Teen Nolan Wells' Mysterious Death — Everything We Know

A Mississippi family is trying to cope. with a heartbreaking update [music] from. volunteers searching for a missing teen. Searchers believe they found the body of. 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells after he. headed out on a boat trip with friends. [music] for July 4th and never came. back. What happened out there on the. water? Why was Nolan the only member of. his friend [music] group who didn't. return to shore and what is next in the. search for answers? I'm going [music] to. be speaking with one of the members of.

the United Cajun Navy who was out there. actively [music] searching when the. devastating news came in. Welcome to. Sidebar presented by Law & Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. July 4th, [music]. Independence Day. It's a holiday that a. lot of people spend out on the water all. across the United States. From beach. days along the Atlantic to boat days on. the lake, it's supposed to be just a. great way to spend a hot summer day. But. the water, as we know, also carries a.

lot of dangers. And this small isle. called Horn Island has now become the. center of a death investigation. So Horn. Island is a long, thin barrier island. south of Pascagoula, Mississippi. It's. part of the Gulf Coast. It's only. accessible by boat. This is according to. the National Park Service, so limited. accessibility, right? Now, according to. family members and the Jackson County, Mississippi Sheriff's Office,

18-year-old Nolan Wells went to Horn. Island with several friends on Saturday. This young, fit wide receiver for the. Southwest Mississippi Community College. football team was last seen at around. 3:00 p.m. that day. Your post reported. that he was, quote, "talking to a girl. on the north end of Horn Island." When. he was reported missing, multiple. agencies jumped into action. The United. Cajun Navy, their incident commander. Josh Gill, posted about the search on. Facebook over the weekend.

>> About 6'1", 180 lb, was last seen on. that north end of Horn Island. Guys, he. hasn't been found. Okay? He was last. talking to a girl on that north end. He. went out to Horn Island with some. buddies yesterday out on a boat. Um. he's not been heard from in close to 24. hours. So, guys, if you're out there. fishing, if you're out there, you know, jet skiing, doing whatever you guys are. doing, keep your eyes out for Nolan. >> Now, I'm going to be speaking with the. Cajun Navy's vice president, Brian. Trasher, in just a moment. I want to get. a better sense of what the search was.

like, because he was actively searching. for Nolan when it's believed Nolan's. body was found. Nolan's mom, Christine, got a hold of these photos that Nolan. had apparently taken with friends aboard. a boat the day that he went missing. She. flooded social media with these photos. asking for anyone with information to. get in touch with authorities. And it's. unclear so far what Nolan's friends told. law enforcement told authorities when. they reported they couldn't find him. But according to the sheriff's office, it was a park ranger that spotted a body.

at around 8:45 a.m. Monday morning. Authorities haven't officially released. an identity. They're apparently still. waiting for DNA test results, but media. outlet WAPT in Jackson reported that the. coroner said there's no reason to. believe it's not Nolan. According to TMZ, the body was in the. water near the northwest end of the. island. WAPT also reports that an. autopsy is planned for today, Tuesday,

and we could learn a lot more once those. results are released, but that could. potentially be weeks from now. In the meantime, his family is just. trying to. come to grips with the fact that this. happened, that this young man, a college. sophomore known for showing off his. skills in the football field with his. whole life ahead of him, is now dead. Died during what was just supposed to be. a day out on the water. And Christine confirmed this. heartbreaking development in a Facebook.

post, quote, "I want to thank our. family, friends, community, United Cajun. Navy, local law enforcement, and. everyone involved for all the love, support, resources of the last few days. His father, our family, friends, and I. are absolutely devastated. Heartbroken. for my sweet son who is always willing. to cheer and uplift others. Nolan was a. special soul. God took his time creating. our son. I ask that you please give me. and my family. time to grieve.".

Southwest Mississippi Community. College's president also released a. statement saying, quote, "The entire. Southwest family is heartbroken as we. mourn the tragic loss of Nolan Wells. Nolan was an exemplary student, athlete, friend, and teammate. We remember Nolan. as a well-respected young man who was. very popular among friends, faculty, and. staff. We love Nolan, and he will be. greatly missed in many ways. Our. continued prayers will be with the Wells. family now and in the days to come.". At first, Christine had put out this.

message on Facebook saying that no. GoFundMe had been set up yet, and that. any pages that were set up, it was a. scam. Unfortunately, we've seen this. before in other cases, someone taking. advantage of what is already a tragic. situation. But since then, a friend did. set up an official fundraiser. We're. going to put a link to it in the episode. notes if you want to contribute, donate, support in some way. And according to. the GoFundMe page, quote, "Funds raised. will be used for funeral and memorial.

expenses, celebration of life services, and any additional costs associated with. honoring Nolan's memory. Any remaining. funds will help support the family as. they navigate the difficult days ahead.". How did we get here? What went wrong? What led to a young man. losing his life? When Nolan disappeared, a lot of people. jumped in to help with the search, including what's called the United Cajun. Navy. Hey, let me say something real. quick. Look, running a business, that's. tough enough. But why make it harder. doing things manually, relying on dozens.

