Nolan Wells death: Evidence, grand jury and unanswered questions | Backscroll

[00:00:00]There are significant new developments in the mysterious death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells that we want to talk about tonight. Now, Wells disappeared after boating with friends on July 4th weekend. Days later, his body was found in the water near Horn Island off Mississippi's Gulf Coast. And while investigators have said that drowning appears to be the preliminary cause of death, even though the official findings from the autopsy haven't been released, his family has continued to raise questions, right? Why did he go off on his own? Why didn't he have a cell phone? How could no one help? How could no one notice? Well, today the Jackson County District Attorney met face-to-face with Nolan's parents and their legal team for the first time. And after that meeting, the family announced that once investigators complete their work, this case is going to be presented to a grand jury. Now, to be clear, that doesn't mean charges are coming, but it does seem to suggest that jurors are going to review the evidence to determine whether any criminal charges should be filed. The family says the DA also made clear that no decisions about possible charges are going to be made until the sheriff's investigation is complete. And there's also another major development in this file and this involves one of the most important pieces of evidence in this case, Nolan's cell phone. The phone was reportedly with Nolan's friends. The family says they'd be they believe content may have been removed from the device before it was returned. Now, the phone is going to apparently undergo a joint forensic examination with both law enforcement and uh the family's independent experts reviewing the device together. They hope it could provide critical answers about Nolan's final hours. I want to bring in Dante Mills, a national trial attorney at Mills Legal. Good to see you, sir.

[00:01:28]Significant that the family met with the DA, but potential grand jury, does that signify to you that there's criminal culpability here?

[00:01:36]>> Yes, Jesse, not yet. I Listen, this is every parent's worst nightmare. You have your child goes out with friends and everybody comes back except your child.

[00:01:44]So, I understand the position they're taking where they want answers. They want to know why this tragic situation happened and they're willing to do anything to get those answers and I think rightfully so. Anyone, any parent will feel the same way. But, let's not jump to conclusions here. We also can't look at what the family is saying and kind of take that as law because they're going to hear investigators talk the way they kind of want to ingest the information. So, the investigators are saying or the they're saying, "Listen, we're doing an investigation. We plan on moving forward however the evidence shows." The family can come out of that thinking, "Well, there has to be something there." So, clearly they're going to >> have something to present to the grand jury, but the case.

[00:02:28]>> And to be clear, it does not necessarily have to be would be a homicide charge.

[00:02:32]There could be other crimes associated with this investigation even if somebody misled law enforcement, which I'm not saying happened, but you could present anything to a grand jury, right?

[00:02:41]>> Absolutely. And we don't have to be talking about murder or homicide. This could be an accidental death where there was evidence tampering, right? Where where they tamper with the evidence, maybe deleted something from the cell phone that just seemed weird or odd or or put somebody else in a bad light. So, they did that so they wouldn't look bad even though it had nothing to do with the death itself.

[00:03:02]>> I got to say I don't I'm a little confused by the cell phone. A, I've seen reports that the family hadn't initially handed over to law enforcement and now it's going to be this joint examination both by the families experts and law enforcement's experts and investigators.

[00:03:20]How does that work exactly? Have you ever heard of that before?

[00:03:23]>> I have. I've actually done those forensic analysis of electronic devices where I've had my expert go in and capture these devices, actually get them from the investigators themselves. It's a little different than when you're talking about blood samples or something like that when you're passing it around and you don't want to do that because it could be, you know, contaminated. With electronic evidence, those things are going to be consistent. It's going to show when a text message was sent, what was was in that text message. There's going to be time blocks and things like that that are really difficult to change and almost impossible to change. So, I've had situations where I've done investigations at the same time as the federal or state investigators to try and get that data off of phones, uh laptops, computers, other things like that. It's different than what you normally think of of like passing around blood samples or or or bullet, you know, fragments or something or fingerprints can be transferred or something like that.

[00:04:17]>> Two things. One, there's also been a lot of talk about why he didn't have his phone, right? There's some conversation Well, if he went into the water, it'd be un- not uncommon for him to leave his phone behind, but then if he had gone off to talk with some girl, wouldn't he have his phone? Separate conversation.

[00:04:29]If it was in the fam- if the phone was in the family's possession or in, you know, Ben Crump's possession for this period of time, does the evidence have to be excluded? Is it not contaminated in some way?

[00:04:39]>> It doesn't. And that's just what we were just talking about. So, so I mean, some things are concrete like that uh electronic data information >> Right.

