wells’ toxicology report is not available, and it is unclear how Department of Marine Resources officials know he had been drinking.

As Christine Wonsley’s social media appeals gained traction online, several groups joined the search for Wells, including the United Cajun Navy, a nonprofit volunteer search and rescue group based in Louisiana.

The group’s vice president told CNN he spoke to several people who were at Horn Island on July 4 and described the beach as being packed with boats and people, some of whom had been drinking alcohol.

If someone had fallen into the water, Brian Trascher said, strong rip currents that day may have posed a risk.

Writing to her growing social audience on July 6, Christine Wonsley said the family had “so many questions. Our hearts are breaking, we keep waiting for Nolan to walk through that door with his beautiful smile and a joke of course.”

“We pray our son is alive & safe,” she wrote.

But hours later, the search for Wells ended with the news his family had feared most. A body matching Wells’ description was recovered from the water near the shoreline, officials said.

Parents of Nolan Wells speak out on questions after son’s death

There were no immediate signs of physical injury, Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd told CNN. The coroner’s office requested that the autopsy be conducted at the state medical examiner’s office because of the “condition” in which Wells’ body was found and to definitively determine whether there was any trauma or foul play, Lynd said.

As officials waited for the test results, skepticism mounted online over the accounts of Wells’ final hours with his friends and statements from police.

A statement from the sheriff on July 6 that “no foul play was suspected” in Wells’ death seemed to only fuel frustration and anger on social media.

Many have looked at the photos of Wells, where he appears to be the only young Black man in group pictures, and sensed danger — a reminder of Mississippi’s fraught racist past many argue is still alive today.

Others have taken to social media to post about their own experiences of being the only person of color in predominantly White spaces, and the challenge that can bring.

The Wells family retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump on July 7 to represent them as the investigation into his death continues. Crump said he had not spoken to the young men who were traveling with Wells because they have obtained legal representation.

David Dee Delgado/Reuters

The sheriff’s department on July 8 acknowledged the speculation circulating on social media but noted “investigators are working to establish the facts through eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, and other reliable information.”

At a news conference on July 10, Christine Wonsley said the sheriff’s statements also gave the family pause.

Attorney for Nolan Wells’ family says current explanation ‘just doesn’t add up’

“I do absolutely respect law enforcement,” she said, but “the accidental drowning thing, it made both me and his father uncomfortable. Why are we so quick to rush to this?”

“What we’re wanting is transparency,” she said. “At the end of the day, we want answers.”

Crump said the family requested an independent autopsy be performed because “it is not adding up.”

“We had his body flown from Mississippi to Washington, DC, because his family wanted to make sure that they had a doctor who had no ties to Mississippi law enforcement to do an independent examination of their son’s body,” he said.

Wells’ parents and their attorneys met with Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath on July 15. They said they did not learn of new information about the investigation but agreed to have a “mutual inspection” of Wells’ cell phone by experts from each party.

Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger/USA Today Network/Imagn Images

As the investigation continued, questions and conspiracy theories circulated online.

Investigators specifically asked for original, unedited photos and videos taken on July 4, “particularly those depicting alleged altercations or containing images of, or believed to include Nolan Wells.”

“Right now, I know time is of the essence, but folks want answers ten minutes ago, and unfortunately, that takes time to get the accurate information … It’s gonna take a lot of hard work,” Ledbetter, the sheriff, told CNN affiliate WXXV .

Authorities said they were also investigating online reports of an alleged altercation on the island on July 4 and whether it involved Wells.

In one video recorded near the island on July 4 and widely circulated on social media after Wells’ death, someone can be heard yelling as if in a heated argument. One of Wells’ friends later said it was his voice, not Wells’ on the video.

“In that video, you hear somebody yelling — that is me,” Tracestin Shepherd told Rolling Stone.

Wells’ parents said they were pushing through their grief to figure out what happened to their son.

