Nolan Wells Mystery: New Video Emerges!

A lot of updates in the Nolan Wells. case. First, brand new video. >> [music]. >> reportedly shows what could be the last. known image of him before he. disappeared. That footage, obtained by. TMZ, was reported on Horn Island [music]. just hours before he vanished. We'll get. into what this could mean for the. investigation and attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Nolan Wells' family, just made [music] a major announcement. that the initial preliminary findings. [music] of that independent autopsy will. come out tomorrow. Welcome to Sidebar,

presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Okay, so we're back with another Nolan. Wells update and this time we have more. new video and I'm very curious what role. this is going to play in the. investigation because there is this. video that has surfaced that could be. the last known image captured of Nolan. Wells before he disappeared, before his. body was ultimately found. This footage. was obtained by TMZ. It was reportedly.

recorded on Horn Island just hours. before Nolan vanished. The person who. captured this on film believed this was. Nolan. They felt so strongly that they. went to the sheriff's office and showed. it to police. Now, if this is Nolan, you. might be saying, "Well, why, right? Why. did people believe that?" Well, the. video doesn't actually show his face. So, why do people think it's him? What. is What is this telling us about what. happened then? So, let me start here. Since we last talked about this case, a. lot has happened. For example, it was. this week when Nolan was laid to rest by.

his family and friends. Reverend Al. Sharpton officiated the service. Tyler. Perry apparently paid for the funeral. Sharpton made a huge announcement at the. funeral regarding the investigation and. we're going to get more on that in a. bit. But, we also know the FBI is. involved. They're investigating these. apparent threats that were made against. people connected to this case. Now, the. specifics of these alleged threats, the. substance, who it was sent to, but we. know that the FBI's looking into this. As for the phone, Nolan's phone, the.

family has it, and after saying they. believe data may have been deleted off. that phone, it was announced that. they're going to inspect that phone. alongside state investigators and their. own experts, experts from the family. And this is all while the potential for. a grand jury may be impaneled to hear. this case. That is looming in the. background. And we're still waiting on. the autopsy results, right? The autopsy. from the state examination and the. autopsy from the independent autopsy. that was ordered by Nolan Wells' family.

So, all of this is going on, and now I. want to talk about what's happening with. this video. Now, I said that the results. haven't come out yet, but literally at. the time of this recording, we just got. word from Ben Crump. So, this is the. attorney representing Nolan Wells'. family that there is going to be a press. conference tomorrow, and I'm going to. read you exactly what it says. This is. from a press release. Nationally. renowned civil rights and personal. injury attorney Ben Crump will join the. family of Nolan Xavier Wells at a news.

conference Wednesday at the 117th NAACP. National Convention. Crump will announce. the preliminary findings of an. independent autopsy conducted on behalf. of the family. Wow. Okay. So, the video, this. announcement, let's talk about it. I. want to bring on Chris McDonough. He is a homicide investigator, director. of law enforcement relations, and an. investigative consultant with the Cold. Case Foundation. Chris, always good to.

see you. Thanks for taking the time. I. mean, this literally broke 5 minutes. before we came on air. The fact that. they are going to have the uh what. they're claiming here, if this is true, the results of this independent. examination, they had claimed that. Nolan's body was being sent off to. Washington, D.C. A, they have these. results. B, that they're going to. announce them, and that this is going to. be before the results of the state. medical examination come out. What are. your thoughts?

>> Well, at first, Justin, thank you so. much for having me on your show, and. then. with a family, obviously, they want to. make sure that. the investigation is consistent with. what the state investigation would. discover, the state medical examiner's. office. So, that would probably be one. of the very first things an independent. pathologist would want to say, right? Does it line up with the state medical. examiner's.

reports that are going to be, you know, given to the public at some. point. And if, in fact, they don't, then, of course, there's going to be. other interpretations of that. information, and they're going to want. to make sure that the state is aware of. that, and then they're going to. take those additional findings and push. it against the investigation. I mean, that would be the logical steps here, right? And then, of course, from that point, there's going to be a.

determination, well, what additional. further testing should occur, what type of other evidence should be, you know, looked into, and if, in fact, there is. anomalies within the second autopsy, then, of course, they're going to want. to, you know, check those boxes. The. state will, the state investigators, make sure that. they're lining up with the findings of. both autopsies as a whole. >> So, right, the the state medical.