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odoo.com/sidebar. When Nolan disappeared, a lot of people. jumped in to help with the search, including what is called the United. Cajun Navy. I want to welcome in Brian. Trasher, vice president of the Cajun. Navy. He was part of this weekend's. search that, as we just talked about, came to such a tragic conclusion. Brian, thanks so much for coming on. I'm I'm so. sorry. You know, I know you're part of a. lot of searches, and when something like. this. results, um you know, it's one thing for.

it to be incredibly difficult for the. family and friends of uh Nolan, but I. imagine for you as well, this is a tough. time. Um. and my understanding is is that you were. actually in the air above the island. when the call came in that a body had. been found? >> That's correct. Yeah, the. on on Sunday. the 5th of July, we had a rescue. specialist and a drone operator go out. on a on a boat and they spent several. hours out there on the island and around.

the island and they were not successful. in finding any clues. So, that's when we. decided to do air reconnaissance. So, Monday morning, yesterday morning at. first light, I went up in a single engine fixed wing. aircraft and flew basically a grid. around Horn Island, Ship Island, which. are barrier islands just south of Biloxi. and Pascagoula, Mississippi down to. Chandeleur Islands, which is actually. part of uh. part of Louisiana, but just due south of. those barrier islands and looking for. any kind of.

activity and then. yeah, as we flew over the northwest tip. of of Horn Island going back north. we noticed there was a couple of boats. uh beached up on the on the beach that. were not there before. And I could look down and I could see. that something was going on and then we. made a circle around. By that time a lot. more law enforcement boats were showing. up and before you knew it they had, you. know, probably a dozen boats huddled up. on the beach there. So, we knew that. they were setting up a command center. >> What was this search effort like? I.

mean, I know that there was multiple. people involved in it. What what was it. like from the start of it and how. quickly did you mobilize to provide. support? >> So, I think we got the first call on the. evening of the 4th of July when it was. starting to, you know, get dark and and. Nolan still nobody had heard from him. and and he wasn't home. and then. I believe that the next morning on the. 5th, I think somebody took his mother. out on a boat back to the island to look. around and that's when we started.

calling some of our. our volunteers from our Mississippi. chapter. and and mobilized a couple of. volunteers, like I said, in a boat and. went out there and started searching. Um. on the official side, you had. I think the the Jackson County. Sheriff's Office, you had the. Mississippi. or the Marine Patrol, I'm not sure if. they're a county or a state agency. And. then the Horn Islands part of the. National um. National Gulf Park Island Seashore, I. think is what it's called, and they have.

park rangers who do a great job keeping. a lot of recreational boaters and and. swimmers and stuff safe. And. it was one of those rangers that. actually ended up discovering uh Nolan's. remains uh yesterday morning about 8:45. Central. >> I I want to talk about that in a minute. cuz I have some questions about the. potential remains here. First of all, what what resources do the. United Cajun Navy provide that. traditional law enforcement or other. agencies just don't have? I mean, what. role do you play? I mean, it's. interesting, we've talked about it about.

how they maybe should be allowed to. assist in the Nancy Guthrie. investigation, but just generally. speaking, what kind of resources do you. provide? >> We We have a lot of the same type of. resources that that. state and local law enforcement agencies. will have when it comes to. you know, boats, aircraft, canine dogs, drones. The difference is is that we can usually. deploy them a lot faster, and that's. usually only because we don't have as. many sort of protocols and permissions,

I will say, to go through um to to make. that call and to put the resources out. there. Unfortunately, because of the. system where we have chapters in every. state, we keep an active database of of. special skilled volunteers that are. usually at the ready, and we can deploy. them pretty quickly. And it's not that. we replace those agencies, but we're a. force multiplier, and a lot of times. it's easier for, say, a sheriff or a. mayor or somebody to say, "Hey, I'm. getting my guys together. We're going. through all our paperwork or whatever,

but like you you go. You guys go do what. you do and let us know if you find. something. And that's typically how it. happens. That's typically how the. relationship works. >> Um. this body that was found. Do you have. any idea the condition of the body, the. status of the body? Because when we hear. that they need to do some more forensic. testing, DNA testing to confirm the. identity, is that standard operating. procedure or was the body in such a. condition from what you know that you.

couldn't make a readily identifiable um. you know, whether it was Nolan or not, you can't. make a a clear identification just by. looking at the remains. >> Yeah, the uh I I I saw the body from. about 300 ft in the air. Um but so I I. wouldn't be able to tell you like exact. condition. I can tell you that it did. not uh it did not appear to be. waterlogged. Um it was only in the water. for a couple days. Um but uh nevertheless the the sheriff's. office put out a statement saying that. they had no reason to believe it was not.