“At the end of the day, I would hope any parent would fight for their kids to find out if anything happened,” Christine Wonsley said.

A GoFundMe launched for Wells’ family to pay for his funeral expenses said he would be “forever loved. Forever remembered. Never Forgotten.”

Steve Sanchez/Sipa USA

Some public figures also stepped up to help cover the family’s expenses. Civil rights activist and former football player Colin Kaepernick helped fund the independent autopsy, while filmmaker Tyler Perry offered to cover funeral expenses, according to Crump.

Funeral services were scheduled for July 20. Wells’ mother described the gathering as a “homegoing celebration” for her son, featuring a party for friends and family at the Jackson County Fairgrounds.

“He would not want us to be sitting around crying and eating, so what we are going to do is kind of have a party to celebrate him,” Christine Wonsley said.

Months after Wells disappeared from Horn Island, some questions remain unanswered. But on September 21, a grand jury report released by the Jackson County District Attorney’s office found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing to support bringing charges in Wells’ death.

The grand jury “finds that the position of, the condition of, time of discovery, and location of Mr. Wells’ body is consistent with drowning,” the report said.

“There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s death and disappearance were racially motivated,” District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said in a video statement released alongside the report.

Family attorney Ben Crump said the grand jury’s decision was an attempt “to close the chapter on Nolan Wells’ death without getting to the truth.”

Crump specifically raised questions about the bruising found on Wells’ head by both the state and independent autopsies, which he described as “blunt force trauma.”

In its report, the grand jury said there was bruising on the back of Wells’ head “which was not a fatal injury,” but that the exact cause of the injury remained uncertain. It found “no evidence of any fatal injury or organic disease to Mr. Wells’ body,” it added.

Crump said the family will continue to press for answers.

“Elmore and I do not believe that Nolan simply and accidentally drowned, and nobody saw anything, and no one knows anything,” Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, said. “Last night was a reminder that our son’s life does not matter to those who hold positions that are supposed to serve and protect the public.”

CNN’s Hanna Park, Ryan Young, Jason Morris, Elizabeth Wolfe, Holly Yan, Sydney Bishop and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.

家属供图由 Ben Crump Law/路透社提供

在 18 岁的诺兰·威尔斯离奇死亡后的几天里，调查人员付出了艰辛的努力，重现了在霍恩岛上发生的事件。霍恩岛是一个偏远的屏障岛，位于密西西比海岸约 10 英里处。

7月4日，威尔斯与高中好友一同前往一座岛屿游玩，却在岛上失踪。他的朋友们返回大陆后，几天后人们在水中发现了威尔斯的遗体，由此引发的搜寻范围远远超出了这座偏远岛屿。

杰克逊县警长办公室

诺兰·威尔斯的遗体在7月4日的一次乘船旅行后被发现。他的死引发了各种猜测、悲痛和种族紧张局势。

随着公众关注度不断攀升，调查人员努力还原威尔斯生命的最后时刻，而他的家人则持续要求警方公开透明地给出答案。这名年轻人的死引发了诸多猜测和不信任，部分原因是密西西比州充满争议的种族历史，以及在一张与朋友们的合影中，威尔斯似乎是唯一的有色人种。

以下是该案件的关键进展时间线以及调查现状。

据美联社报道，威尔斯于2025年毕业于密西西比州沿海小镇海洋泉的海洋泉高中，该镇位于比洛克西以东。之后，他进入西南密西西比社区学院就读，并担任该校橄榄球队的外接手。

7 月 3 日晚上，这名少年为家人做了鲑鱼晚餐，然后前往朋友家过夜，准备迎接即将到来的假期周末。

“我们拥抱、亲吻，然后他就离开了，”他的母亲克里斯汀·旺斯利说。

和全国无数美国人一样，威尔斯也选择在水上庆祝七月四日假期。

他与朋友们乘船前往霍恩岛——这是一座受联邦保护的屏障岛，以其未受破坏的海滩、不断变化的海岸线和宁静的与世隔绝而闻名。据他的家人说，威尔斯经常和朋友们一起去这座岛屿游玩。