examination. um is the results are not coming out. because they're waiting toxicology. results. To me, it would seem that this. independent autopsy does not done. toxicology results, right? Because they. wouldn't have been able to get it back. this fast. Maybe I'm wrong, correct me. if I'm wrong. But, to make an. announcement like this, does it seem to. suggest to you that there could be. evidence of foul play? That there were. some markings or some trauma to Nolan. Wells' body that would indicate this was. not just a case of drowning but. something else. And I know it's. complicated when you talk about uh.

drowning because. um potential drowning because there may. not be outward markings of someone. pushing him into the water or holding. him down or something of that nature. But to make an announcement that these. findings are going to come out, is there. anything we can glean from it? >> Well, you know, great point. And the the. one thing obviously. uh that can be determined almost. immediately is the microscopic findings. of, you know, anything inside of the.

lungs. uh as a whole. If there's water or fluid. uh in in the body. uh and or in the airway, uh you can also. find that, you know, in a secondary uh. autopsy because there would be. microscopic evidence of that. So, that. number one tells us two things. A, uh. the first thing it tells us if there is. fluid is he was alive. Okay? Because obviously he's inhaling. water at that point. So, now the.

secondary question that can be answered. or at least needs to be answered is what. are the circumstances, to your point, that brought him into that water? What. is there uh evidence of, you know, foul. play? Is there evidence of alcohol, you. know, other substances uh in his system? And that's where the toxicology reports. are going to play a a pivotal role in. this from the very first autopsy. uh because those that's going to be the. most concentration within side of this.

uh young man's blood. >> Okay, so we'll see what results from. this. Obviously, we're going to do our. best to cover it here. uh on Sidebar. I even told my team just. now, let's plan for this. Let's see what. happens. Um let me ask you about this. footage that came out. So, you have this. footage obtained by TMZ, apparently. recorded on Horn Island at 2:23 p.m. on. July 4th. It was reportedly shown to the. sheriff's office. You can seemingly see. in the video the camera panning across. these boats, people, you know, all on.

the water. And there appears to be a man. standing on the back deck of a boat. And. he appears to be bending over reaching. for something. You can't see his face. But the person who shot this video. believes it was Nolan. Why? The man is. apparently wearing swim trunks that. match the color of the swim trunks that. Nolan was wearing in that July 4th photo. that everybody has seen. It's a very. famous photo, right? Infamous photo. Now, this is again the one with his. friends on the boat. If this is Nolan,

this video would seemingly be the last. known image of him before he vanished. and before his body washed up ashore. just days later. When you see this video, what stands out. to you when you watch it? >> Well, the first thing that stands out to. me is number one, it's a proof of life. And hey, uh if in fact that is him, then we know. that he's alive at that date and that. time uh based on the metadata that they.

can pull off of that particular video. The secondary uh thing that jumps out at. me is you have all of these other boats. around him at that point. So, that means. you can also get the GPS data in. relationship to these other individuals. around him uh from those other boats. So, that now puts him in a particular. location at a particular time. And it. also tells us that if in fact he is in.

that that is him, uh what's he getting. on the back of that boat? So, you have. all kinds of information that you can. glean from the fact that he may be. leaning over getting something out of. the cooler, etc., or water, or who knows what that. substance is. But, now an investigator. can go an investigator can go back and. say, "Okay, who owned this boat? What's. in that cooler?" And then you can.

actually trace that back to maybe, you. know, other activities taking place. earlier in the day, and then correlate. that to potentially any other toxicology. results down the line. If in fact it was a substance that you. know, maybe alcohol or something, and. and we don't know that. All right? But, those are the kind of things that you. can get for it. But, more importantly, you can get the the metadata from the.

GPS of all the other boats around there. And then you can correlate that to where. his body was found later on, and then. kind of connect those dots. How did it. go from point A How did he go from point. A to point Z? And try to try to put that. puzzle together. >> Again, the video was recorded at 2:23. p.m., right? Crump has said, Ben Crump. has said that no one was last seen on. the island at 3:00 p.m. I haven't seen. any. contradicting account of that. It's 3:00. p.m. seems to be the time that we're.

hearing. But again, something could change. And. we believe that boat left at around 4:31. p.m. So, there's about this 2-hour. window between this video and when the. boat apparently left without him. One. other thing though, this video appears. to show Nolan on a boat. Is it the same. boat that his friends were on? Do you. know the the infamous July 4th photo. shows him with his friends on a boat. This footage appears to be maybe. possibly a different boat, maybe with.

other people. Thoughts? >> Yeah. >> I don't know for sure, but but I'm just. thinking. >> No, that's a great point because that. that is obviously one of the things you. would want to match up. in relationship to this video. You know, you can. look at the the structure of the boat, you can tell the manufacturer of the. boat, and all of those other situations. And then. the other thing that this would show, let's say this new autopsy comes up with.

