According to civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump during a news conference held July 22, preliminary results from an independent autopsy found the cause and manner of death of Nolan Wells to be undetermined, pending an investigation. Nolan Wells is the Black teen who disappeared on July 4 and whose body was found two days later off the shore of Horn Island, Mississippi.
The autopsy was commissioned by Atty. Crump and his team, who represent Nolan’s family. The independent autopsy was performed on July 10, and the report was completed on July 19. Atty. Crump announced the results at the close of the NAACP national convention in Chicago.
The inconclusive results have raised even more questions in a case that has gained national attention, particularly among Black people.
“Although they were unable to determine the cause of death and could not establish the date of death, that does not establish that a crime didn’t occur,” Houston-based defense attorney Sadiyah Karriem said to The Final Call.
“As an attorney, I view this case through the lens of evidence, not speculation. The autopsy is one piece of the puzzle. Investigators must now continue examining the medical findings together with witness statements, digital evidence, cellphone records, forensic testing and the complete timeline of Nolan’s final hours,” she said.
Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., a board-certified forensic pathologist based in Washington, D.C., and president of the National Medical Association, the oldest and largest organization of Black physicians in the U.S., found red discoloration in the soft tissue at the back of Nolan’s head.
The cause of the discoloration is unknown at this time, and Dr. Mitchell noted that further investigation was needed. The examination reportedly found no fractures or severe deep-tissue injuries.
By the time Nolan’s body arrived for Dr. Mitchell’s examination, after an initial autopsy by the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office, it had begun decomposing. Results from the first autopsy have not been released.
Dr. Mitchell reported that Nolan’s throat and internal neck structures had not been received with his body. He believed the original pathologist may have retained them for additional evaluation, which is a common forensic pathology practice.
“He said he would need to have the medical examiner in Mississippi allow him to review the throat. That’s why he said his autopsy is undetermined, pending investigation,” Atty. Crump said.
Nolan, 18, traveled from his hometown of Ocean Springs, Miss., to Horn Island with friends. He was pictured on a boat with three young White men, who returned to the mainland without him, as reported previously by The Final Call.
His phone and keys were returned to the mainland with the group. Details are still murky about what happened to the teen, and his family and friends have reported that Nolan knew how to swim.
In his preliminary opinion, Dr. Mitchell identified several limitations during the second autopsy that created barriers to establishing a definitive cause and manner of death: he did not see the body when it was first recovered; decomposition can obscure the presence or absence of bruises on the skin and he was unable to directly examine the airway and lungs for water and the stomach for gastric contents.
“We have heard from our call center people saying the body wasn’t waterlogged. Well, we need to know those things, but unfortunately, because the body was decomposed and the organs have already been dissected, those are things we can only get from the initial autopsy,” Atty. Crump said.
“We are hopeful that the Mississippi medical examiner would give Dr. Mitchell an opportunity to see their photographs and their observations to the condition of Nolan Wells’ body closer in time to July 4. That is very important, and we have to continue to demand transparency.”
Toxicology results from the initial autopsy are still pending. According to Atty. Crump, Dr. Mitchell could not rule out foul play.
Dr. Mitchell concluded his report with the following questions: What were the circumstances that led to Nolan entering the water? What was the body’s position when it was found? Was there water in the airway?
Is there any evidence of injuries to the internal neck structures? Is there evidence of intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding within the skull)? What was the composition of the stomach contents? What are the toxicology report findings?
“This is only another part of the puzzle, and even though it tells us significant information, we still have more questions than we have answers at this time,” Atty. Crump said.
He shared that there have been conflicting stories. Questions still surround videos documenting a dispute on the island, GPS tracking of the boat Nolan traveled on, and a recent statement from the United Cajun Navy that Nolan was found face down and fully clothed.
The deaths of Black youth under suspicious and questionable circumstances have become a familiar tale for Black people in America. During the July 22 press conference, Atty.
Crump invoked the names of young Black people whose deaths prompted calls for full investigations and greater transparency and accountability: Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, Stephon Clark, Sandra Bland, Atatiana Jefferson, Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice.
He shared that Nolan’s case has brought attention to the tragic deaths of two other young Black men. Daniel Erving, 18, was reported missing on April 13 after he was last seen with two friends near a lake in a Dallas, Texas, suburb. His body was recovered on April 17.
“It is alleged that he ended up accidentally drowning, but his two White friends got his cellphone and threw it away, got his clothes and threw it away, and then went and deleted all of their text messages with him and social media. Sounds familiar?”
Atty. Crump said, “They’ve only been charged with tampering with evidence, and his mother is crying out that they should be charged with murder because if they will lie about his cellphone and his clothes and deleted messages, then they will lie about what really happened to Daniel Erving.”
Tyler Smith, 18, attended a gathering in Lexington, Kentucky. He died from a gunshot wound in the early morning hours of July 4. “He was the only Black person at the house. He somehow ends up shot in the head, dead. Some of the friends got rid of the gun.
The police show up. They tell the police it was an accident; it was an accidental shooting, that they were playing Russian roulette. … The police just took their word for it,” Atty. Crump said.
“Can you imagine in any three of these scenarios had the survivors been young Black men and they were with a young White man and he ended up dead, what kind of investigation would there have been? What kind of interrogation would there have been? Would they have ever been able to see the light of day until those questions were answered?” the attorney questioned.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into Nolan’s death. The case will be presented to a grand jury after the investigation is complete. Atty. Crump said Dr. Mitchell should be included for the grand jury presentation. Atty. Crump and his team are also conducting an independent investigation.
Rev. Al Sharpton, actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry and former NFL player Terrell Owens are offering a combined $125,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
Nolan was laid to rest on July 20. He was remembered for his calm, gentle spirit.
“To lose that light at such a young age, under these circumstances, has been absolutely difficult,” Nolan’s mother, Christine Wonsley, said at the news conference. “The only question that we have is: What happened to our son?”
—Anisah Muhammad, Staff Writer