密西西比州海洋资源部的文件显示，该船于 7 月 4 日上午 9 点 56 分从密西西比州南岸出发，于上午 11 点 14 分抵达霍恩岛西端。

威尔斯的父亲埃尔莫·旺斯利在接受《早安美国》采访时表示，威尔斯本应在假期周末后返回学校，开始为即将到来的橄榄球赛季进行训练。

那天从船上拍摄的照片中，这位 18 岁的少年比他的朋友们高出许多，他随意地将手臂搭在他们的肩膀上，对着镜头微笑。

根据海洋资源部的文件显示，下午 5 点 44 分，该船返回大陆。

但当天下午他们返回时，原本充满节日气氛的一天却发生了令人不安的转变：威尔斯不在他们中间。7月4日晚11点左右，威尔斯的一位朋友打电话给他的家人，之后家人便报了警。

当天某个时候，有人请求拖曳威尔斯之前乘坐的那艘船。

CNN从密西西比州海洋资源部获得的通话录音显示，一名青少年告诉接线员，水泵停止工作，船正在“下沉”。CNN获得的音频文件没有时间戳。

“我们现在在31英尺深的水里，”他说。“我想把这艘船弄出水面，然后拖回去。”

后来，这名少年在被问及船上有多少成年人时解释说，船上还有“大概七个人”——其中没有一个是21岁的。他还说自己没有甚高频（VHF）无线电，并提供了自己在霍恩岛附近的位置。

随后展开了对威尔斯的紧张搜寻，但很快就以悲剧告终。

几个小时过去了，仍然杳无音讯，威尔斯的母亲开始在社交媒体上发布消息，焦急地寻找儿子的下落。7月5日上午，克里斯汀·旺斯利发帖称，她和丈夫拿到了儿子的手机，并且已经前往岛上寻找他。

塔什玛·汉兹是威尔斯一位朋友的母亲，她通过 Snapchat 追踪到手机被丢在一所“很多人”聚集的房子里，并帮威尔斯一家找回了手机。汉兹告诉 CNN 的劳拉·科茨，大约过了 15 分钟才有人找到手机并交给她。

克里斯汀·旺斯利说，当她查看儿子的手机时，她觉得手机“太干净了”，因为在他上岛的那天，Snapchat 上没有任何视频或照片。

“我很了解我的孩子……如果他在家总是拿着手机，那他出门在外和朋友们玩的时候肯定也会拿着手机，”她告诉科茨。“所以，我很难相信手机里什么都没有。”

这位忧心忡忡的母亲在社交媒体上发布了她于7月5日晚收到的威尔斯的照片，她说这些照片是在7月4日的游船之旅中拍摄的。照片中，这位身高6英尺1英寸（约1.85米）的少年身穿蓝色泳裤，戴着太阳镜，对着镜头微笑。

当天，杰克逊县警长办公室公开宣布，他们正在与美国海岸警卫队和密西西比州海洋资源部协调，对该岛进行搜寻。

根据警方文件，7月5日下午早些时候，海洋资源部官员出动两架无人机对霍恩岛西侧进行勘测。当天下午的高温导致无人机电池膨胀，飞行被迫中止，搜寻威尔斯的行动也因此失败。

海洋资源部海上巡逻警察的一份报告显示，与威尔斯一起旅行的几位朋友告诉警员，“他们离开时，他和一个不知名的女子在一起，并且他选择留在岛上”。

但威尔斯的朋友杰文·威廉姆斯（Jayvon Williams）表示，这种说法与他认识的威尔斯不符。威廉姆斯曾在7月4日那天在岛上见过威尔斯。“我从没见过诺兰在朋友们离开后还留在岛上，”他告诉CNN，“他一直是那种如果跟你一起走，就会跟你一起回来的人。他每次都是这样。”