you know, evidence of trauma hypothetically, right? Are there defensive injuries, neck. injuries, internal injuries? Cuz. whenever somebody goes into the water, you know, there are there are abrasions. and movements. or injuries that occur because of the. movement of the potential that that ties. in of itself, okay? So, you're also able. to say, "Hey, wait a minute. In this. particular video, we're not seeing any. evidence of {quote} these kind of. injuries.". So, that's also something to consider,

you know, pretty heavily if in fact this. is a viable piece of evidence that's. presented itself now. >> I also think that if people see this. video coming out and think, "Wait a. minute, this person felt it was. important enough to go to the sheriff's. office.". You know, good on that person to do it. Like they. see this whole wide panning shot and. thinking, "Oh my gosh, like they found a. It makes me wonder if other people are. now going to have footage and look back. and be like, "Oh, maybe I have. something, too.". >> Yeah, great point. Yeah, absolutely.

>> the sheriff's office has asked that for. unedited photos and videos from that. day, but just made me thought thought of. it. >> Yeah, and that's and that's obviously. going to be, you know, again, that's. going to put everything back into the. column of proof of life. We know that. this young man is just enjoying a July. 4th celebration, and that there's. nothing, you know, nothing afoot here, right? Suspicious in nature. Uh so, it. can go either way. If those dynamics. changed, then what changed between that video and.

where his body was found. And this will. lean the investigators into. looking at that type of evidence pretty. much harder, much harder. >> And I also want to ask you something. else about this because there are other. significant developments that have come. out from this funeral service other than. the fact that it was just incredibly. heartbreaking to hear, you know, Nolan's. family talking about him and what it's. like to not have them in their life. anymore and just think about how he was. an athlete, he had the these NFL. ambitions, he was a role model to his.

siblings, just an incredible young man. and how much of a tragedy this is. But this funeral service that was held. on July 20th at the Center Point Church. in Ocean Springs out in Mississippi, hundreds of people showed up. Al. Sharpton made a big announcement that he. and the actor Tyler Perry, they each put. up apparently $50,000 for information. leading to a possible conviction or. again, information about what happened. to Nolan Wells. So you're looking at a. $100,000 total a $100,000 total for.

anyone who comes forward. This is what. he said at the funeral. >> Since Mississippi so special, I'm not only. I'm not only saying we don't want. nothing. I want to say right here now. And I'm inspired by who's accused us of. that. That I want to put up from National. Action Network and me, I want to offer a reward of $50,000.

to anybody. >> [applause and cheering]. [applause]. >> I want to put a a reward up for $50,000. for anybody. that could give the information that.

will lead to an arrest and a conviction. in the case of what happened. He was not on that island by himself. Somebody saw something and know. something. So, I didn't come to make money. I came. to give money. Stand up and tell the. truth. Whatever it is, >> [snorts].

>> good or bad. We're not going to prejudge it, but we cannot end it. until we know all the facts. Let me say to Christine and Elmo, before we do the prayer of committal and. escort the family out, I just got a. text. Uh. Christine and Elmo, you know that uh. Tyler Perry said he would pay for the. funeral. He also He must be watching. He uh because he said I'm going to match.

you and put up $50,000 more. >> [cheering]. >> So, we. we putting up $100,000. for anybody that will come forward. We. just want the truth. That's all. >> Chris, a $100,000 reward is pretty. significant. How does that affect the. investigation? [snorts]. Does that complicate it for. investigators at all? >> Uh unfortunately, you know,

uh it could be a plus or a minus in a. case like this because the the type of. information that you would want uh to. come forward is probably going to be a. very narrow scope in relationship to the. if this is, you know, foul play uh in. any way, shape or form. The individuals that are going to talk. are probably not going to be motivated. by the reward fund. However, a secondary. lay- layer of in investigations like. this of individuals who are, you know,

contemplating. like you said earlier, they have video, you know, and they just didn't want to. turn it in yet because they weren't sure. or etc. A reward may motivate those. types of people to come forward and say, "Hey, I didn't know if this was related. I'm sorry I held this for so long, but. here it is.". Uh so, that in a plush, you know, column, uh a reward fund could be very. beneficial, but the majority of the. cases that I've ever worked, uh reward.