[00:04:49]>> and it sent or received or if it was deleted. If, say for example, the family got it and someone's saying, "Well, the evidence is bad because the family could have added that." There's going to be an electronic footprint of when that text was sent. So, if it wasn't sent before the death, then obviously it wouldn't be included in any investigation involving the death. That's a little different when you talk about how high stakes those electronic data that electronic data is and how actually it shows you how beneficial it is to have that because that's concrete.

[00:05:18]>> Look, the family needs answers. That's the bottom line. I know they're planning an independent autopsy. I know we're still waiting for the official autopsy from the state. So, let's see what happens next. Dante Mills, good to see you, my friend. Thank you.

[00:05:29]>> Always. Thank you.

[00:05:33]>> All right. Cuomo Crime Time. Animation's too long, but I like it in the podcast.

[00:05:37]You can go and subscribe on YouTube right now. Cuomo Crime Time where we take you inside stories to try to get to what people are selling you and whether or not you should be buying, okay? This Nolan Wells case uh is a very interesting one and a good example, proof of premise. Online, it's all about the conspiracies.

[00:05:58]Racism is the least of it, okay? What do we know?

[00:06:01]July 4th, Nolan, black teen, went out on a boat in Mississippi with four of his friends who were all white. Later that day, the four other kids return, no Nolan.

[00:06:11]But they did have his cell phone.

[00:06:13]They say Nolan chose to stay back on the island voluntarily. Without his phone?

[00:06:19]Nolan's body was found after a two-day search in the water near the shoreline.

[00:06:24]Now there is a suggestion that he wasn't in the water, he got back out and was seen at a party.

[00:06:30]Nolan's parents don't buy the story as told and think race may be a factor.

[00:06:35]Lauren Conlin covers the story and the conspiracy theories circulating online for LA Magazine and joins us now.

[00:06:43]Lauren, good to see you.

[00:06:44]>> Thanks for having me.

[00:06:47]>> What doesn't make sense to you right now that is out there?

[00:06:51]>> I mean, Chris, let's be honest. We we don't know a lot factually. Law enforcement hasn't actually put anything out there that we can verify, anything that's credible.

[00:07:02]And I I just want to point out it's it's been a week, just about a week.

[00:07:06]Autopsies, they can take months.

[00:07:08]Toxicologies, they can take months. With that being said, I understand his family wants answers. I mean, the whole thing about his phone being with his friend, his his his wallet and his belongings, I mean, you know that's that's strange.

[00:07:22]Teens generally don't part with their phones. However, they're all hanging out. They're on an island. They're boating. They're swimming. He I mean, my opinion, he probably put it down. He forgot about it. He's talking to a girl.

[00:07:35]He likes this girl.

[00:07:37]You know, the the days get crazy and and they're fun. They're all having fun at this point. So, I mean, the conspiracy theories and the the content creators and the online sleuths at this point are making a lot of noise and I will say they have good intentions. They absolutely do, but I think there are too many cooks in the kitchen right now, so to speak.

[00:07:59]>> Uh two things can be true at the same time. People don't swim with their phone. Okay? All right, because uh they don't want it to get wet. So, that would be a plausible explanation of why you leave it on the boat. However, if you decided to stay, why wouldn't you take your phone? So, that is a legitimate question. While there could be an explanation for the original placement of the phone, now comes this photo uh that people are using as proof that uh yeah, but he wasn't in the water.

[00:08:29]There he is, right there. Uh can we verify that that's who he is or we just see someone with brown skin?

[00:08:37]>> Well, his family hasn't verified who that is, Cuomo. And and also, you can't see the metadata on that photo. I have seen various reports that came out actually today of people who were at that party who said that party actually happened in June. I don't know about you. I don't post a lot of photos in real time. And and again, this is not verified by law enforcement. This is online. These are people talking. So, I'm going to go ahead and say I don't think that was the night of July 4th into July 5th, but again, I I feel awful for his family. I cannot even imagine what they're going through not having these answers, but I would say trust law enforcement at this point. Trust the the process as awful and as grueling as it is. It does take more than a week.

[00:09:21]>> Understood. Lauren Collins, thank you. I know you'll be on it and we're here for it. Thank you very much. Well, his keys and phone were there. So, what are these new records actually tell investigators?

