New Clues Emerge in Nolan Wells' Mystery Island Death

A lot of new updates in the [music]. strange death of a teen on a boat trip. to celebrate July 4th. The mysterious. circumstances surrounding him being left. behind, [music] his body eventually. being found washed up on the shore of an. island. They're only getting muddled. right [music] now. So, we're going to. sift through all of it and bring you the. very latest. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Look, you know if you follow us [music]. here on Sidebar, we're always talking. about the risks out there, the dangers. Have you ever thought about a data. breach? You and your loved ones, your.

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experts will personally investigate and. remove. They can't harm you if they. can't find you. Use code sidebar at the. link below and get 60% off an annual. plan. That's incogni.com/sidebar. All right. So, we're coming back to a. story that has been haunting this. Mississippi community. This is a story. that has captivated the country right. now. We're talking about the death of. 18-year-old Nolan Wells, a college. athlete, a beloved son. He was a young. man who police say just went out to.

celebrate the 4th of July on a barrier. island with friends and never came home. Now, we were on this when that. devastating news came in. You'll. remember earlier this week, we spoke. with a member of the United Cajun Navy, someone who was actually a part of that. search for Nolan, in the air searching. when the news came in that a Park. Service Ranger. had discovered Nolan's body. And since. then, there have been some big updates. that we got to talk about. As a matter. of fact, the case has gotten so much.

attention that even some notable names. are weighing in, calling this case a. tragedy, but praying for justice, praying for transparency. And also, this. is interesting, too. There is a judge. with apparently a connection to this. case who's now spoken out, looking to. seemingly set the record straight on. these rumors surrounding her family's. connection or involvement. And now the. case is being attached to perhaps one of. the most recognizable civil rights.

attorneys in the country. Ben Crump just. recently spoke to ABC News, raised some. serious questions about the handling of. this case, is now representing Nolan's. family. And all this while Nolan's body. is being flown out of state for an. independent autopsy, the results of. which are potentially, reportedly, expected as soon as tomorrow. But I just. want to take a moment here because a lot. has hap- -pened, and I want to try to. get an understanding of it before we get. into the nitty-gritty details. So, this. all started with that trip to Horn.

Island on the 4th of July. Now, if. you're not familiar, Horn Island is this. long, thin barrier island. It's about 10. mi off the coast of Mississippi. It's. part of the Gulf Islands National. Seashore, only accessible by boat. It's. known as a spot where people like to go. have some fun out on the water, especially on a holiday like the 4th of. July. And that is exactly what. authorities say 18-year-old Nolan Wells. and a group of friends decided to do. That they apparently took a private boat. out to the island for the day, and. something went wrong while he was out. there. According to police, Nolan was.

last seen at around 3:00 p.m. on the. northwest tip of Horn Island. His. friends reportedly told searchers that. he wanted to stay behind to talk to a. girl, was planning to catch a ride back. with another group. They ended up. leaving, but when Nolan didn't return. home, his mother reported him missing, setting off this massive search involved. multiple agencies, including the Jackson. County Sheriff's Office, the United. Cajun Navy. Now, we spoke with the vice. president of the United Cajun Navy, Brian Trascher, in our previous episode. because he was part of the search. He. was actually searching in the air when.

the news came in about Nolan's body. >> I saw the body from about 300 ft in the. air, and I can tell you that it did not. it did not appear to be waterlogged. It. was only in the water for a couple days. Um but nevertheless, the the Sheriff's. Office put out a statement saying that. they had no reason to believe it was not. Nolan's. >> Yeah, so a park ranger discovered this. body in the water off the northwest tip. of the island on July 7th. The family. confirmed it was Nolan, but this is. where things get complicated because.

