Nolan Wells’ “FRIEND” Warren FINALLY SPEAKS—But His Interview Raises MORE Questions

[00:00:00]Breaking news was announced yesterday by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Nolan Wells' family. Crump announced that the preliminary findings from the family's independent autopsy would be released this morning. Now, we have all been anxiously awaiting these results, hoping they would provide more answers about what happened to Nolan on that fateful 4th of July when he tragically lost his life. But, while we wait for those findings, even more breaking news has emerged. In my last video, we revealed that Warren sat down for an interview with Officer Tatum.

[00:00:37]Now, Warren, of course, is the stepson of Judge Ashley Cole. Considering that she was the first parent to publicly come forward in an attempt to clear his name, I suppose it would make sense that Warren would be the first of the young men who were there with Nolan that day to give an interview. I also told you yesterday in my video that I did not expect any hard questions. Officer Tatum has repeatedly shown that he is far more comfortable tearing down members of his own community than holding certain people accountable. And judging by what we have seen, it appears I was absolutely right.

[00:01:14]Now, I'm not saying that this should have been an accusatory style interview.

[00:01:19]Warren has not been charged with a crime and he deserves the opportunity to share his account. However, hard questions still should have been asked. Instead, we saw joking and an almost casual attitude towards underage drinking without even asking who provided the alcohol to these teenagers.

[00:01:37]>> You know, I mean, that's just how it was. Everybody's drinking, you know. I mean, it's 4th of July. Everyone's just trying to enjoy themselves. And, you know, it's a big party, basically. Big party.

[00:01:48]>> Yeah, so y'all y'all y'all pretty much having a good time. Just like just like anybody would imagine. 18-year-olds, probably 20-year-olds, college students.

[00:01:55]>> Right. Out on the island. women, you know, you probably had alcohol. So, y'all having a good time.

[00:02:01]>> Yeah, of course.

[00:02:02]>> This is exactly why this interview felt less like an attempt to uncover the truth and more like an effort to take some of the pressure off of these young men. If the goal was truly to seek justice for Nolan Wells and determine what happened to him, why weren't the obvious follow-up questions asked? Most importantly, why sit down with someone who has absolutely nothing to do with the official investigation and provide him with all the information before giving the same answers directly to Nolan's mother. Nolan's family should not have to learn details surrounding their son's final hours through a YouTube interview. If Warren and the others truly genuinely wanted to clear up information and help uncover the truth, Nolan's mother and the investigators would have received the full account first. Not only that, if these young men were truly Nolan's friends or if Nolan was like a brother to them, >> Nolan was not just a best friend of me, but he was a brother.

[00:03:01]>> So, he was like, "I don't know, man. I know he's like my boy." I said, "What?"

[00:03:04]>> He was like, "I don't know where the keys at. Nolan was like my brother." I said, "Well, if Nolan If Nolan was like your brother, I'm his father. I need to I'm here to get his car cuz you go to your room and see if you find his key."

[00:03:18]>> Then they would have had absolutely nothing to hide, right? Well, why was the Cajun Navy reportedly denied permission to allow its search dogs to examine the three boats?

[00:03:30]>> We offered our dogs to bring to the boat. There's only one thing that will clean blood off of a boat. I'm not going to mention it because it'll give people ideas.

[00:03:39]But, [snorts] I doubt if somebody would have done something, they would have used this chemical to remove blood. So, we've offered our services to bring the dogs around the boat of of everyone that was potentially involved in this. So, the federal land thing is a big deal. So, the body being dumped I I would say that let us bring the dogs to the boat. Let us bring it. They said the boat was clean that night or the night day before. There's only one thing that's going to clean it. If there's blood in that boat, we'll find it.

[00:04:05]If you came with these guys and they didn't bring you home, that is not uncommon. So, I think there's where the focus needs to be. A, unless get this notion that there was a body dumped, let's bring the dogs to that boat, and we'd be willing to offer our services to go check that out. And B, these guys in the boat that he came with, it's okay that they left him on the island or they they didn't bring him in.