Nolan. So, I think they were pretty. confident it was. I think the reason for. the uh the the delay in the official uh. announcement is that I don't think the. coroner can sign the death certificate. until he gets DNA evidence proving it is. who they're you know, the person they're. saying is deceased uh you know, is. actually them. Um so, I think it's just. a I think it's just a a formality to be. honest with you. But I I believe that. the family or somebody in the family um. did identify Nolan um and they because. they put out their own statement uh.

acknowledging that it was his remains. that were found and that he had in fact. uh that he had in fact died. >> Just to clarify something, why wasn't. the body spotted earlier? >> I think that the uh well, I can tell you. that I've I've started flying over the. island, that part of the island where. the body washed up um approximately 6:30. a.m. and uh I believe he was spotted by a. park ranger at 8:45. My belief is that. he just washed up within that time.

period because we were flying kind of a. long grid north and south. And I think. he just washed up and a park ranger is. just doing his uh. doing his normal. um runs in the morning. But also too, given the situation, I'm sure they were. a little more hyper aware and probably a. little more head on a swivel on the. island knowing what happened and what. was going on. Um but yeah, I was told. that it was about 8:45 when a ranger. spotted it, called it in uh cuz I did. see a long line of emergency boats. coming in to um coming north uh I'm. sorry uh heading southwest.

uh toward the northwest tip of the. island. Um and I thought it was just a. originally I thought it was just another. search party going out, but I think they. were actually responding to that call. >> By the way, can we clarify the the. timeline a little bit? So, did Nolan's. friends report him missing while they. were still at Horn Island or did they. have to come back? I mean, how long was. he allegedly gone before authorities. were notified? >> So, the story which was told to me um.

was that at approximately 3:00 p.m., his. friend group that he had gone to the. island with decided they were going to. leave. Um they had to get back. And they. uh he Nolan had had started talking to. uh I was told it was a a young female. >> Yeah. >> Um but he was talking to some other. people, had decided that hey, I'm going. to hang back. I can get a ride back with. somebody else. Um he he hangs out with. this group all the time. They've been to. this island together a bunch of times.

It probably at the time. didn't seem like a big deal to his. friends to say, "Okay, you want to, you. know, go go holler at that girl and if. she'll give you a ride back, then that's. cool, you know, we'll see you when we. get home." Um that's the way it was. explained to me. Um later on when it it got to be, you. know, after dark and nobody had heard. from him, but they also at some somehow. or another his phone ended up staying on. the boat that he his friends were on. So, they had his phone. They brought it. back to his mother. Um so, he had no way.

of communicating unless he borrowed. somebody's phone, but nevertheless. the the sequence of events that. transpired after approximately 3:00 p.m. to when he went into the water, that's. that's what remains a mystery. They They. might The police might know I'm sure. they know a lot more detail than I do. That's just how much has been told to me. so far. >> Based on your experience, do you have a. theory as to what may have happened. here? >> Yeah, I think that he either tried to.

swim out. for some reason either to try to get on. a boat or to go, you know, catch up with. somebody or whatnot and there was a. pretty strong rip coming off that part. of the island that day. And even though. he's a a really athletic kid, it would. it was a strong rip. It would have been. hard for anybody to maintain control and. he might have gotten carried out. and he may have drowned that way or and. again, I hate to. even suggest anything that sounds like a. conspiracy theory, but I'm just saying. it's a possibility.

that he got on another boat and and. maybe MOB'd and and and drowned that way. and then washed back up. Um he did not. My opinion is that he when he went into. the water, however he got into the. water, he didn't go that far out before. he drowned because of it only took like. a couple of days for him to drift right. back south to the tip of the island, same tip of the island where he was last. seen. Um had he gone a lot further out,

he probably would have gotten sucked. into the ship channel and pushed way. further south toward the Chandeleur. Islands. >> And and to be clear, I mean. nobody has indicated foul play, right? I. mean, that could change, but you haven't. heard anything to suggest foul play. >> Nobody except the the detectives. >> Mhm. It is interesting when you look at some. of the photos. I don't see a life vest. or anything like that. Is that something. that stood out to you? >> A life vest on You mean like when they. were on the boat?

