Nolan Wells investigation adds drinking accounts before teen’s death
ABC News says witnesses told authorities the 18-year-old drank on Horn Island before he disappeared; official autopsy results are pending.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
The Nolan Wells investigation now includes witness accounts that the 18-year-old had been drinking heavily with friends on Mississippi’s Horn Island before he disappeared on July 4, ABC News reported.
ABC News, citing preliminary information in a Mississippi Department of Marine Resources document, said witnesses told authorities they saw Wells drinking with his friends on the island before he went missing.
The document also included an email with a physical description of Wells while marine patrols searched the water for the teen, according to ABC News.
What happened in the Nolan Wells investigation?
Wells was on Horn Island on July 4 before he went missing, according to the preliminary information cited by ABC News. Two days later, on July 6, his body was found washed up on the northwest shoreline of Horn Island, TMZ reported.
Horn Island is the Mississippi island where Wells had been with friends before authorities began searching for him. The newly reported witness accounts focus on his activities there before he disappeared.
The drinking accounts add detail to the timeline, but they do not determine how Wells died. ABC News described the information it cited as preliminary.
What do the autopsy findings say so far?
The official autopsy results from the Medical Examiner’s Office, including toxicology testing, have not been completed, TMZ reported. Toxicology testing is part of the official review that can address whether alcohol or other substances were present.
Wells’ family appointed an independent coroner to examine his body, according to TMZ. Preliminary findings from that review listed his death as “undetermined pending investigation.”
That means the family’s independent review has not assigned a final manner of death based on the preliminary findings described by TMZ.
Why are there different accounts of Nolan Wells’ death?
Mississippi authorities believe Wells drowned, TMZ reported. Representatives for Wells’ family, including civil rights attorney Ben Crump, have suggested there may be more to the case than drowning.
No final official autopsy or toxicology results have been released, according to TMZ. Those pending findings remain central because they could clarify what the medical examiner concludes about Wells’ death.
For now, the public record includes the witness statements reported by ABC News, the body’s recovery on Horn Island’s northwest shoreline, the state authorities’ drowning belief, and the family’s independent finding that the death remains undetermined pending investigation.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.