The death of Nolan Xavier Wells are inconclusive
| By Frederick H. Lowe Reports concerning the death of Nolan Xavier Wells are inconclusive. A preliminary second autopsy report of Nolan Xavier Wells, whose body was discovered floating face-down off Horn Island, a Mississippi Barrier Island, said that the cause of death and the manner of death were undetermined. He was a strong swimmer, according to people who knew him. Horn Island is surrounded by saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico on its southern side and brackish water from the Mississippi Sound on its northern side. There is no cell phone service. The 18-year-old college football player was found dead July 6, just days after he went missing during a trip to Horn Island with friends who departed the island without him. He was the only Black person in the group of white teenagers. His remains were confirmed to be his the next day using dental records. His death occurred in Mississippi, a state with a deeply documented history of racial violence and killers walking away without consequences. By 1962, at least 538 Black people had been lynched in Mississippi—the highest number in the nation. Georgia and Texas came close, but Mississippi stood as the most notorious. It wasn’t just the raw numbers; it was the fact that Mississippi led in every single category of lynching. Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black youth, was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, when he was murdered in August 1955 by racists who smiled and laughed during the trial in front of an all-White male jury and got away with the heinous crime. The jurors took longer than they expected to reach a verdict because they paused their duties to drink Coca-Cola. Till’s murder helped to spark the civil rights movement. Shortly after Wells’ body was found, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said his office saw no signs of foul play, but an investigation was ongoing. The autopsy, however, found no fractures or injuries on the head, neck, ribs, or deep tissue injuries in the pelvis. However, the report found a large 12×8 -inch focal area of red discoloration in the deep soft tissues overlying the occipital bone. The autopsy, which was posted online, was performed by Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, Jr., MD. Dr. Mitchell is president of the National Medical Association, which is the largest and oldest national organization representing African American physicians and their patients in the United States. He is also president of Howard University Medical School. Dr. Mitchell raised several unanswered questions: “What we the cicumstanes that led Wells to enter the water, what was the body position when he was found, was there water in his airway, was evidence of injuries to the anterior neck structure, was there any evidence of intracranial hemorrhage (subdlutau or subarachial) what was the composition of the stomach contents and what were the toxicology report findings?” Ben Crump reported Dr. Mitchell’s findings on Wednesday at an NAACP news conference in Chicago. The conference was attended by Wells’s parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley. Crump stated that the cause and manner of death remain undetermined and the investigation is ongoing. A lot of money is being raised to learn what happened. The total reward for an arrest and conviction in the death is $125,000.The Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network committed $50,000, which actor and producer Tyler Perry matched. On July 21, NFL Hall of Famer Terrell Owens said he’ll give another $25,000.Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback, was assisting with the expenses, as previously disclosed by Crump. Nolan Wells was buried in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, on Monday, July 20, 2026. The funeral service was held at Center Pointe Church, drawing hundreds of mourners, including many of his high school football teammates, friends, and community leaders. Actor and director Tyler Perry paid for the services, and the Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy. |