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.

“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.

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.

Amidst Europe’s ongoing conflict, a glimmer of hope emerged as five Ukrainian and Russian children, previously separated from their families, were joyfully reunited, according to an announcement by former U.S. First Lady Melania Trump on Thursday morning.

“While the roles of diplomacy and peacebuilding are crucial, they pale in comparison to our ability to place children’s welfare above international conflicts,” Melania Trump, originally from Slovenia, stated through the White House. “Each reunion reaffirms that compassion, dignity, and the essence of family can transcend even the darkest situations: war. My envoy and I remain dedicated to collaborating with Russian and Ukrainian authorities to ensure children are returned safely to their rightful families and communities.”

Thursday’s announcement marks the fifth instance where children impacted by Europe’s most substantial conflict since the end of World War II have been able to embrace their families once again. This effort follows the former first lady’s revelation in October of her established “open channel” with Russian President Vladimir Putin to tackle this humanitarian issue.

To date, at least 27 children have been successfully reunited with their families through these initiatives, with a significant majority—22 of them—hailing from Ukrainian backgrounds.

Since Moscow’s large-scale invasion in February 2022, thousands of Ukrainian children have been taken from their homes, orphanages, and boarding schools in the occupied eastern regions of Ukraine, often relocated to Russia.

Some youths were put on a twisted Russian adoption database where they could be sorted by age, eye color, and number of siblings, in what non-governmental humanitarian groups called “digital child trafficking masked as bureaucracy.”

Those not taken in by Russian families have been sent to more than 200 facilities to undergo pro-Kremlin “re-education” and military training, according to a report last year by the Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab.

The United Nations said in March of this year that it had verified the abduction of more than 1,200 kids across five regions of Ukraine. However, the Kyiv government has claimed the true number is as high as 20,000.

The global body’s Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said that while Russian authorities claimed the removals were for safety reasons, the fact that 80% of the children had not been returned after four years of war indicated otherwise.

Of those who had come back, the Commission highlighted complaints of starvation and lack of medical care — while in at least one case, an abducted adolescent had taken their own life.

“The children who come back are subdued mentally — they’re broken,” Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska told The Post in August of last year. “… Only after they return do they start coming back out of their shells.”

In March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin in connection with war crimes related to the abduction of Ukrainian kids.

Revelations have surfaced today in the chilling case of a British woman discovered dead in Athens, whose last messages portrayed a desire for solitude. These texts, sent from her phone, emerged after her body was found stashed inside a suitcase in a derelict building.

Greek authorities suspect that someone deliberately used Elisabeth Jane Ross’s phone to paint a deceptive picture of her whereabouts, aiming to mislead investigators and stall their pursuit.

The lifeless body of 38-year-old Ross, who hailed from Scotland, was tragically uncovered by a homeless individual in the Kypseli neighborhood on July 18.

However, detectives indicate that from as early as July 15, mysterious text messages were dispatched to her inner circle, impersonating her, days before the grim discovery.

One particularly unsettling message, sent posthumously from Ross’s phone to a friend in Greece, read: “I need some time – I’m going to a Greek island,” as exclusively uncovered by the Daily Mail.

The text was sent to a Greek male friend she has known ‘for years’ and with whom she had been staying days before her body was found.

Texts sent to her family claimed that she ‘needed some time to herself’ and that she ‘wanted to be alone for a while’.

Investigators say the phone, which remains missing, was active in the Athens area until around 24 hours ago, when Ms Ross was formally identified. 

It was then ‘mysteriously’ switched off just as her death made headlines around the world.

Her father, a lawyer from Edinburgh, told officers he had been receiving messages from July 15 to 29. 

A police source told Greek media: ‘The suitcase did not belong to the victim, as she did not have any large luggage with her. This means that it is possible that genetic material or fingerprints will be found in the suitcase that will help the authorities find the perpetrator or perpetrators.’

Officers are poring over CCTV footage from around the building where Ms Ross was found. 

Due to the weight of the suitcase containing her body, they believe the killers are likely to have been staying nearby.

Ms Ross had been staying with Greek friends for around two weeks in the centre of Athens until she left on July 15, according to reports.

The alarm was raised around 1pm on July 18 after a homeless man notified the police that he had spotted a suitcase and something coming out of it, which ‘looked like a human limb’. There was also a foul smell.

The body was later identified as Ms Ross, who flew from the United States to Athens via Edinburgh – not Cyprus as previously reported – on June 29, the Daily Mail understands. 

She had travelled out to stay with her Greek male friend in Keratsini near the Port of Piraeus, her father said. 

Police have interviewed three Greek friends, including the man she stayed with as well as a friend from Edinburgh.

The mother of the local she was staying with is from Edinburgh and is flying out to Athens today to support the family. She has told police that her son reported Ms Ross missing on July 15.

Ms Ross was last seen just before the alleged murder on July 15, and around the time that forensic scientists believe the crime took place.

It has also been claimed that the British woman’s phone was being used up until the point she was identified by media. 

One Greek officer said: ‘The phone was being used. Text messages were even sent obviously with a view to making people believe she was still alive. 

