In a revealing twist, a retired FBI agent has weighed in on the case of Nolan Wells, stating that recently published audio does not suggest any foul play in his disappearance and subsequent death.
The tragic incident began on Independence Day, when the 18-year-old Wells vanished following a boating excursion with friends to Horn Island, a picturesque barrier isle situated off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Despite an intensive two-day search, it wasn’t until July 6 that Wells’ remains were discovered by a National Parks Service ranger at the island’s northwest corner.
Curiously, Wells’ companions returned to the mainland that same afternoon, leaving him behind on the island. Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter indicated that investigations suggest Wells stayed on the island of his own volition. Alarmingly, it wasn’t until several hours later that evening that one of his friends informed his mother of his absence, prompting her to alert law enforcement.
Adding another layer to the narrative, News Media acquired a recording of a call made to Sea Tow on the evening of July 4. The caller reported that their boat, which was set to head back to the mainland, was taking on water. The caller also relayed that seven people were aboard the vessel at the time.
Nolan Xavier Wells’ disappearance on the Fourth of July while boating with friends has raised considerable concern, leading local authorities to investigate the matter thoroughly. (Jackson County Sheriff’s Department via Facebook)
“Hey, we’re at the west tip of Horn, and our bilge pump stopped working. We’re sinking. Can y’all please come?” an individual can be heard saying to the Sea Tow dispatcher.
When the dispatcher asked how far the water is coming inside the boat, the individual replied, “It’s coming up… we’re just sinking. I don’t know. We’re going down though.”
“And is everyone on board and in good health otherwise?” the dispatcher asked.
“Yeah, everyone is on board,” the individual on the boat responded.
The man heard talking to the Sea Tow dispatcher requested someone to come help un-sink the boat and get it towed back to the Fort Bayou launch in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
Nolan Wells smiles on the field while playing wide receiver for Southwest Mississippi Community College. (Christine Wonsley/Facebook)
The dispatcher then spoke with a captain, who said he was already on the phone with a man who owned the boat, a relative of the teen who called, and said those on the boat were in a “panic” because the boat wouldn’t crank.
“It sounds like a bunch of kids on board on Horn Island,” the dispatcher told the captain. “He’s saying the boat is sinking and he’s on Horn Island. It’s just unfortunate, he’s just a kid. It’s a lot going on.
“He wants you guys to go out there and un-pump the boat and then tow it in,” the dispatcher said.
The captain said the boat’s owner told him the teens didn’t “need any help right now, but if something changes, he’ll call me back.”
Sea Tow didn’t end up towing the boat.
Former FBI agent Jonathan Gilliam told News Media he doesn’t believe the Sea Tow audio points to any signs of foul play, as some people on social media have claimed.
“I don’t hear anything nefarious… it just sounded like there was a lot of stuff going on, that they were taking on water — not panic as much as this young person was trying to resolve a situation in a party atmosphere.”
Gilliam also pointed out that the call itself undercuts the idea of a cover-up.
“By the way, they’re taking on water. They’re going to be calling for assistance, which could lead to authorities. If they had done something, that’d be a very bad time for a person who’d done something nefarious to call out people and for them to get away with something. So I don’t think it added anything to the conspiracies of something having occurred knowingly in a nefarious manner.”
Several of Wells’ friends told authorities he “chose to remain at the island” with an unidentified female rather than return to the mainland with the group he arrived with, according to a Mississippi Department of Marine Resources police report obtained by News Media.
According to the police report, authorities “did not have reason to believe there were any water related exigencies or emergencies and he believed the most likely scenario was Nolan rode in on another vessel but did not have his phone in his possession to make contact with family.”
During a July 22 news conference, attorney Ben Crump revealed that an area of “red discoloration” was found on Wells’ head, but said Dr. Roger Mitchell, who performed an independent autopsy, couldn’t come to a conclusion on a cause or manner of death “pending further investigation.” An official autopsy into Wells’ death hasn’t been completed.
Wells was a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College and had hopes to play at the Division 1 level, according to Crump, an attorney for his family.