Overview
- Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Mississippi college student, went missing after a July 4 trip to Horn Island and his body was found in the water on July 6.
- The official autopsy was completed on July 7 and the medical examiner left the cause undetermined while toxicology tests, which can take weeks, are still pending.
- Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said drowning is possible, the investigation remains open, friends who were on the trip are cooperating, and authorities are reviewing an unverified video of a reported altercation.
- Wells’s family has said details do not add up, has retained civil-rights lawyer Ben Crump, and has commissioned an independent autopsy funded by Colin Kaepernick that Crump says should be released soon.
- The case has drawn national attention because photos show Wells as one of the few Black people at a large July 4 gathering on a remote Mississippi island, a context that has increased civil-rights scrutiny of the probe.