‘We are treating the building as a crime scene.’ 

Authorities are waiting for the result of toxicological tests saying they are likely to uncover how Ms Ross died. 

But the tests will take ‘weeks’ because of the advanced state of decay of her body, the Daily Mail understands.

The initial examination of the body showed no obvious injuries or signs of struggle, while no identification was found on her. 

Greek authorities then took fingerprints but found no match in the national database. They then discovered they were registered in American databases.

According to police, the victim was around 5ft 4in with reddish hair tied in a bun, wearing black shorts and a T-shirt. 

Her shorts bore the name of a French university, prompting Interpol to be alerted.

Her identity was then confirmed by the Interpol office in America, which informed the Hellenic Police that the body belongs to a British woman with the initials ER, born in February 1988. 

Greek news outlets released photos of Ms Ross on Wednesday.

Police have requested passenger information from the airline she travelled with to determine if she was with anyone, and are checking local accommodation registries for reservations under her name. 

Officers estimated that her death occurred between five and seven days before the body was found.

One Greek police officer told The Sun that authorities were shocked at the discovery.

He said: ‘To find a foreign national dead in a suitcase here in the heart of Athens is a first. In the history of Greek-British relations, it is unprecedented.’

Greek authorities will be working closely with the Cyprus Police on this investigation, while a post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out to determine the cause of death. 

The British Embassy in Greece and the woman’s father have been notified of her death. 

Police wish to speak to her father to gather information about her recent activities.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘Our thoughts are with Elisabeth’s family during this difficult time. We are providing consular support and are in contact with the local authorities.’

A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘We are aware of the death of a Scottish woman in Athens and are liaising with authorities in Greece. Officers are providing support to her family in Scotland.’

In Tucson, Arizona, the mystery surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance intensifies as a substantial seven-figure reward remains untouched almost half a year after she was allegedly abducted from her Catalina Foothills home. For seasoned detectives, this unclaimed bounty suggests the potential involvement of a small, closely-knit group.

“It tells me they’re possibly bound by something more powerful than mere dollars—perhaps family ties, mutual fear, or the risk of exposure,” observed Jason Pack, a retired FBI negotiator and supervisory agent actively monitoring the case. “Such bonds tend to endure—until, of course, they don’t.”

Typically, when more individuals become aware of a crime, the likelihood that someone will step forward to claim the hefty reward increases. Alarmingly, even with more than $1.2 million on the line, no one has come forward with information regarding Guthrie’s suspected abduction 179 days since it occurred.

“Rewards of that magnitude typically unravel even the tightest of groups,” Pack remarked to News Media. “Yet in this case, it hasn’t.”

Rather than a dead end, Pack sees the untouched reward as another clue.

“In my experience, a meaningful share of cases like this break sideways,” he said. “Somebody gets arrested for something unrelated and starts talking. A relationship ends badly. Somebody’s conscience finally outruns their fear. Six months is a long time to hold something this heavy, and the people around whoever did this have had six months to notice the change in them.”

Pack said it looks like the abductor or abductors tried to plan the crime — and did it poorly. At least one suspect is believed to have cased out the house. He wore a ski mask, long sleeves and gloves, and covered the lens of her Nest doorbell camera — which was missing when police arrived the next day.

“When it went wrong, and I believe it went wrong fast, they had no plan for that either,” he said. “Everything since reads to me like improvising around a failure, not professionals executing a plan.”

Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie, is dependent on heart medication and has a pacemaker. She has limited mobility — and a close-knit family.

“She had dinner with her family on a Saturday night, went home, and never made it to church the next morning,” Pack said. “That’s who we’re talking about. Not a case number. A mother who was supposed to be at church.”

While the suspects made critical mistakes, he said, that doesn’t mean the investigation has stalled.

Pack also shared a direct message for Guthrie’s neighbors and residents of the surrounding communities:

“Go back and check your own cameras from that time period. Doorbell, security, dashcam,” he said. “A lot of systems archive further back than people realize. If you drove through the area that night, pull your dashcam files.”

If you saw something but don’t have video, it’s still worth speaking out, he said.

“And think about the people in your own life. Somebody who left town. Somebody whose behavior turned in February and never turned back,” he said. “You don’t have to be sure. That’s not your job. Sorting it out is [the investigators’ job].”

In May, a source with knowledge of the case told News Media that the FBI was bringing new technology into the investigation.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, whose department is the lead agency, said in an interview this week that he still believes the case will be resolved.

“We have so much DNA to sort through,” he said in an interview aired on “Today.” “We have so much, in terms of video evidence, to look at.”

And they’ve spent months learning things from the DNA and the video and other forensics that the public hasn’t seen, Pack noted.

“I’ve watched cases break in month eight, month 14, month 30,” said Pack, whose FBI career lasted 21 years, 11 of them as a negotiator. “Most every one of those families had stopped believing it was ever coming.”

Anyone with information on the case is asked to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI. An anonymous reward can also be obtained by calling 520-88-CRIME with information that leads to an arrest in the case.