Overview
- Search teams found a body near the northwest tip of Horn Island that was identified by dental records as 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells, who was last seen during a July 4 boat trip with friends.
- Jackson County officials say there is no current evidence of foul play but they have not released a cause of death and are awaiting the medical examiner's autopsy and toxicology findings.
- Wells’s family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump, challenged friends’ accounts of the trip, and commissioned an independent autopsy in Washington, D.C., reportedly paid for by Colin Kaepernick.
- Investigators have requested unedited photos, videos and witness statements and forensic experts are examining Wells’s cellphone as the family cites inconsistencies between device activity and witness accounts.
- The case has drawn national attention, large donations and public rallies that have increased pressure for transparency and could shape how local and federal agencies handle evidence and public communications.