🚨 NOLAN WELLS’ DEVASTATED PARENTS SAY THE KIDS WHO LEFT THEIR SON BEHIND HAVE TO PROVIDE ANSWERS… AND WHAT THEY SHARED HAS LEFT MANY HEARTBROKEN
The friends who left Nolan Wells to die on a Fourth of July boating trip in Mississippi “have to answer to” his grieving family, his father demanded Saturday.
The football star’s devastated dad, Elmore Wonsley, slammed the “excuses” his friends made claiming Wells decided to stay behind on an island — and questioned why the kids were apparently fine to leave him stranded.
“If I was in that situation, Nolan would’ve got on the boat. I would have not left him there,” Wonsley said in an interview on CNN’s “First Of All with Victor Blackwell.”
Nolan Wells died after his friends left him behind on a Fourth of July boating trip.Facebook/Christine Wonsley
“If you come with me, you’re going to leave with me because if anything happens to you and I was the one that brought you there, then I would be the one to have the answer to your parents. So I’m not gonna leave anyone’s child anywhere if I took them somewhere,” he added.
“You can give all the excuses you want, but you do not leave someone else’s child anywhere if they care.”
Wonsley and his wife, Christine, have repeatedly aired their suspicions around mysterious Wells’ death and a lack of “transparency” in the investigation.
The 18-year-old went missing after going on a Fourth of July boat trip with friends to remote Horn Island — and his body was recovered two days later.
A parent of one of the friends claimed Wells opted to stay on the island after their boat experienced a problem with the bilge pump, allegedly telling them that he would catch a ride with another group of pals on the island.
Christine Wonsley implied that something nefarious may have happened between Wells and his friends in the moments that led to his death.
Elmore and Christine Wonsley have called their son’s death suspicious.CNN
“Nolan just had such a big heart. That was a concern we always had — is that his heart was just too big. We would tell him, that type of love that you give to others is not always reciprocated,” she told CNN.
Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said that nothing from the evidence “yet” points to foul play, but Wells’ family is demanding a “thorough investigation” into the case.
A video filmed shortly before Wells’ disappearance shows the teenager arguing with friends over his cell phone — and captures the frustrated athlete demanding, “give me my freaking phone.”
Wells’ friends said they left him on the island after encountering issues with the boat.Facebook/Christine Wonsley
Christine Wonsley also said that the family recovered Wells’ phone and noticed there were no Snapchat videos, which they believe is “suspicious,” considering the teenager was an avid user of the app.
An official autopsy by Jackson County officials is still pending.
The family has also flown his remains from Mississippi to Washington, DC, for an independent autopsy being paid for by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
SOURCE: https://nypost.com/2026/07/11/us-news/kids-have-to-answer-to-for-leaving-nolan-wells-behind-parents-say/?utm_source=facebook&sr_share=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost&fbclid=IwY2xjawS_77xleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFrd2pRMnMyMGZHMEVEZEJIc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHjBmELjDHO798JyFMgNJwhH9vGYR3pDJP5IfkHPMDWulsEoKbhJai_qCZfVk_aem_HapysqIMymCcgBL_eqEcyQ