Family pleads for answers in death of young Black man in Mississippi | Mississippi
A mother on Friday pleaded for anyone to come forward about what happened to her teenage black son, Nolan Wells, whose body was found on an island off the coast of Mississippi after traveling there with three white friends over the Fourth of July weekend.
“We just want to know what happened and why our baby didn’t come home,” Christine Wonsley said, choking back tears at a press conference about her son.
Wells’ death became a flashpoint on social media, fueled by questions about race in the United States.
The body of Wells, 18, was found July 6 on the northwestern tip of Horn Island, a long, thin barrier island with a beach off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He had visited the island and disappeared during the July 4 Independence Day holiday with a group of friends from his high school near Ocean Springs, Mississippi.
On Friday, an attorney for his family asked for help answering questions on topics including why his phone was found with one of his friends and not with his body.
On social media, users parsed timelines and distributed videos that authorities said were “unverified.” For some Black Americans, the case sparked painful debates about racism and displacement into predominantly white areas, while civil rights leaders and others revived long-standing concerns about disparities in the attention given to missing persons cases involving Black victims.
As calls grow for a thorough and transparent investigation, some have warned against jumping to conclusions before authorities release the full findings.
ABC News reported Investigators said they suspected Wells drowned, but nothing was ruled out. The Jackson County sheriff’s office in Mississippi told Reuters on Friday that the agency’s investigation into Wells’ death was ongoing and active, but did not provide any other details.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family and assisting with an independent investigation including a private autopsy, said at a news conference in New York on Friday that there are many troubling questions about the case.
Crump was accompanied by Wells’ parents and U.S. civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton.
The real question, according to Crump, is that the group of three friends who traveled to the island with Wells said that when they left on the afternoon of July 4, Wells told them that he wanted to stay on the island with a young woman. However, the young woman said Wells got on the boat with the children.
Crump also said videos circulating online showed Wells in a heated argument with friends. The videos could not immediately be verified by Reuters.
According to Crump, the fact that Wells’ phone was found not with his body, but with one of the young men who accompanied him to Horn Island, also increases suspicion. Wells’ mother discovered the situation using family location security platform Life360 and said many social media messages had been deleted from the phone.
In a July 7 statement, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help in providing eyewitness statements or video. The office also requested photographic evidence related to the Wells case of anything people might have seen on Horn Island on July 4th.
