Ben Crump, the attorney for the family of Nolan Xavier Wells, plans to reveal the preliminary results of an independent autopsy on the 18-year-old’s body at a press conference in Chicago on Wednesday morning.

Wells, who was from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, disappeared after traveling with a group of friends by boat to Horn Island on July 4. Friends say they last saw him when he declined to return with them later that afternoon as their boat began to take on water, saying he would return on another boat. A U.S. park ranger found his body on a beach in Horn Island, located south of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, on July 6.

Crump’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that the attorney will announce the findings during an 8 a.m. Wednesday press conference at the 117th NAACP National Convention. Christine and Elmore Wonsley, the parents of Nolan Wells, will be there along with NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson.

Nolan Wells standing outside by water early in the morning
Nolan Wells was found dead on Horn Island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast on July 6, 2026, after disappearing on July 4. Photo courtesy Christine Wonsley / Facebook

Wells’ family held his funeral in Ocean Springs on Monday. “We will always be proud of the legacy of love, kindness and faith that you have left behind,” Christine Wonsley said at the funeral, speaking to her son.

Though authorities have not concluded whether Wells’ death was an accident or if foul play may have been involved, Crump has raised doubt about the events of July 4, invoking Mississippi’s racist history. The NAACP adopted a resolution calling for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Wells’ death on July 18.

The State of Mississippi’s official autopsy still has not been released while the state waits for toxicology results. Crump’s office had the independent autopsy conducted in Washington, D.C., in coordination with Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Campaign, while expressing doubts about the integrity of the official state autopsy. It remains unclear when the state will release its findings.

Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of Nolan Wells and read past stories here.

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Award-winning News Editor Ashton Pittman, a native of the South Mississippi Pine Belt, studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously the state reporter at the Jackson Free Press, he drove national headlines and conversations with award-winning reporting about segregation academies. He has won numerous awards, including Outstanding New Journalist in the South, for his work covering immigration raids, abortion battles and even former Gov. Phil Bryant’s unusual work with “The Bad Boys of Brexit" at the Jackson Free Press. In 2021, as a Mississippi Free Press reporter, he was named the Diamond Journalist of the Year for seven southern U.S. states in the Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. A trained photojournalist, Ashton lives in South Mississippi with his husband, William, and their two pit bulls, Dorothy and Dru.