funds, quite frankly, did not really. have fruitful outcomes. >> Mhm. Yeah, and there's always a plethora. There's always a. potential for misinformation, false. information. Exactly. High-profile cases. Um while I. have you, can I ask you about the phone, Nolan's phone? I think that's an. interesting piece of potential evidence. here that Nolan didn't have his phone. with him. There's been back and forth. about why that was, you know, the idea. we've heard if he goes into the. saltwater, it's not abnormal for him to. leave his phone like other people, but. then again, if he's going off on his own.

to talk to uh potentially a young lady, why wouldn't he bring his phone with. him? Uh we know the phone. reportedly was with his friends, that. the family got a hold of it finding the. Life360 app. There was an allegation. that uh data had been deleted from the. phone, and now there's going to be a. mutual inspec- inspection of the phone. according to Ben Crump both by the. family's experts and the state. investigators. Do you have any concern. about that? >> Yeah, you know, the phone is a very. interesting piece of evidence left. behind uh by this young man.

Uh you know, cuz you can argue, to your. point, that you know, you're you're. celebrating in the water, so of course. you want to leave that device, you know, out of your water source of any way uh. any type. But then [clears throat] again, you have. a shifting in behavior here. You have a. young man who goes off potentially it's. reported with a with a young lady. and then just vanishes. And why would he leave his phone on the. boat if in fact he's supposed to leave. on that boat at some point. And now.

later on it's discovered that he doesn't. show up. and he's reported missing but his phone. is sitting there on the boat. You'll the. investigators will be able to determine. rather rapidly you know, not only the. GPS coordinates and of course all the. data footprint that they'll get out of. that phone. But then when you tie that. into this behavioral aspect of it. because this is the other side of this. case as a whole. Whenever you get a.

mystery like this specifically around. water, this really turns into what's the. pattern of life for this kid. How you. know, this young man, how does he. operate? You know, is he hanging out. with all of his friends? The answer is. yes. You know, is he interested in. girls? Thank goodness, okay, that he's. working you know, that part of his life. He's successful. with his high school, you know, football. etc. And this is the kind of kid that. just you go, you know, what this is a. very low risk victim. This is a this is.

a young man very low risk. So then you. start looking at the risk factors that a. suspect and or somebody who would do him. harm would take. Does he get on this. island with this young lady and there's. somebody over there that just doesn't. like him. maybe because race is playing a. a role here. And they get into a fight. and he gets into the he falls into the. water and he subsequently drowns. You. know, maybe he's unconscious and this is.

where the secondary autopsy will be very. critical to see if there's any type of. physical evidence. uh in his body, uh I eat defensive wounds, etc., head. injuries, what we call subdural. hematoma, you know, bleeds inside of the. body in of itself, uh and that in of itself will tell us if. in fact there could have been an. altercation of some sort. And that's the. type of evidence you would want to look. towards, uh look towards finding, uh that would take you away from. accidental to potentially something more.

uh suspicious in nature. >> And according to Ben Crump, during a. press conference last week, um the DA. apparently told him that once this. investigation's complete, this case. could be presented to a grand jury for. potential uh criminal charges being. filed. In what capacity we wouldn't. know, right? It could be. let's say a potential homicide charge, could be something with respect to the. investigation, someone not providing accurate. information to law enforcement, maybe. it's tampering with evidence. What do you make of that potentiality of.

this case being presented to a grand. jury? >> Well, anything is always possible, and. if in fact this, you know, the. investigation starts pointing towards, "Hey, the timeline, the the witness. statements, a lot of that information's. not lining up." I had a case one time. where a guy uh disappeared uh off of a. boat, and we found some powder on on the. boat, and it was from a fire. extinguisher.

And we discovered later on in the in the. investigation, at the individual was. telling us uh uh lies, and we were able. to determine that in fact he had fired. the fire extinguisher at the at the. victim, uh and that there was a major. altercation on this boat, and one person. fell over, and one person came back. And is this of that type of situation? Is there a fight that took place? Uh or. even if somebody's forcing around, you know, as kids do as young men do.

nowadays, and he got hurt. And they left. him. They left him in the water. Well, you. know, that would be obviously. information you'd want to establish. And so there's a lot of. information that's still needed. The. investigation in my opinion still would. still be fluid. But yes, a grand jury could come back with. accessory after the fact and or you. know, other charges. manslaughter or something to that. effect. We just don't know yet.

>> Let's see. Let's see what happens. tomorrow with that independent autopsy. results, the preliminary findings. Chris. McDonough, thank you so much for taking. the time. I really appreciate it. >> Thank you, 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 [music] on YouTube, Apple. podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can also check us. out on NBC's [music] Peacock as well. If. you want to follow me on X, Instagram, my NewsNation show Jesse Weber live. Monday through Friday.