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Three months after 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells went missing during a July 4th boat trip to Mississippi's Horn Island, his final text messages have been revealed.
Nolan was found dead two days after his disappearance, leaving his family searching for answers.
He was discovered on July 6, and while an initial post-mortem in Mississippi failed to determine the circumstances or cause of his death, a Grand Jury has since ruled that his cause of death was drowning and there were no signs of foul play.
According to civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, the soon-to-be college football player wrote “Thank you” to his Aunty Gabby at around 8:30PM on July 3.
In the same press conference held this week, Crump added: “And what his parents and family shared with us, this was common because … Nolan was like many teenagers; they don’t use their mother and father text messaging, they use Snapchat.”
After Nolan’s phone was examined, “282” pages of Snapchat messages were also recovered and used as a part of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
On Friday, September 18, a 23-person grand jury determined that it found no evidence that a crime resulted in Nolan’s death.
The grand jury report, which was filed in Jackson County, reads: “The Grand Jury finds that the position of, the condition of, time of discovery, and location of Mr Wells’ body is consistent with drowning.”
Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath added in a video message: “There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s death and disappearance were racially motivated.”
Despite the attorney’s declaration, Nolan’s family is continuing their search for the truth. Shortly after they identified their son’s body, the family appointed Ben Crump, a distinguished civil rights lawyer, to help them get justice.
Crump stated: "We will not rest until every fact about what happened to Nolan on Horn Island is brought into the light, and we call on investigators to pursue this case with the urgency and transparency this family deserves."
An autopsy that took place in July 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.
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.
