The parents of Nolan Wells have finally spoken out about their tragic loss.
Just four days after their 18-year-old son’s body was discovered, Christine and Elmore Wonsley addressed the public, sharing their thoughts for the first time regarding Nolan’s untimely death.
“We always emphasized to him the importance of sticking with the group,” Nolan’s father expressed during their interview on Good Morning America on July 10. “I would always say, ‘There’s safety in numbers.’ He was aware of this, so why would he leave the group? It’s a mystery to us.”
Christine reinforced this concern when addressing questions about Nolan’s friends, who reported they last saw him during a boat trip to Mississippi’s Horn Island on the Fourth of July.
“The friends left [Horn Island] and returned without Nolan,” noted Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter, as reported by ABC News. “From what we have gathered, it appears he decided to remain behind.”
But Nolan’s family is pushing back on the narrative that he willingly left his group, with Christine sharing, “I can’t fathom why he would.”
Nolan’s body was recovered July 6 off the shore of the island’s northwest end. Jackson County coroner Bruce Lynd Jr. told CBS News that an autopsy took place the next day, but findings have not yet been made public.
The family has also been suspicious about the contents of Nolan’s cellphone. Christine said one of her friends recovered the device after tracking it using Life360 (she did not say where the phone was found).
Christine claimed the phone’s location history differed from what his friends said Snapchat was telling them on their end. And she said no photos or videos from the trip were found on the social media platform.
“I was just like, ‘That can’t be.’ There was absolutely nothing,” Christine explained. “I’ve seen Nolan whenever he snaps. When he goes and he’s having fun, he does videos. There was absolutely nothing.”
All of these are questions the family is hoping to answer through an independent investigation.
“No young person leaves their cell phone,” civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who joined the Wonsleys in their GMA interview, told host Michael Strahan. “Why didn’t his body wash up with the tide on Sunday? Why would it come on Monday? It’s not adding up.”
This comes after Crump announced that he’s been retained by the family amid the law enforcement investigation.
“His family deserves answers. They deserve the truth,” he wrote on X. “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.”
Meanwhile, Ledbetter previously shared in his ABC News interview that investigators don’t suspect foul play.
“There is no information that we have right now,” the sheriff said, “that would lead us to believe that a crime has occurred.”