[00:09:31]Do they answer any of the big questions in the case? For that, I turn to Sheryl McCollum, active crime scene investigator in metro Atlanta who's worked on high profile cases from Tupac Shakur to the Zodiac killer. She's also the author of Swans don't swim in a sewer. Great to see you as always, Sheryl. So, what uh answers does this dispatch audio does this uh uh this GPS data what answers do you have now that you didn't?

[00:09:57]>> You know, you can hear the voice. He doesn't sound panicked. He doesn't sound out of control. He sounds very calculated. There's a problem. They're trying to handle it. The other thing we now have is GPS. Tracking that boat is critical because these boys already made a statement. They already talked to family. They already talked to law enforcement. If their story does not match completely with what that boat did, then they're going to have a problem.

[00:10:27]>> Well, from what I can see, it seems consistent in the idea that the boat was having problems. What is interesting is it's the dispatcher says, "Is everyone on board and in good health otherwise?"

[00:10:39]And the caller says, "Yeah, yeah, everyone on board." I first of all, everybody's on board. Nolan wasn't on board, right? And he's not a fully answering the question.

[00:10:49]I mean, unless I'm looking at it wrong.

[00:10:50]I mean, unless I'm completely off.

[00:10:52]>> Well, he's probably answering what he knows is accurate at that time. If Nolan stayed behind, then everybody is on board. Cuz he wasn't supposed to be. So, she asked to me, she asked a very unusual question when she says, "Is everybody in good health otherwise?" I think that's unusual, but again, they are sinking. So, she's making sure, "Hey, is everybody on board? Is somebody jumping off?" Like, if you're really sinking, are you going ahead and, you know, getting in the water? But he says, "No, everybody's on board."

[00:11:25]>> Do Do we have a more accurate window of Nolan's movements? I mean, let's think about it, right? So, the investigators said that he was last seen in around 3:00 p.m. I haven't seen other accounts that would seem to dispute that. There's a dispute about whether he, you know, left the left to go talk to a girl or came back on board. And then you have this GPS data showing the boat didn't leave Horn Island until about 4:30. This dispatch, excuse me, is around 4:00 p.m. What does this tell you?

[00:11:56]>> There were hundreds of people out there.

[00:11:58]You've seen the video, the photographs.

[00:12:01]How somebody did not see him is pretty shocking to me, especially if he left one group that knows him to go with another group that clearly knows him. I don't understand how he got separated from everybody that he knows. It is early. They are actively still talking to people. They are gathering, you know, photographic evidence and video evidence from people that were there. Even if I did not know him, if I'm just taking a video of the whole crowd, I could have captured him. So, people that have no connection to him are still turning in evidence to be, you know, looked at and analyzed.

[00:12:35]>> And look, his family says it would be highly unusual that he would separate from a group. I also, while I have you, I got to ask you about the phone.

[00:12:40]Phone's a key piece of evidence in this case. There was a claim, um, that perhaps data was deleted from his phone. He didn't have his phone with him. We know it was announced, according to Ben Crump who's representing the family, that there's going to be this mutual, uh, investigation or examination of the phone both by the family's private experts and by state investigators. A, is that unusual? And B, what are you hoping to find?

[00:13:03]>> I like it. And let me tell you something, you've got a mama that does not understand what happened to her baby, period. She deserves to have those folks look at it. You've got your expert, I've got mine. Y'all are going to look at this thing at the exact same time. There's not going to be a doubt in my mind what is extracted from that phone and what it means. I like that part a whole lot. That to me should happen. There should be no secrets. This is not a situation where you say you've got to wait on the autopsy. You got to wait on toxicology.

[00:13:36]She doesn't want to wait. She wants to know right now because you're telling me something that for her does not make sense. It has to make sense. And Jesse, you know this from your background in the courts. When you have parents that have lost a child, you have got to give them all the information in a way that they can absorb it and understand it and eventually accept it.

[00:14:01]>> Especially if they don't trust local law enforcement. And look, as we reported yesterday, Ben Crump indicated also that the DA told him that after the investigation, this case may be presented to a grand jury for potential criminal charges, whether that's directly related to Nolan's death or something that happened in this investigation, we'll see. We'll be on top of it. Sherrilyn Ifill, thank you so much for taking the time.

[00:14:23]>> I've yet to see a fact or a piece of evidence that suggests any foul play, but if there is, I feel confident that the sheriff's office, the district attorney's office, the members at the Department of Public Safety that that deal with these crimes should there if there had been one, they will find it and they will they will do what is necessary.