since that time the case has taken some. turns. The questions have only deepened, and I want to talk about what is. happening right now. And now I want to. bring on somebody to help make sense of. everything that's happening. Joining me. now, civil rights attorney, friend of. the show, Joe Richardson. Joe, thank you. so much for coming on. Uh particularly, I know you're at a conference, so you're. very generous with your time. So Joe, thank you. >> Always good to be here with you, Jesse. Always. >> Thank you. I feel the same. So I want to. start with the biggest development here, right? Arguably the biggest development. The family has hired Ben Crump, who is.

now representing them. He has been. involved in some of the most. high-profile cases in the country in the. last few years if you think about it, right? Representing the families. of George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Breonna. Taylor. And he put out a statement this. week that's getting, you know, a lot of. people's attention. I want to read part. of it. Quote, "We've been retained by. the family of Nolan Wells, a beloved. son, teammate, and friend who went out. to celebrate the 4th of July and never. came home. The wide receiver at. Southwest Mississippi Community College.

was preparing to return for the upcoming. football season and would have turned 19. next month. His family deserves answers. They deserve the truth. We will not rest. until every fact about what happened to. Nolan on Horn Island is brought into the. light, and we call on investigators to. pursue this case with the urgency and. transparency. this family deserves. Now, Crump also. spoke with ABC News and revealed that. Nolan's body is being flown to. Washington, D.C. for an independent.

autopsy, saying the family has concerns. about the investigation being handled in. the state of Mississippi. Joe, before I. even go to the independent autopsy, why. hire a lawyer? >> Because of all of the things that you. don't know. Um. things happen very quickly as it. pertains to a death. Um and gosh forbid. there's something to hide. We're not. saying that that's the case, but if. there was something to hide, after an. autopsy and you put that body in the. ground, the body's not going to tell you.

any tales. And so, we'll talk more about. the autopsy, but that's one of the. things that an attorney will do is get. you a private autopsy. In the case of. Ben Crump, he's also going to get you. the attention that's going to ask. questions that will put pressure on the. powers that be, as it were, the people. that are supposed to investigate. thoroughly, etc. Because there are. unanswered questions, you have to do the. best you can to get to a place where you. have every question answered that can be. answered. You're not there, but is every. question answered that can be answered?

If the answer is no, and you can find an. attorney that can draw attention as well. as investigate, direct traffic, point at. things, as well as uh address it with. the media, then that's what you do. >> Does this signal to you that either the. family, the friends, they believe that. something's not right with this. investigation, or is it just to cover. your bases? They know it's getting a lot. of attention. This, like you said, Ben. Crump is a renowned figure in the legal. industry. You wonder if he has back.

channels with law enforcement, his own. sources, if he can put pressure on law. enforcement or the prosecutor's office, or who And I'm not saying that there's a. crime that has been committed, but is. this signaling to you that something is. not right, or the family believes. something is not right? >> Yeah, I I think that that could very. well be the case. I mean, Ben Crump, you. know, he's nationally known. You know, I've seen him in San Bernardino, down. the street from me. But, but where. people got to know him on a national. standpoint is uh in Florida. It's you.

know, that's where he's from. But, he's. got connections to the South, of course, deep connections to the South, went to. school in the South, um has handled. cases in Mississippi, etc. So, it would. make sense that uh Ben Crump, or. somebody like him, would be able to. press buttons right away and start to. ask the right questions, and to pull on. the right resources, make the right. calls in in terms of understanding. what's out of sorts about an. investigation. So, it's not only trying. to get at what we believe may be the. truth, or whatever we can know about it,

but is anything being done differently. than how it would normally be done? Um. so, he brings to the table all of those. types of things. >> Legally, can a lawyer file something. with the court, or file something to put. pressure on law enforcement, or to. direct law enforcement to release. information to the family? >> I think that you have to look at whether. and to what extent the uh powers that be. here, I believe it's going to be the. state of Mississippi as of right now, is. not doing what it would normally do. If.

