Nolan Wells’ cause and manner of death are undetermined pending further investigation, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said on Wednesday morning while unveiling the preliminary findings of an independent autopsy.
A U.S. park ranger found Wells’ body on Horn Island, south of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, on July 6, two days after he went missing after traveling to the island with friends.
Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, a board-certified forensic pathologist who serves as the president of the National Medical Association, performed the autopsy and sent the findings to Crump on July 19. He said that the autopsy was inconclusive in part because the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s Office retained some of Wells’ body parts, which he asserted was likely for the purpose of further examination, a “common forensic pathology practice.”
“This pathologist cannot rule out if any intervening, non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death of Nolan Wells,” Mitchell said in his report.
Crump, who is representing Wells’ family, announced the findings while speaking at the NAACP Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on Wednesday morning.
Mitchell was not there, but Crump, while reading the doctor’s findings, said that the autopsy found that “there were no fractures or deep tissue injuries identified” and there were “no lacerations of the overlying skin nor fractures of the underlying skull.” However, he said the pathologist did find a “focal area of red discoloration in the soft tissue of the back of the head, occipital region,” Crump said, reading the report.
The Official Autopsy Will Be a Key Factor
Dr. Mitchell’s report stated a number of barriers remain in determining the cause of Nolan Wells’ death, starting with the State of Mississippi’s retention of the internal structures of Wells’ neck, including his trachea and hyoid bone.
Additionally, while Wells’ internal organs were available for examination at the second autopsy, the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s Office had already dissected them—another standard practice. Finally, the Mississippi Medical Examiner’s initial toxicology screening has yet to come back.
The condition of Wells’ neck is a critically missing piece in the second autopsy—Crump acknowledged that the findings from the initial autopsy would be necessary to rule out pre-death injuries. And the presence or absence of water in Wells’ airway will also rely upon the initial autopsy. The official autopsy results still have not been released while Mississippi awaits toxicology results.
As for the red discoloration, Mitchell’s hesitance to determine a cause for this finding is standard forensic practice. Both decomposition and postmortem settling of blood—or lividity—can indeed cause the discoloration observed in Wells’ body, consistent with the lack of visible external injuries.
But other explanations for the redness in that region without external injuries are not impossible—a finding Mitchell called “significant enough” to be highlighted for further investigation, necessitating the original autopsy’s determination as to the state of the brain, the body and other findings.
Former NFL athlete Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Foundation funded the independent autopsy.
‘We’re Not Accusing Anyone of Anything’
The facts established in the disappearance and death of Nolan Wells remain scant. Wells, an 18-year-old from Ocean Springs who attended Southwest Mississippi Community College, traveled on July 4 to Horn Island—a narrow sandy barrier island off the Gulf Coast notable for its miles of pristine beaches. Wells arrived on the island with his friends on a private boat and spent the day enjoying the island with hundreds of other beachgoers.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, stated in a social media post on July 5 that the last images of Wells she had seen were taken around 4:30 p.m., roughly the same time the boat Wells had arrived on left for the day.
One of Wells’ friends, Tracestin Shepherd (who was on the island but did not ride on that boat), told ABC News that the boat returned due to an electrical problem. It had begun taking on water due to a faulty bilge pump, and the group of friends Wells had ridden out with said they had to leave to prevent it from sinking. Wells, Shepherd said, planned to stay on the island to continue spending time with a young woman, and intended to return on one of the many other boats on the island that day.
Wells never made it home. By 11 p.m., one of the friends Wells had traveled out to the island with and his mother reported him missing. A search located his body washed up on a Horn Island beach only two days later.
The State of Mississippi still has not released the official autopsy. Bruce Lynd Jr., the Jackson County Coroner, confirmed to the Mississippi Free Press on July 8 that Wells was found in the vicinity of the same beach where most of the boats and visitors spent the day.
Lynd personally observed Wells’ body on the beach. “It was on the northwestern end of Horn Island,” he said, further explaining that he had seen no obvious signs of pre-death injuries.
“ The autopsy was conducted (on July 7),” Lynd said. “However, the state medical examiner, who is responsible for determining the cause and manner of death in autopsy cases, has not given us her final report as of yet.”
When this reporter spoke to Lynd, he explained that the official autopsy likely would not be released until the results of the toxicology test were final.
“I’m sure she’s still waiting on the toxicology report to come back … we were hoping to have that, I’m assuming one day next week,” he said. Nearly two weeks later, the official autopsy has yet to come out.
On Tuesday, July 21, a member of the coroner’s office confirmed that they had yet to receive the results.
Speaking at the press conference in Chicago today, NAACP President Derrick Johnson said that “we cannot allow another individual’s death—particularly a young Black man—to go uninvestigated.”
“We’re not accusing anyone of anything other than the State of Mississippi and local officials. We’re accusing them of being derelict in their duties” to fully investigate, Johnson added.
Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of Nolan Wells’ death and read past stories here.
Mississippi Free Press stories are always free because we believe everyone should have access to quality journalism. Donations from readers like you make that possible. Please click here to give to help sustain and grow vital, people-over-power journalism for Mississippians.
Readers can sign up for our free newsletters here.