[00:04:28]But yeah, I as far as the body being dumped, our services are offered and they've been offered to go bring the dogs around [music] that boat.

[00:04:35]>> So, not only are they not being transparent with allowing these search dogs from the Cajun Navy to go on these boats that had absolutely nothing to do with Nolan's death, but also the story about the boat allegedly getting ready to sink and having to be towed back.

[00:04:50]>> We're sinking. Can you all please come >> It's also not making sense. No one has come forward to say that they saw the boat be towed 2.75 mi, and then the tow company is denying everything. Take a listen to this.

[00:05:04]>> One on the boat reported a mechanical failure to a private towing company.

[00:05:08]>> I want to get this boat unsank and towed back.

[00:05:11]>> The towing dispatcher reached out to a local boat captain to help.

[00:05:14]>> It sounds like a bunch of kids on board on Horn Island. He wants you guys to go out there and un- pump the boat and then tow it in?

[00:05:22]>> But the company says it did not end up towing the boat, saying to NBC News in a statement, "Before assistance was rendered, the vessel owner advised that SeaTow was no longer needed because help had already been obtained. SeaTow's involvement concluded at that point."

[00:05:36]>> Yet, according to the GPS coordinates, the boat could not make it off the island and had to be towed by SeaTow, allegedly, off of the northwestern tip of the island 2.75 mi before normal operation resumed.

[00:05:52]>> You don't find that suspicious?

[00:05:55]You don't find that suspicious?

[00:05:57]>> Judge Ashley Cole, Warren's stepmother, said they left around 4:30 p.m. after the boat was taking on water and they had an issue with the bilge pump.

[00:06:06]However, Warren's birth mother said that Wyatt's boat started to fill with water, his boat ended up breaking down and was towed in.

[00:06:14]These stories are not matching up. No one is wanting their boat searched as if they have something to hide. The tow company is denying claims of towing you guys 2.75 mi as you said they did and a body that has no bloat as it should have had had it been in the water for 2 days mysteriously washes up exactly where these boys left.

[00:06:35]>> You don't find that suspicious?

[00:06:39]I know that they left and they had nothing to do with this.

[00:06:42]And instead of them saying instead of them putting these boys and saying, "Look, we don't know what happened. We want justice for Nolan. These boys didn't have no involvement." Instead, they want to make it about race.

[00:06:53]And it is a shame. And acting like this is a whole racial thing and and Mississippi is full of racist. There ain't nobody in this city that I've heard from, talked to, even when I was around going to the restaurants here.

[00:07:06]There's not a There's not racial tension in Mississippi.

[00:07:08]>> This is who interviews the boys, right?

[00:07:12]Okay. So, before we get into more of the interview, let's first hear from Judge Greg Mathis and his take on what happened to Nolan Wells.

[00:07:20]>> Uh on a boat ride to a pretty much resort island, not necessarily a just a fun island off the coast of Mississippi.

[00:07:28]And four of them left and went and had fun and only three returned.

[00:07:36]They then found Nolan dead.

[00:07:39]His three friends that he had come with in the boat had gone and left in the boat and claimed that Nolan stayed behind by himself.

[00:07:54]And additionally, however, and this where the first question comes in with me, they say he left his cell phone.

[00:08:07]They have his cell phone. They had it in their possession.

[00:08:11]Okay. So, if your buddy says to you, "I'm leaving. You all go back. I'm staying by myself.

[00:08:20]No friends, just me wandering around."

[00:08:23]And then you see that he had left his cell phone.

[00:08:30]So, you see, so you say, in the boat.

[00:08:34]And instead of taking it back to a friend who's on the island by himself, and by the way, did you ask him how he was getting home?

[00:08:45]So, instead of going back, you couldn't be that far off cuz the phone right in the boat.