>> Mhm. Mhm. >> Yeah, so the. if I'm not mistaken, state law says that. if you're. 14 years or older, you don't have to. physically wear a life vest on a boat. You do have to have it. out You have to have it available and. out. to where you can easily access it. But. there there is at their age at 18 years. old, there is no law. that says they're required to wear. a PFD while while on a boat. In the. pictures that I saw, I'm not even sure.

if the boat was moving and if the boat's. at anchor, there's definitely no no law that says. you have to have a PFD on then. >> What was the weather like? Did that have. play a factor, you think? >> I think that the only. um. thing about the weather that's of note. is that it was extremely hot and UV. index was really high. Um so if those. guys weren't drinking a lot of water, you know, it could have been dehydrated, you know, just you know, possible. sunstroke. Could have just sort of I mean, the sun. can drain energy out of you. So even.

though like I said, he was young and. athletic, by the time he got into the. water, he might have been in a weakened. state and didn't even know it. >> Can you just talk to us a little bit. more about Horn Island? What we should. know about it cuz I understand it's not. very big. There aren't any buildings or. anything like that, but. um it seems like a really popular. destination, but it's limited. accessibility. >> That's correct. So Horn Island, like I. said, it's probably about. 10 12 miles off the coast of It. stretches probably from about the the. south of the city of Biloxi to city of. Pascagoula, which borders Harrison and.

Jackson counties on the Mississippi Gulf. Coast. Um it's a very popular. recreational destination. It is. uninhabited. There's some very. pretty beaches, you know, when the when. the weather when it's not too windy, the. water's pretty clear. The water was. temperature was in the high 70s. It's. 4th of July. Obviously, it's a it's a. crowded day, everybody out. But yeah, the only way to get there is to buy boat. or, you know, maybe like presumably. playing an aircraft or something. But. for the most part, people go out there. by boat and just leisurely hang out in.

the water and and and have fun. Same. thing with with Ship Island. Ship Island. is just to the west. And that island has. a historic fort, Fort Massachusetts. It's been there since 1861. Another. popular place for people to hang out. All the barrier islands along. Mississippi on the weekend, you see just. a lot of boats. You know, sort of like the outer banks. of the Carolinas. It's just a popular. recreational destination. >> Are you still a part of this in any way. this investigation? Are you in contact.

with law enforcement? Are you in contact. with the family? Is there any. information that you're going to be. getting as this progresses? Cuz even you. know, an autopsy can take some time. before the results are released. And I'm. just curious what information you might. be. having access to. >> Yeah, we're not part of the. investigation. You know, we're not. policemen. We're not journalists. We are. strictly brought in cuz we're really. good at finding people that are missing. And that that's sort of. our role once it was. radioed up to me in the plane that there.

was a recovery. We did a couple of. a couple of circles just looking at the. the TOC that they were setting up there. on the beach. And then we just did we. just returned to base. And my team was. already en route to. the I think it was the Mars Lake boat. launch in. Ocean Springs, Mississippi where they. had kind of the law enforcement set up a. staging area where Nolan's family was. And you know, our guys were out there. with his mother just trying to comfort.

her. But as far as like, you know, any kind. of inside investigation. information about the investigation, Um, you know, unless that's voluntarily. offered by law enforcement, which I. doubt, that that's not something that we're. going to know. If there was anything they, you know, wanted to interview us about. or just, you know, share any information. that we had, we'd be happy to. But. again, we're not police officers, we're. not professional investigators. >> Well, first of all, let me let me just. say this. Brian, you and your team are.

amazing. You do incredible work. Um, I I. know that we've covered the work of the. United Cajun Navy in other cases, and. I'm always just amazed at what you can. bring to this. So, thank you for your. help in this situation. Thank you for. the help that you and your organization. do on so many different cases. And I just have to say this is such a. tragedy. My heart really goes out to the. family here as they're trying to process. what happened. Um, I want to stay on top. of this. I want to know what happened. I know this family has a lot of. questions. They need answers.

But listen, thank you for coming on. Again, I'm sorry that you were part of. this. I'm sorry that. this is the end result. But again, we're. still waiting for 100% identification. But thank you, Brian, for coming on and. talking a little bit more about it. >> Yeah, thanks for having me. And you. know, for anybody, you know, your your. your viewers, just we need to try to. keep the the chatter and the conspiracy. theories to a minimum. Yeah, but we do. need to find out what happened to Nolan. from the from 3:00 until he was last.

seen. His family has a right to know. exactly what happened and how he met his. final moments. But there's his friends who he's been. friends with since he was a little kid. are getting death threats from people. who are accusing them of horrible. things. And right now we just don't we. don't know anything. We have to let law. enforcement do their job and come out. with the facts. And that's that's what. we're asking the public to do. >> Well said. All right, let's see what. happens. Brian Trascher, thank you. >> Thanks, man. >> 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 YouTube, Apple. podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can also check us. out on NBC's Peacock as well. If you. want to follow me [music] X, Instagram, my NewsNation show Jesse Weber Live. Monday through Friday 11:00 p.m. Eastern. See you next time everybody.