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Nolan Wells’ autopsy results reveal 7 unanswered questions amid major update following death aged 18
During a boat excursion with friends to Horn Island, a barrier island off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells went missing, and a major search operation was launched on Independence Day.
His body was discovered just two days later on July 6, and while an initial post-mortem in Mississippi failed to determine the circumstances or cause of his death, an independent inquiry which took place in Washington revealed a tragic breakthrough in the case.
The new autopsy uncovered a previously missed 12-by-8-inch red discoloration to the back of his head, which could indicate trauma and bring investigators a step closer to uncovering Wells’ cause of death.
After two autopsies, many questions are still unanswered
However, the autopsy performed by Dr. Roger Mitchell, a forensic pathologist and President of the National Medical Association, and the report that followed determined that the decomposition and a lack of associated injuries meant the cause and manner of death are still inconclusive.
In the report made by one of the most prestigious medical professionals in the country, Dr Mitchell outlined seven questions the autopsy failed to answer.
Among others, these include: what were the circumstances that led to Wells entering the water? What position was the body in when found? And, was there any water in the airway?
The pathologist also added that he still wants to know if there were any injuries to the front of the neck or throat that could provide evidence of a brain bleed. Dr Mitchell was not able to find these things out because Wells’ throat had been removed during the initial autopsy.
Also, as the college football player’s stomach and other organs were removed before the second autopsy, an examination of what the teen had consumed and a toxicology report were unable to be carried out.
Wells' death has not been ruled out as an accident
Police are sticking to the line that nothing surrounding the circumstances of Wells’ death points towards foul play, and they believe Wells drowned after his friends left him on the isolated island.
However, Wells’ family are being supported by civil rights organisation, the NAACP, who, despite the unanswered questions, claim it can’t be ruled out that Wells’ death was an accident.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump claimed that Wells’ body was found face down and fully clothed, although photographs from the day he went missing show him shirtless, wearing swimming trunks.
In a recent press conference, NAACP President Derrick Johnson said: “If it was truly an accident, then the families will have the necessary answers that any family deserves in this situation.”
After reviewing Wells’ preliminary autopsy results, Dr. Michael Baden, former Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, told The New York Post: “There’s nothing dependent on foul play”, but also noted that crucial details from a toxicology report have not yet been received by investigators.
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