Nolan Wells pool photo was from June 27, best friend says
Warren Hudson says a viral pool image of Nolan Wells was taken a week before July 4, not after Wells went missing near Horn Island.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
A viral Nolan Wells pool photo did not show the Mississippi teen back on the mainland after he vanished over the Fourth of July weekend, according to his best friend Warren Hudson.
Hudson said on “The Officer Tatum Show” that the image, which shows Wells in a pool with a large group, was taken on June 27, one week before Wells went missing. He said the gathering happened at a friend’s home in Pass Christian, Mississippi.
The photo gained attention because it was posted on social media on July 5, after Wells had been reported missing and before his body was found near Horn Island, TMZ reported.
Hudson also confirmed that the person in the photo is Wells. He said he is the person seen with an arm around Wells’ shoulders.
Was the Nolan Wells pool photo taken after he went missing?
Hudson says no. According to his account on “The Officer Tatum Show,” the photo was taken on June 27, not around 1 a.m. on July 5 as some people online believed when the image began spreading.
That timing matters because the later date would have suggested Wells had returned to mainland Mississippi after being on Horn Island. Hudson’s account places the pool party before the Fourth of July weekend events that led to the search for Wells.
TMZ reported that Hudson’s version lines up with what another friend, Tracestin Shepherd, previously told Rolling Stone, although Shepherd was not at the pool party.
What has Warren Hudson said about Horn Island?
In a separate part of his interview with host Brandon Tatum, Hudson said a friend repeatedly asked Wells to get on the boat and leave with the group, but Wells allegedly refused and stayed behind with a girl identified as 19-year-old Katie McCormack, according to TMZ.
The account has not been the only version described publicly. TMZ reported that McCormack told police Wells planned to return with his friends. Her sister also told the Daily Mail that a conversation between Wells and McCormack left McCormack believing Wells was going back on his friends’ boat.
McCormack’s sister also told the Daily Mail that McCormack thought Wells’ friends would not leave him on the island, according to TMZ’s account of the interview.
Wells went missing on the Fourth of July, TMZ reported. His body was found in the water near Horn Island a couple of days later, close to the area where he had last been seen alive.
His family has called for an independent investigation into his death, according to TMZ.
The disputed timing of the pool photo had become a key talking point online because it appeared, to some viewers, to change the timeline. Hudson’s interview puts the image back before Wells disappeared, while questions around what happened on Horn Island remain the focus of the family’s push for outside review.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.