Nolan Wells friends return to Horn Island with attorneys
Two friends of Nolan Wells revisited Horn Island with attorneys, who said the private trip was emotionally difficult.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
Nolan Wells friends Horn Island searches gained a new development after TMZ reported that Warren Hudson and Jax Pitalo returned to the Mississippi barrier island with two attorneys on Aug. 7.
The visit was privately arranged as part of the friends’ own inquiry into Wells’ death, TMZ reported. It was not described as a law-enforcement operation, and the report did not say the trip produced new evidence or changed any official finding.
Attorneys J. Tyler Cox and Edward Andrew Paltzik accompanied Hudson and Pitalo, according to TMZ. Cox told the outlet that the return to the island was hard on the two friends because it was the last place they had seen Wells, and that the group paused at times to give them room.
Cox also said Wells’ friends had struggled emotionally in the month since his death. Those accounts are Cox’s descriptions of the visit and the friends’ state of mind, not independent findings.
Why did Nolan Wells’ friends return to Horn Island?
According to TMZ, the group wanted to inspect the site with Paltzik as part of its private inquiry. Cox pointed out an area he called the “washing machine,” which he described as a place where tides arriving from different directions create a whirlpool.
Paltzik told TMZ that, in his view, conditions on the day of the visit resembled those on July 4, when Wells disappeared. Neither attorney’s description establishes what conditions were at the time of Wells’ death or what role, if any, water conditions played.
What is known about the Nolan Wells case?
Wells, 18, had traveled to Horn Island with friends on a Fourth of July boat trip, CNN reported. His body was found July 6 in the water off the island’s shoreline by a National Park Service agent, CNN said.
As of July 20, concurrent autopsy investigations were underway to determine his cause and manner of death, according to CNN. Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd told CNN there were no immediate obvious indications of trauma or foul play, but the circumstances led officials to seek a full state medical examiner’s autopsy. CNN reported that toxicology results were still pending then, while Wells’ family had also commissioned an independent autopsy.
The circumstances of Wells’ death remained unresolved in the reporting available. The Clarion Ledger reported July 29 that false claims, AI-generated material and conspiracy theories had spread online around the case, making the distinction between attorney accounts, witness statements and official findings especially important.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.