Family attorneys released Nolan Wells’ state autopsy: it lists two roughly 2-inch bruises at the back of his head but leaves his cause and manner of death undetermined. The grand jury found insufficient evidence for charges and said its findings were consistent with drowning.
A separate autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family also left cause and manner of death undetermined, pending further investigation, while reporting acute blunt-force injuries to his head and body before death. Attorney Ben Crump said the family is still trying to determine who or what caused the trauma; Wells’ mother said she does not believe he simply drowned accidentally and called for the investigation to remain open.
After a July 4 party on Horn Island off the Mississippi coast, Wells’ friends returned to the mainland without him; his body was found off the island on July 6. Some friends said he chose to stay after meeting a young woman and wanted to keep his phone dry on a boat. His parents said staying without it was unlike him; the grand jury noted other phones also returned without their owners. His parents worried race could be a factor; prosecutor Angel Myers McIlrath said there was no evidence to support allegations of racial motivation.
