🚨 CASE UPDATE: NEW DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT THE BOAT NOLAN WELLS WAS ON DURING A JULY FOURTH GATHERING… AND THEY ARE RAISING NEW QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS FINAL HOURS
The records support the timeline previously described by some people who saw Wells that day — but don’t indicate where the teen was during his mysterious final hours
Newly released records show the movements of the boat that carried Nolan Wells to Horn Island, Miss., on July 4 before the 18-year-old disappeared and later died in a case that has attracted national attention.
While much remains publicly unknown about Wells’ final hours, amid both a sheriff’s investigation and his family’s own probe, the boat records align with what some friends who saw Wells that day have already said.
Wells traveled to the island by boat with friends for an Independence Day party but did not return with them.
That evening, his mother reported him missing after hearing from one of his friends and multiple agencies launched a search on July 5. His body was recovered in the water at the island on July 6.
Wells’ cause of death has not been confirmed and the results of an official and independent autopsy are pending.
There have been conflicting accounts about whether Wells chose to remain on Horn Island. His friends told authorities that he did and that he had met a girl there.
But Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, have said it would have been out of character and reckless for their son to separate from the group. Elmore has called that account a lie.
Wells was last seen on the island around 3 p.m. local time on July 4, according to authorities.
On July 7, Ashlee Cole, a local chancery judge, whose son Warren was with Wells that day, released a lengthy statement saying Warren last saw Wells around 3 p.m.
According to Cole, Warren left about 4:30 p.m. because the boat he was on began taking on water and experiencing problems with its bilge pump. She said her son was interviewed by the sheriff’s department and cooperated fully with investigators.
Another of Wells’ friends who was on the island that day, Tracestin Shepherd, told ABC News that a group left the island on the boat because of an electrical problem but that Wells remained after meeting a young woman.
Records obtained by NBC News support the timeline about the boat leaving, indicating the boat’s operator called dispatch around 4 p.m. to request assistance. The records, however, do not confirm everyone who traveled on the boat or provide further information about Wells’ whereabouts around that time.
“Hey, we’re at the west tip of Horn and our bilge pump stopped working,” the caller says in the audio, per NBC. “We’re going. We’re sinking. Can you all please come?”
The caller reported there were “like seven” people on board, adding, “I want to get this boat unsank and towed back.”
Separately, GPS data obtained by CBS News from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources shows the vessel left a dock shortly before 10 a.m. and arrived at Horn Island at 11:14 a.m, where it remained until 4:31 p.m. (Wells’ family has said he stayed with friends the night before, ahead of going to the party that day.)
According to the GPS data, the boat left the island at 4:31 p.m. and returned to its original departure dock.
It then traveled into Fort Bayou around 5:52 p.m. before returning to the dock at 6:06 p.m., CBS reported.
The boat traveled back to the Fort Bayou boat launch at 7:19 p.m., according to the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources’ report. It later traveled over land to the nearby Biloxi residence of the boat’s owners.
Wells’ parents have retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump and together they have sharply questioned the investigation so far — calling for thoroughness and transparency and suggesting race is a factor — while saying they don’t believe Wells accidentally drowned, as authorities have said is possible.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“We always taught him that if you go with a group, you stay with a group,” dad Elmore said on Good Morning America. “If you go with five, you come back with five. Do not separate from the group. Because I always said, ‘Safety is in numbers.’ So he knew to stay with this group, so why would he split from the group? I don’t know.”
The family has also questioned why Wells’ friends would leave without him while taking his keys and phone, which his parents later retrieved after he was reported missing. (One of Wells’ friends said he left his phone to protect it from the ocean.)
Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter has said his investigation remains active, and both he and Wells’ family have asked anyone with firsthand information to come forward.
SOURCE: https://people.com/new-records-shed-light-on-boat-nolan-wells-was-on-july-fourth-12021685