[00:08:52]Say a hour, hour or so, hour or two. If you're a real friend, you'll drive back on that recreational hour or two on the boat having fun to give your man his phone. Because if he's out there by himself, no question about it, 90% white in the state of Mississippi that has a history of demonizing and uh black men and killing them in the civil rights era.

[00:09:19]Most of the civil rights killings occurred in Mississippi, including Medgar Evers, including uh uh our dear young brother uh from Mississippi who was killed, and several others. Uh and so, we know that Mississippi has history of uh demonizing and marginalizing black men. And so, the question became what is the investigation going to be?

[00:09:50]Well, the police immediately accepted the version of the three young men that returned. Now, here you are, you supposed to be the police.

[00:09:59]And I just deduced it and I deduced it not just now, but I had deduced it immediately after saying it on the in the media. And I'm not investigator, I'm a lawyer and a judge, but an investigator that is a police investigator {slash} detective is has investigative techniques that would have immediately thrown in the question what occurred and common sense throws in the question what occurred. And that's where we're at now.

[00:10:30]>> Yet, this former police officer from day one has seen nothing wrong.

[00:10:34]>> I had a great relationship with Nolan.

[00:10:37]I've I've never gotten an argument with Nolan. We were super close and I I've never said or will ever have anything bad to say about Nolan Wells. And then, I want you to begin walk me through 4th of July this year when the incident happened.

[00:10:51]>> Okay.

[00:10:52]4th of July everybody was out there. Like I said, like Nolan was always trying to go on the boat, trying to go out there with us and we he was always welcome to come. Nolan was always out there with us and uh but started 4th of July, you know, our buddies and I had talked about this week's upcoming, you know, uh everybody's very very excited for the 4th of July from down here. Like it's it's a big thing.

[00:11:17]I actually stayed with Nolan that night at my buddy's house and I woke up at my buddy my buddy's house and we went to McDonald's, got food. Nolan was not with me.

[00:11:29]>> Now, at that moment, he should have asked him, "Who is your buddy?" If we're trying to prove these boys innocent, tell it all. Now, if you recall, Nolan's parents said that Nolan stayed the night at Jack's house. That's Eli Jack's.

[00:11:43]>> Well, first I ran to my house, then I went to McDonald's, and then came back, and uh uh the boat was already hooked up to my truck. My buddy Wyatt and I went and with my buddy Wilson, we went, filled the top of the boat off, loaded it down with ice, and just got everything ready. Then Wyatt went and put his smaller boat in the water, which is the Palm Beach.

[00:12:04]>> So, now he mentions Wyatt bringing a smaller boat. So, now we know about two boats. But, my thing is this, why are we only getting the GPS coordinates of one?

[00:12:14]>> He's an 18-ft Palm Beach, and Wyatt I drove the boat from Fort Bayou boat launch to my buddy my my buddy's grandparents' house, and that's where we all planned to meet up.

[00:12:26]>> So, I'm going to jump ahead just for a moment just to get clarity on Fort Bayou. Although, it's probably not going to clear up much. So, he mentions Fort Bayou's boat launch. So, it sounds like he drove to the boat launch with his car, detached the boat, and then drove the boat on water to Eli's grandparents' home. Jack's grandfather died in 2006.

[00:12:46]Grandmother died in February of this year. So, Jack's grandparents are no longer living. However, they left this immaculate $1 million home that sits right on the water, and this is exactly where the boys took off from. This is the starting point. So, Warren again mentions parking his car at Fort Bayou.

[00:13:05]We kept asking what did Fort Bayou have to do with anything. Still doesn't make any sense to me. This broken-down boat that was taken on water, left Horn Island, didn't get towed like they said it did, went back to Eli Jack's grandparents' house, went to Fort Bayou.

[00:13:21]I don't know who they dropped off or what they dropped off, because you were allegedly not on that boat. 15 minutes later went right back to Eli Jack's grandparents' house. An hour later docked at Fort Bayou and was then driven back to Wyatt's house.

