A newly released autopsy report has shed additional light on Nolan Wells’ death, but it has not resolved the questions still troubling his family.
The report from the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office, obtained by Oxygen through an attorney representing the Wells family, does not establish how the 18-year-old college student died after attending a July 4 celebration on Mississippi’s Horn Island.
“This 18 year old male was found face down in the water at Horn Island,” the report states. Because the circumstances remain unclear, both the cause and manner of death were classified as “undetermined.”
Examiners found no internal or external injuries aside from two bruises, each approximately two inches wide, on the back of Wells’ head. The report also said there were “no internal organ abnormalities” that would explain his death.
Postmortem X-rays showed “no visible injuries of the skull or cervical spine.” Investigators likewise reported no damage to the larynx or hyoid bone and no fluid in Wells’ lungs.
A separate autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family also determined that the cause and manner of death could not be established. However, according to People, that examination concluded Wells had sustained “acute blunt force injuries to the head and body prior to death.”
Grand Jury Concludes Nolan Wells Likely Drowned
The state report was released as a grand jury unanimously decided on Sept. 18 to issue a “no true bill.” That finding means jurors determined there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges in connection with Wells’ death.
In the grand jury report released by the district attorney’s office, jurors said the bruising on the back of Wells’ head was “not a fatal injury.” The report did not determine how the injury occurred.
A witness told the grand jury that Wells slipped “awkwardly off the side of a boat” at about 3:30 p.m. on July 4 while attending the island gathering with friends. It remains unknown whether that fall caused the bruises, although the witness said Wells appeared to be behaving normally afterward.
Wells’ friends left Horn Island a short time later, but the grand jury said he chose to stay behind “to socialize.” Jurors also found “no credible evidence” that his friends had committed a crime connected to his death.
The report said the location, position and timing of the discovery of Wells’ body on the shoreline two days later were “consistent with drowning.”
ALSO READ: Jason Ryan Karvois Sentence: How Long Will He Be In Prison? – NewsFinale
Nolan Wells Family Questions Official Findings, Drowning Claim
Even so, Wells’ family continues to question what happened to him.
At a Sept. 24 news conference, family attorney Ben Crump said they were still working to identify “who or what caused the blunt force trauma to the back of Nolan Wells’ head.”
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, said at a Sept. 22 conference that the family did not believe Nolan “simply and accidentally drowned, and nobody saw anything, and no one knows anything,” according to People.
The family has also raised concerns about Wells’ cellphone. The device remained aboard the boat after he stayed on the island, a detail his relatives say is out of character because they do not believe he would have left his phone behind.
Andrew Garrett, a forensic specialist with Garrett Discovery, reviewed the phone after Wells’ friends returned it to Wonsley. According to WLOX, Garrett determined that Wells last used the device at about 2:18 p.m. on July 4.
During the news conference, Garrett said information had been deleted between Wells’ last known use of the phone and the time it was given to his parents. He did not specify what data had been removed.
“We don’t know what happened to Nolan Wells,” Crump said, according to the outlet. He stressed that the family was not accusing anyone of wrongdoing, adding that even Garrett could not determine the intent behind the phone activity. Crump urged anyone with information to come forward and said the focus should remain on determining what caused Wells’ death rather than on “distractions.”
District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath disputed part of that account in a statement provided to Oxygen. She said Crump’s team had previously informed the district attorney’s office that “no one physically accessed Nolan’s cell phone after his last known use and before his parents received it.”
“The user action discussed by Mr. Garrett is from other snapchat users, not someone physically accessing Nolan Wells’ phone,” McIlrath said. She added that the Crump team had not supplied evidence showing otherwise and noted that the grand jury reviewed cellphone downloads, surveillance footage, GPS information and a printed cellphone report.
She added, “The Crump team advised my office that they had no evidence of a crime against Nolan Wells. They never advised anything differently.”