there's something that's not being made. available as quickly as it would. normally be, the the key is entities get. in trouble for not following their own. rules, right? So, what's really. important is to make sure that they are. following their own rules, and to the. extent that you're asking for something. that maybe there's some gray area about, release the tape. Release, you know, a. lot times we might might be talking. about body cam when it's talking about. police and things like that. We're far. enough along where there are often. specifics related to those rules, but if. there's gray area where there's no. specific prohibition on releasing.

something, releasing some information, doing X or Y or Z, and the police or the. investigators aren't doing it, then. maybe that's what the media attention. helps to do. Particularly if, you know, the shoe's on the other foot now. Often. when people get pulled over or when. people deal with police, they say, "Well, if you've got nothing to hide, let me search the car." So, now here are. people saying, "Authorities, if you have. nothing to hide, be as transparent as. you can possibly be within the law to. let us know everything we can know about. what happened.". >> Is this also, and I'm not saying this is.

a motivation for the family, but is there also a potential that you. hire a firm like this to start to see. whether or not there are there is a. framework for potential lawsuit? >> Absolutely. You know doubt about it. because. what Ben Crump and the Ben Crumps of the. world are going to do and what we all. do, try to do, um is uh find out where the holes are. Um here are here are the holes, here are. the things that we don't know that we. ought to. There might be some things. that we will never know because we.

weren't there. But what are some things that are out of. sorts that we can figure out and things. that we know we can't figure out, and. the question becomes, to the extent that. they can, why aren't the authorities, the investigations, etc. etc. etc. filling all of that in? Um not to get. ahead of ourselves, depending on what. you're going to be asking about, but. there's also the element that one of. these kids' mom is judge. >> Yeah, I do want to talk about that. >> Okay, yeah, so and she's put her toe in. the water, too. So, there's a lot of. powerful people dealing with it. That's.

why as much attention that can be. brought to it is really important, but. you want to understand whether and to. what extent there may be legal rights. that were infringed on or some something. that might be actionable. >> I want to ask about this independent. autopsy. Why conduct an independent. autopsy? Why order one? Why do it. outside of Mississippi? So, this is a significant move. The state. medical examiner already reportedly. performed an autopsy on July 7th. Now, officials say those results could take a. couple of weeks because they're doing. toxicology and other testing, but Crump.

has indicated that the independent. autopsy results are expected as soon as. tomorrow. And in speaking with ABC News, Crump said, "We're trying to be very. transparent because the family has some. concerns about the state of Mississippi. doing an investigation. We have. investigators talking to witnesses that. have no alignment or no allegiance to. the state, and that's important." What's. going on here, Joe? >> I think they're looking both ways before. they cross the street. Um one of the. biggest piece of evidence. is the body. Not to sound morbid or.

whatever, but there's a chance that if a. drowning is being alleged, and there's. trauma that's inconsistent with a. drowning, um then we know that that raises more. questions, and that creates more. problems. There's also an argument that. um perhaps the state of Mississippi, depending on what may have happened, depending on what they suspect may have. happened that they can't necessarily. prove one way or the other, they may be. incentivized to close the book. I I've. dealt with cases where you're trying to. uncover information, and you're dealing.

with a coroner, or you're dealing with. uh investigators, fire investigators, etc. Fill in the blank. Um when. something fits a narrative and they put. it away, they they they do that. Um we. would love to say, "Oh, we'll leave no. stone unturned, etc. etc. etc." But. that's not always the case. So, what's. the best way to be sure that you've. uncovered all of the information you. possibly can? I think it's because you. do, and that's that's that's why you. need to do an independent autopsy, so. that I I you know, there is a scenario.

under which and we're talking about the. deep south, we're talking about a very. charged political time, we're talking. about one black kid with several white. kids. There is a scenario under which. there could potentially be something to. hide, and someone may choose sides in. that regard. But the body itself, theoretically, could at least allay some. concerns about how one may have died, you know, etc. And it might be said that. you certainly get information quicker. That question that might be consistent.