[00:13:37]>> And you say we all who who who you talking about? You, Nolan, or Nolan and how many people were going to meet you guys there?

[00:13:43]>> We had roughly 20 to 30 people coming on three separate boats with us.

[00:13:50]And so we were all following each other out there as one big group, you know, it wasn't just me, Nolan, and a couple of my buddies.

[00:13:57]There was 20 or 30 people spread out where we all met at the dock before and then we departed to go to Horn Island. It wasn't just a couple of us. I mean, we were There were so many people we had to split up between three boats and we all left and all got there at the same time.

[00:14:11]>> We know about two boats so far, but the GPS only has documentation of one. What happened?

[00:14:18]>> What boat were you on and what boat was Nolan on?

[00:14:22]>> Nolan was on white 22 Triton. Uh on the way out, I went with my buddy Bart cuz we had a lot of friends from college coming down and uh Bart, I called Bart that morning. I was like, "Hey, man, can you take your boat out?" And he was like, "Yeah, well, my dad decided not to go and I'll take the boat and I'll take you and your friends." Of course, I mean, he's a buddy of mine.

[00:14:44]And so Bart pulled up at the dock and I mean, I rode out there with Bart and a lot of the girls that go to college with my friends and I and uh and Nolan rode out on the Triton and then we had a Palm Beach, 18 Palm Beach, there was four guys on that.

[00:15:03]There was like eight people on the Triton and then there was eight or nine people on the Triton and then there was the rest of the group which was probably ranged from maybe 10 to 15 or 16 people on my buddy's Tideline which is 24 Tideline.

[00:15:19]So, I mean, we followed each other out and uh I mean, it was calm. It was calm. On the way back, it was a little more rough, but it it was not anything my all my buddies' boats couldn't handle. Or like, it wasn't like we were getting beat really beat up or anything. I mean, it was it was pretty calm. We got there. I helped my buddies tie the boats up cuz we were the T-line was right here, the Palm Beach was in the middle, and then the Triton was on the outer side.

[00:15:44]>> And so, where is where is Nolan in this?

[00:15:47]You know, you you guys out there, the friend group out there, three boats full of people that that came out there that seem to be the closest friend group.

[00:15:53]>> Right.

[00:15:54]>> Um where is Nolan in this in comparison to where you and others are at?

[00:15:58]>> Well, you know, I had a couple conversations with Nolan that I I talked to Nolan, and you know, Nolan was drinking. Everybody was drinking, most of everybody. And I mean, Nolan seemed completely fine every time I talked to him.

[00:16:10]>> Meanwhile, one of the last people to see Nolan Wells alive is speaking out to Inside Edition today.

[00:16:17]>> I'd say he was he's pretty hammered. He was slurring words. His movement was slow.

[00:16:22]>> And I mean, Nolan seemed completely fine every time I talked to him. We had just regular conversations. But I talked to Nolan a couple times, but it wasn't like I was strictly sitting there talking to Nolan the whole day. I mean, there was hundreds of people I knew I knew out there, so >> Yeah.

[00:16:37]>> Now, the video ends with Officer Tatum asking Warren what happened that caused the group to leave Horn Island so abruptly. Conveniently, we do not hear Warren's answer, so I guess the part will be saved for part two. Now, I am still waiting to see this so-called earth-shattering evidence that supposedly proves the innocence of the people who were last seen with Nolan. So far, the interview has provided background information and an explanation of how they arrived to Horn Island, but it has not answered the most important questions about Nolan's final known moments, why the three boats left around the same time, or what happened after they returned without him. Until then, we are only moments away from the release of the preliminary findings from the family's independent autopsy. Those findings may finally provide more concrete answers about what happened to Nolan and help determine how his family and legal team will move forward as they continue to seek truth and justice in the midst of this unimaginable tragedy.

[00:17:42]What I need to do is hear from you. What do you think about everything going on with the Nolan Wells case. Leave a comment and we'll talk about it down below.