Nolan Wells’ parents and their attorneys called on Mississippi to continue pursuing a fuller picture of the “truth” in the teenager’s death at a news conference Tuesday.
The news conference was held a day after the Jackson County district attorney said a state grand jury will not pursue charges in the teenager’s July Fourth death.
“Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McArthur will have you accept that Nolan Wells’ death can be summarized in three words: ‘We’ll never know,’” attorney Ben Crump said. “But Nolan’s family offers three other words: ‘We’ll never stop.’”
Crump, in his remarks, insinuated that the district attorney’s investigation was not exhaustive and should continue until the cause of Wells’ death is made clear.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, said she received a text message from the district attorney at 7:54 p.m. Monday, and that the report was released shortly after.
“To me, that action shows a lack of empathy,” she said.
Wells-Wonsley continued: “What we have learned is that we still have no answers, and the report reinforced the fact that Nolan was not given a thorough, transparent and honest investigation.”
The DA’s office shared the text with NBC News. It alerts Wells-Wonsley to the grand jury report, without revealing its conclusions. The DA offers to send it to Wells-Wonsley and offers to “support you in your grief.”
Wells, 18, was last seen celebrating the July 4 holiday with friends on Horn Island, a barrier reef off Mississippi accessible only by boat. The friends he was with that day have said they had to leave the island early because their boat was taking on water, and that Wells opted to stay behind for the rest of the day and told them he’d catch a ride back to the mainland with others.
His body was found at the northwestern tip of the island July 6, Crump has said.
In the aftermath of Wells’ death, Crump pointed the blame toward the friends Wells was with on that day, all of whom are white, and alleged that race played a role. Wells appeared to be one of the few Black people on the island that day, according to photos and videos shared of the celebrations.
District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath attempted to put that idea to rest with Tuesday’s statement.
In a video message, she said the grand jury did not find sufficient evidence to indict anyone with a crime.
“There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s disappearance and death were racially motivated,” Myers McIlrath said. “Nolan’s friends loved Nolan, and Nolan loved them. Nolan chose to stay on the island that day, and there is not a scintilla of evidence to contradict that.”
In an interview with NBC News, Wells-Wonsley said that “at no point in time have we ever made this a racial thing” but that “Unfortunately, the optics of the situation has kind of allowed a segue to that.”
She said that she and her husband, Elmore Wonsley, have only wanted to find out what happened to their son.
“I have always told our children, ‘I will move heaven and earth if anything were to ever happen,’ and that’s exactly what Elmore and I are doing,” she said.
Myers McIlrath took aim at Crump and his team on Monday, saying they’d previously informed her office that they’d found no evidence a crime had been committed against Wells.
Speaking with NBC News on Tuesday, Crump said he did not want to engage in a “tit for tat” with the DA and her office.
“The issue is about what happened to Nolan Wells,” he said. “Everything else is just a distraction.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been an advocate for the family, said skepticism is warranted from Wells’ parents and those following the case.
“Mississippi’s history painfully teaches us exactly why families should never be expected to simply accept unanswered questions surrounding the death of a young Black person,” the civil rights advocate said in a statement Tuesday.
Crump, along with Wells’ parents, commissioned an independent autopsy, which found the cause of the teenager’s death was “undetermined.” It did, however, find two bruises on the back of Wells’ head.
“To this day, not one person has explained how they got there,” Crump said in a statement. “We don’t know how Nolan died, and neither does the state of Mississippi. Mississippi must keep investigating.”
Crump and Wells-Wonsley both spoke about the apparent blunt force trauma again Tuesday at the news conference and called for answers.
The grand jury’s report, a partially redacted copy of of which was posted to the DA’s Facebook page, noted the bruising to the back of Wells’ head but concluded that it was “not a fatal injury.” A witness, it said, testified to seeing Wells awkwardly off the boat. The witness couldn’t tell if Wells hit his head but said he continued to socialize, the report stated.
Crump also called on the district attorney to release the full autopsy report from the medical examiner’s office.
Coroner Bruce Lynd said he will not be releasing the state’s autopsy report, telling NBC News the report, “which may include a toxicology report, cannot be released because the release of autopsy reports” is limited by Mississippi law.
The grand jury concluded that there was no evidence that Wells had any sort of physical altercation or argument with anyone the day he was last seen. It added “that the position of, the condition of, time of discovery, and location of Mr. Wells’ body is consistent with drowning.”
Crump and Wells’ parents have previously rejected the idea that he simply drowned, citing the teenager’s athleticism and ability to swim. Those who know the area well, though, told NBC News it is not uncommon for even a good swimmer to be swept away by the currents.
The state’s chief medical examiner and a forensic pathologist retained by Wells’ family both “opined that the cause and manner of Mr. Wells’ death is undetermined and that drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion,” according to the grand jury report. It noted, however, that neither has ruled out accidental drowning as a cause.
Crump said there will be another press conference in Orlando, Florida, later this week to discuss the investigation into Wells’ cellphone. The friends on the boat had his phone and brought it back to the mainland from Horn Island on July 4. They said Wells accidentally left it with them, but his parents have refuted that assertion, asking what teenager would leave their phone behind?