with what. >> But that's a point, right? How can you. get information quicker if the state. examination is like, "We can't. definitively conclude what happened. until we do this additional testing.". That's why it's going to take some. weeks. Couldn't an argument be, "Well, if you have an independent autopsy and. they're coming with results tomorrow, it's not as thorough." Or am I looking. at it the wrong way? >> I don't think you're looking at it the. wrong way. I think that there's an. argument for that, but I also think that. I also think that you get what you pay. for. Um um that independent autopsy is. not cheap. That's why most people don't. get it. There's a whole lot of people. that don't want to believe what the.

coroner said about this or that thing. I. had a case recently where I've got the. coroner as it pertains to manner of. death that's going along with what. happened here out in the field and. deferring to what happened with the. investigators, what the investigators. said, including a person's past history. So, a lot of things can figure in where. perhaps you get the same information, but there are certain things that you. can get quicker. The independent autopsy. is not going to tell you everything. right away either. But, you might be. able to get some indications a bit. quicker than you would if you were going.

the public route. So, here there's both. that are going on. People would, you. know, may argue, "Oh, if it's quicker, then obviously it can't be good. information." But, on the other side, there are those of us that may believe. in a worst-case scenario that if it's. public information with people that. might have something to hide or people. that are connected to people of. influence, then maybe we can't be as. sure as we would like to be about what. the result is. >> And it at least provides the the family. with some answers and a potential path. of inconsistency. >> Right. >> with what the state medical examiner. has. So, I want to talk about something.

else. You mentioned it, the judge. There. is a judge who is apparently directly. connected to this case. Now broken her. silence. We're talking about Chancery. Judge Ashley Cole, whose son was one of the friends out on. the boat trip with Nolan. Posted a. lengthy statement on Facebook saying, quote, "Our son loved Nolan dearly. Unfortunately, I feel that it is. appropriate for our family to dispel. some rumors with facts based upon the. social media tension that is being. diverted away from the Wells family and. their loss. Our son was interviewed by.

the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. and cooperated fully. He saw Nolan last. at around 3:00 p.m. on July 4th. They. left around 4:30 p.m. when the boat was. taking on water and they had an issue. with the bilge pump. Nolan made a. decision to stay on the island and. return inland later with another group. of friends. My family is hopeful that. this information will help to redirect. the attention to the Wells family, their. grief, and their need for our. community's support. Joe, first of all, this is a judge. Right? Second of all,

didn't have to make a statement. Made a. statement and gave some very specific. details about the last or some of the. last movements and activities. of Nolan. What do you take away from it? >> The judge is putting her toe in the. water. Um judges often go out of their way not. to make public statements because. they're judges. Um and it is interesting that she's. making the statement and I will give you. 10 to 1 Jackson County is probably a. small enough place figuratively if not.

literally. where I will give you 10 to 1 that she. knows uh or the prosecutor. She knows. the prosecutor or the prosecutor knows. her. She knows the investigator, the. investigating agency, or the. investigating agency knows her. And she. knows the coroner, the coroner's agency, or the coroner's agency knows her. So, um. when you put all of that together. and I'm the family of of this deceased, that doesn't necessarily put me at ease. I think I I think there's one thing. there's two things that you can agree.

with right now between those families. and those parents. I don't believe either of them wanted. the son dead. Okay? And. I believe that they both understand. that the judge's kid the judge doesn't. want her kid to go to jail. either. So, all of this is going on which makes. transparency related to the. investigation all the more important. And even though she framed it as. something that would divert attention. back to the family. Um she's talking about the family's.

grief. She's not talking about the. family's justice. Um so, there's a difference there in. terms of what it is that's happening. How you see things depends on from where. you sit. And I don't think she had to. put the the her toe in the water at all. Um she decided to, but I think that says. a lot as well potentially. >> Didn't she think it was interesting. another group of friends? He went with. another group of friends. >> it's on them. >> interesting. >> Yeah, it's potentially potentially on. them. And so, but did he leave the other. group of friends his cell phone?