[00:14:48]>> Well, if you don't know anything, why are you talking? Because it's starting to bubble up as important. And that's why we're covering on Cuomo Prime Time, and you can go get the podcast anywhere you get podcasts. It's free. Subscribe.

[00:15:00]We're taking on these kinds of cases and showing you the inside from the people who are pros in figuring this out as opposed to just peddling conspiracies.

[00:15:08]So, will the family of the dead 18-year-old, Nolan Wells, start getting answers about how exactly this happened?

[00:15:18]Nolan was the only black kid in his friend group of five who went out on the boat that July 4th. Does that matter?

[00:15:24]Nolan was also the only one who never returned. That obviously matters. His body was found two days after he was reported missing near the shoreline off Horn Island. Did he die in the water or did he die on land? That we're going to know.

[00:15:40]Police initially said they did not suspect foul play, but his family is insisting on a full investigation.

[00:15:47]Yesterday the DA met with Nolan's parents. Afterwards the family said the case will be presented to a grand jury once the investigation is complete.

[00:15:55]Interesting.

[00:15:57]They also said Nolan's phone, which he didn't keep with him when he was separated from his friends, will undergo a forensic inspection for both state and the family's chosen experts. The family believes some of Nolan's messages may have been deleted. Why do they believe that?

[00:16:12]There's also been new audio released of the boys in the boat that afternoon.

[00:16:15]Does it mean anything? Let's get some answers. Let's bring in former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer and civil rights attorney Areva Martin. It's good to have you both. Uh Jennifer, let's start with the nuts and bolts. Uh the audio, uh does it advance understanding?

[00:16:31]>> Not really, Chris. I guess in a sense it advances the fact that they were discussing leaking on the boat that a bilge had an issue. Really, that was it.

[00:16:40]There was nothing in it that showed anything nefarious, any fighting, or anything along those lines. So, in that aspect, yes, it gave more clarity.

[00:16:49]>> When the investigation is done, we will present it to a grand jury. Now, Areva, that can mean something, it can mean nothing because you can always go to a grand jury. It kind of gives the accountability over to the jury.

[00:17:05]>> No, I think it's an important development, Chris, in this case. This case basically Nolan Wells died and his death is a mystery to all of us at this point.

[00:17:15]And when you have a case of this nature, a suspicious murder, suspicious death, I shouldn't say murder because we don't know at this point, but a suspicious death, I think it's appropriate for this case to be submitted to a grand jury.

[00:17:27]And I believe the independent investigation that's happening with respect to the phone is appropriate, as well as this independent autopsy, which the family has also commissioned as well. Look, you got to look at Mississippi, you have to look at the history of racial terror in Mississippi, the history of African-American victims in a state like Mississippi. And I would concur with the family that they should have independent forensic evidence that is presented to a grand jury because there is no trust that this family has in this law enforcement agency. You have a governor coming out making statements. You said yourself, Chris, if you don't know anything, why are you talking? So, to even have a governor weigh in at this early stage is seemingly inappropriate, but particularly since we don't know the facts and this notion that there's no foul play, there's no evidence to support that statement whatsoever.

[00:18:24]>> That answer will be uh that question that question will be answered in large part, Jennifer, by the autopsy. Am I correct?

[00:18:31]>> Absolutely. That autopsy is going to show, listen, is there water in the lungs or wasn't there water in the lungs? If there's water in the lungs, that is going to show he likely drowned.

[00:18:42]If there isn't, that would show that there was foul play and that something happened in advance of him going into that water. So, the autopsy is key along with the toxicology. And these are this is points of evidence that are independent, meaning no matter what, both individuals, whether it's the ME or whether it's the independent uh people conducting the autopsy, should come to the same conclusion because it's scientific.

[00:19:07]>> Mhm.

[00:19:08]So, Dusty, when you were answering the question, said to me what about the toxicology? Would that decide it?

[00:19:15]In truth, it goes with your answer. I'll give it to you, Areva. If there's water in the lungs and the toxicology shows the presence of things that would might help explain why he drowned, but it's still a drowning.

[00:19:26]Uh and if there's toxicology that's really high and there's no water in the lungs, then it could be suggestive of drugs, but it's what else the autopsy shows, right? Cuz you can be high and also have been strangled. You know what I mean? You got to see what the autopsy is.