威尔斯的家人也表示，他们“无法理解”他为何会与朋友们分开。“我们一直教导他，‘如果和一群人在一起，就要和他们待在一起’，”他的父亲说道。

文件显示，7 月 5 日晚，海洋资源部的一名官员在一封发给海岸警卫队当局的电子邮件中，请求提供与 Wells 相关的搜救数据，并在 7 月 4 日转述了这名青少年的体貌特征，并写道 Wells 的“饮酒量”很大。

威尔斯的毒理学报告尚未公布，目前尚不清楚海洋资源部官员是如何得知他曾饮酒的。

随着克里斯汀·旺斯利在社交媒体上的呼吁在网上引起关注，包括总部位于路易斯安那州的非营利性志愿者搜救组织“联合卡真海军”在内的几个团体加入了对威尔斯的搜寻。

该组织的副主席告诉 CNN，他与 7 月 4 日在霍恩岛的几位人士交谈过，他们描述说，当时海滩上挤满了船只和人，其中一些人喝了酒。

布莱恩·特拉舍尔说，如果有人落水，当天的强劲离岸流可能会造成危险。

7月6日，克里斯汀·旺斯利在社交媒体上向她日益增长的粉丝群体写道，家人“有很多疑问。我们心碎了，我们一直在等待诺兰带着他灿烂的笑容，当然还有他那句玩笑话，推门而入。”

她写道：“我们祈祷我们的儿子还活着并且平安无事。”

但几个小时后，对威尔斯的搜寻以他家人最担心的消息告终。官员称，在岸边附近的水域中发现了一具与威尔斯体貌特征相符的尸体。

诺兰·威尔斯的父母在儿子去世后就相关问题发表声明

杰克逊县验尸官布鲁斯·林德告诉CNN，没有发现明显的身体损伤迹象。林德说，由于威尔斯遗体被发现时的“状况”，验尸官办公室要求在州法医办公室进行尸检，以最终确定是否存在任何外伤或谋杀。

在官员们等待检测结果的同时，网上对威尔斯与朋友们最后几个小时的描述以及警方的声明越来越持怀疑态度。

7 月 6 日，警长发表声明称，威尔斯的死“没有发现谋杀嫌疑”，但这番言论似乎只会加剧社交媒体上的沮丧和愤怒。

许多人看过威尔斯的照片，照片中他似乎是集体照中唯一的年轻黑人，从中感受到危险——这让人想起密西西比州充满种族主义的过去，许多人认为这种过去至今仍然存在。

其他人则在社交媒体上发帖讲述自己作为以白人为主的空间中唯一的有色人种的经历，以及这会带来的挑战。

7月7日，威尔斯一家聘请了民权律师本·克伦普，代表他们处理威尔斯死因调查的相关事宜。克伦普表示，他尚未与和威尔斯一起旅行的几名年轻人交谈，因为他们已经聘请了律师。

大卫·迪·德尔加多/路透社

7月8日，警长办公室承认社交媒体上流传着各种猜测，但指出“调查人员正在通过目击者的证词、物证和其他可靠信息来查明事实”。

7 月 10 日的新闻发布会上，克里斯汀·旺斯利表示，警长的声明也让家人感到不安。

诺兰·威尔斯家人的律师表示，目前的解释“根本说不通”。

“我绝对尊重执法部门，”她说，“但是，意外溺水这件事，让我和他父亲都感到不安。为什么我们这么快就下结论呢？”

“我们想要的是透明度，”她说。“归根结底，我们想要的是答案。”

克朗普表示，家属要求进行独立尸检，因为“事情并不对劲”。

他说：“我们把他的遗体从密西西比州空运到华盛顿特区，因为他的家人希望确保由一位与密西西比州执法部门没有任何关系的医生对他们儿子的遗体进行独立检查。”

7月15日，威尔斯的父母和他们的律师与杰克逊县地方检察官安吉尔·迈尔斯·麦克伊尔拉斯会面。他们表示，他们没有了解到有关调查的新信息，但同意由双方专家对威尔斯的手机进行“相互检查”。

Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger/USA Today Network/Imagn Images

随着调查的深入，各种疑问和阴谋论在网上流传开来。

调查人员特别要求提供 7 月 4 日拍摄的原始、未经编辑的照片和视频，“特别是那些描绘所谓争吵或包含诺兰·威尔斯图像或被认为包含诺兰·威尔斯的图像的照片和视频”。

“我知道现在时间很紧迫，但人们都想在十分钟前就得到答案，不幸的是，获取准确信息需要时间……这需要付出很多努力，”警长莱德贝特告诉 CNN 附属电视台 WXXV。

当局表示，他们还在调查网上有关7月4日岛上发生争执的报道，以及威尔斯是否与此事有关。

在7月4日于岛屿附近拍摄的一段视频中（该视频在威尔斯去世后在社交媒体上广泛传播），可以听到有人大声喊叫，似乎在进行激烈的争吵。威尔斯的一位朋友后来表示，视频中的声音是他自己的，而不是威尔斯的。

“在那段视频里，你听到有人大喊大叫——那就是我，”特雷斯汀·谢泼德告诉《滚石》杂志。

威尔斯的父母说，他们正努力克服悲痛，弄清楚儿子身上到底发生了什么事。

“归根结底，我希望任何父母都会为自己的孩子争取查明真相，”克里斯汀·旺斯利说道。

为威尔斯的家人发起的GoFundMe筹款活动旨在支付他的葬礼费用，活动上写道，他将“永远被爱，永远被铭记，永不被遗忘”。

史蒂夫·桑切斯/Sipa USA

一些公众人物也伸出援手，帮助支付家属的开支。据克鲁普称，民权活动家、前橄榄球运动员科林·卡佩尼克资助了独立尸检，而电影制片人泰勒·佩里则主动提出承担丧葬费用。

葬礼定于7月20日举行。威尔斯的母亲将这场聚会描述为她儿子的“回家庆典”，在杰克逊县博览会场为朋友和家人举办了一场派对。

“他肯定不希望我们围坐在一起哭着吃东西，所以我们打算办个派对来庆祝他，”克里斯汀·旺斯利说道。

威尔斯从霍恩岛失踪数月后，一些问题仍然悬而未决。但9月21日，杰克逊县地方检察官办公室公布的一份大陪审团报告显示，没有证据表明存在足以对威尔斯之死提起诉讼的犯罪行为。

报告称，大陪审团“认定威尔斯先生的遗体位置、状况、发现时间和地点与溺亡相符”。

“没有任何证据支持诺兰的死亡和失踪是出于种族动机的指控，”地区检察官安吉尔·迈尔斯·麦克伊尔拉斯在与该报告一同发布的视频声明中说。

家属律师本·克伦普表示，大陪审团的决定是试图“在不查明真相的情况下，就结束诺兰·威尔斯之死的篇章”。

克朗普特别对州政府和独立尸检人员在威尔斯头部发现的瘀伤提出了质疑，他将其描述为“钝器外伤”。

大陪审团在报告中指出，威尔斯的后脑勺有瘀伤，“并非致命伤”，但确切的伤情原因尚不明确。报告还补充说，“没有证据表明威尔斯先生的遗体存在任何致命伤或器质性疾病”。

克朗普表示，家属将继续追问真相。

“我和埃​​尔莫尔都不相信诺兰是意外溺水身亡，而且没有人目击到任何情况，也没有人知道任何内情，”威尔斯的母亲克里斯汀·旺斯利说道。“昨晚发生的事情再次提醒我们，对于那些本应服务和保护公众的人来说，我们儿子的生命根本无关紧要。”

CNN的Hanna Park、Ryan Young、Jason Morris、Elizabeth Wolfe、Holly Yan、Sydney Bishop和Lauren Mascarenhas对本报道亦有贡献。