Um. if that's true, what they reported is. that somehow they showed up, the group. of friends that left him, showed up with. his cell phone. Now, they say it's pretty remote place and. there's not a lot of service out there. I don't know how well your cell service. works or whatever, but it seems like to. me. I'd keep my cell phone if I had a. 19-year-old kid whether I thought it was. going to work or not. It wouldn't occur. to me to leave. So, so that's the. biggest question right now. It's. actually it's it's it's circumstantial. evidence if that. It's not DNA, it's. something like that. Why did this kid.

leave them. the cell phone if that's what actually. happened. I wasn't there. So, it leads. to some very interesting questions. And. when you put all of that together, now I. can see both sides of the coin as to why. um Judge Mom might want to. um put her toe in the water. >> Let's get into where law enforcement is. with all of this. So, the Jackson County. Sheriff's Office, they put out an. updated press release and asking anyone. who was on or near Horn Island on July.

4th to come forward if they have any. original unedited photos or videos that. were taken around that time. The. Sheriff's Office even said even. information that may seem insignificant. could prove valuable to investigators. We encourage anyone with firsthand. knowledge to come forward. And the. sheriff also noted that there were no. surveillance cameras on Horn Island. So, that makes any footage being captured or. capturing anything at all more than more. valuable. Joe, what does this tell you. that the sheriff's office is now putting. out that appeal? What are they hoping to.

find? Um you tell me. >> Well, um I thought it was interesting to. me and maybe it means nothing to to. someone else or maybe it means nothing. to them and it's nothing to be alarmed. at, but they're asking for just. firsthand information. Quote firsthand information, photos, things like that. Photos, videos. But right now, I don't know that you. want to be discriminate about the. information that comes in. It's your job. to sort through it. And if not for any. other reason than all of the. transparency that the circumstances now.

require, okay? You know, just like going. to court, if I'm going to court, you. know, hearsay might not get in. It might. not be admissible, but it is. discoverable. Maybe if someone's one of. these kids' girlfriends heard one of. these guys say something. One of these. girlfriends' friends friends said, "Oh, I've got regrets." That would be. something to follow up on, even though. it's not firsthand. So, right now, we. can talk about firsthand information. later, but anybody that's got anything. to say, when some you you put out a. dragnet for information. In my opinion,

you don't tell people just give me this. type of information because you are the. investigating agency and you can. decipher and discern what's good, what's. not, what you can follow up on. And I. think that with a lack of cameras, with. a lack of a lot of the firsthand. information that you may have in a place. that's more inhabited, etc., I think it. makes it all the more important to get. information from wherever you can and. you do the work to sift through it so. that. you avoid the appearance of impropriety. in both actuality and perception. You've.

done everything you can do to answer. every question that you possibly can so. that everyone can move on. Talk about video, it is worth noting. that there has been some speculation. online. um including these reports from TMZ that. authorities are looking at a video that. allegedly shows this heated argument. that occurred on or near that island. that day. I will tell you, I don't know. if you've seen it, but I will tell you. the sheriff's office hasn't even. confirmed that. I don't know if you've. seen this video, but what are your. thoughts on it? >> Well, you know, that's another thing to.

follow up on. You know, I I tell you as. a side note, it's amazing how often, you. know, we've got all of these news. outlets, ABCs and the CBSs, often here's. TMZ with boom, this thing. You know what. I mean? And you have got to follow up on. it because if there's potential that. that actually happened there, that might. explain something, you know? And so, I'd. better have that information. investigated, figure out that I don't. need it than need that information and. not have it. So, it's another thing to. follow up on and it's another piece that.

might help to explain why they show up. with his cell phone but not with him. Assuming that happened. I'm a I'm a. believing the report, but you know, there's just things that don't quite. make sense. And parents know. parents know, you know, if there's. something amiss. If they know that their. child wouldn't be without their cell. phone. I know my child wouldn't be. without hers in any instance, not. voluntarily. And so, does that mean that. somebody needs to have the book thrown.