[00:19:41]>> You can be intoxicated and still be pushed into water and drowned by other people. So, the drowning itself or water in the lungs is not going to be dispositive about whether a crime was committed in this case. We have to have the complete evidence. I I want to know what those friends know. We've been getting these shifting narratives, Chris, uh about what happened that day.

[00:20:01]Did he stay behind with the girl? Was the girl even on the island? There's some accounts that the girl left the island and wasn't on the island with uh Nolan Wells. What did his friends know?

[00:20:12]When did they come forward with the information that they did have access to? So, I don't think water in the lungs alone or even whatever we learn from this toxicology report alone is going to give us all the answers this family and this community deserve.

[00:20:27]>> I know it's not satisfying, Jennifer, but what I keep saying to people is all I know is at this point it's not wrong to be asking questions. When you get the autopsy back and they give it to you and it it it seems to check out with other forensic experts that this seems right, that's when you start exhausting the questions and the answers. But right now, uh they need to get that piece involved.

[00:20:50]And as soon as they do, I'm coming back to you so that you can help me understand what we now know and what we still need to know and what it means.

[00:20:57]Jennifer Coffindaffer, thank you as always. Areva Martin, good to see you.

[00:21:00]Thank you for helping.

[00:21:01]>> this family till the very end and make sure we deal with justice. Let's first hear from the mother, Christine Wilsons.

[00:21:13]>> First of all, I want to say thank you, everyone, um, for being here.

[00:21:20]This is not how I wanted the world to meet my son, but here we are.

[00:21:28]Um, so, as you know, I'm Christine Wilsons.

[00:21:31]I am Nolan Wilsons' mom.

[00:21:35]And Nolan was is the kindest soul.

[00:21:45]He never met a stranger.

[00:21:49]He loved everybody. He didn't care if you were black, white, purple, green, looked like a marshmallow. Like, he just wanted everyone to be in peace with one another.

[00:22:04]Um, he just he loved life, and God gave him this big heart, which always scared us. Um, me and his dad had conversations with him all the time, not just about the importance of understanding our history as black people, but also the importance of how you have to move in certain spaces.

[00:22:33]And it's not us being well, feeding into racism, or the, you know, the stereotypes that comes with that. Unfortunately, that is just a matter of fact. There have been many cases, many instances, that shows that it's unfortunately a pattern that he did not like.

[00:23:01]He did not like that there was so much division and I think that's why God gave him us. He was really a peacemaker.

[00:23:08]He wanted, like I said, everyone to be included.

[00:23:13]He never wanted to leave anyone out.

[00:23:16]He just even at a young age um I don't know. He was How old was he?

[00:23:22]>> 18.

[00:23:23]>> No.

[00:23:23]No, not 18.

[00:23:25]>> 12.

[00:23:25]>> When he was a baby. He did love the Astros.

[00:23:27]>> So his father and I were having a moment.

[00:23:32]And as couples do and even in that moment he runs in the room with his diaper on, of course.

[00:23:43]And he starts dancing.

[00:23:45]Cuz it was like he could feel the tension.

[00:23:48]He could feel that something wasn't right. So he's just he was just a special kid.

[00:23:55]Like he was a special kid but again just heart was so big.

[00:24:01]And and I'm going we're going to miss him dearly.

[00:24:10]Um >> [snorts] >> but we um we are grateful especially to our friend uh Tashima who actually was one of the people um who helped us that night. She went and picked up his cell phone from where it was and then provided that to us because we were we of course contacted authorities to figure out who to do the report with whether it was the county or the city which then turned into DMR who I contacted immediately.

[00:24:46]From there it you know, but >> Who did you call and you got the cell phone?

[00:24:52]>> So um our friend actually we when I called her Nolan is best friends with her two sons, Jaylen and Javon. When I called her, I said, "Tashima, have you seen Nolan?

[00:25:05]He's missing. No one has seen him. No one has talked to him." The boys were actually with her, her sons. So, they opened up their Snapchat because a lot of the kids do have their locations where they're tracking one another.

[00:25:19]So, one of the boys says, "Well, it's showing that I think I can't exactly remember what his location was showing, but my Life360 location was showing something completely different. It was actually showing that his phone was like he was on land. And And so, we ended up she received the phone from that parent, and then we met up where his car was, which was at a separate location.

[00:25:50]There were issues obtaining the key.

[00:25:53]>> Thank you for watching. Subscribe below and download our NewsNation app right now on your phone, and you will get fact-based, unbiased news for all Americans.

[00:26:16]>> [music]