at them and and get the electric chair? No, not necessarily. But it is something. that we got to follow up on and we got. to leave no stone unturned. And the judge didn't talk about that. >> No. Look, and goes back to larger. question about so much attention, pressure being put on. There is also, I. should mention this, there's also. pressure coming from outside law. enforcement. You have representative. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, has urged investigators to conduct a. transparent and timely investigation. The NAACP posted on Instagram saying. their hearts are with the family and.

friends. And I actually want to go now. to something about the family because. look, they're going through something. that nobody should have to experience. I. mean, it's one thing to go through this, but having all this attention now on it. and Nolan's mother has been posting to. social media throughout this and she. shared the heartbreaking news when his. body was found. But now, she's asking for something. else. She posted this to Facebook. recently. It says, quote, "Missing our. Nolan so much every second of every day. This has been the worst time in our.

lives. Watching his siblings go through. the motions of grief adds another layer. to the sadness. Please keep us in your. prayers and continue to respect our. privacy." There is another layer to this. because if we speak about videos, if we. speak about, you know, videos that are. out there. Apparently, there are these. AI-generated video or videos that have. been circling online appearing to show. Nolan's mother saying she won't have a. funeral for Nolan. There's a video even. appears to show clips allegedly of him.

His mother posted the video to Facebook. calling it fake begging people to leave. the family alone. This is a whole different problem for. victims and victims' families or those. who just lose loved ones in 2026, right? I mean, what do you make of this? And by. the way, does someone have a legal right of. action? Do they have a legal cause of. action to go after people that make AI. videos of them? >> Well, >> [sighs]. >> boy, it's a it's a loaded question. It's. a perfect example of ways in which the.

law may not have quite caught up with. every potential. circumstance that's related to AI, that's related to technology, right? And. so, therefore, there's a question. If. there is publishing of something that. someone knows not to be true, there's. potential for defamation. It's really. interesting because I never thought of. defamation so much in that particular. context, but if someone is saying. something that's knowingly not true, that might be a route depending on, you.

know, what jurisdiction you're in, infliction of emotional distress in all. of its forms, intentional or negligent. >> I would also imagine someone using your. name, image, and likeness for personal. profit. If you're making videos and. getting clicks on it and getting money. for it. I'm not saying that's what. happened, but that's something, too. >> Right. Yeah, I mean, so so there are. things there, you know, you have to kind. of adjust your thinking a little bit. because we're in this AI generation. But. again, now you're talking about AI, you're talking about what's real and. what's fake, and how it can um um take. us away from from what's actually.

important. You've got implications here. of of of race. You've got implications. of politics and all these other things. And so therefore, depending on who you. are, you know, whether you're talking. about, you know, it's amazing. Whether. you're talking about this deceased young. man or whether you're talking about. Caitlin Clark, you you you have. situations where people with different. agendas can take it and run with it, and. now they're incentivized to make. something real, fake, or vice versa. And. and it's kind of a problem. And how do.

you wade all the way through it? So, even though the family put out the word. to try to get help and figure out where. their son was, I would I could certainly. understand them wanting to have privacy, to not be bothered, and certainly not to. have anything um that said um. uh that that's not true about them uh. being said, being implied, being created. with caricatures and AI and those types. of things. >> Look, Joe, this is a really distressing. story. It has new layers to it. I want. to continue to follow it. I appreciate. you coming on, giving us some things to.

think about, and again, for being so. generous with your time because I know. you're at a conference and but I really. wanted to hear from you on this. So, thank you so much, Joe. Appreciate it. >> Always great to be with you, honored. Jesse. Appreciate you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on [music] YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you. should get your podcasts. You can also. check us out on NBC's Peacock, as well. [music] If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, my NewsNation show, Jesse. Watters Primetime, Monday through. Friday, [music] 11:00 p.m. Eastern. See. you next time, everybody.