Newly released audio captures the chaos aboard the boat carrying Nolan Wells and his friends.
A Sea Tow call obtained by WLOX reveals one of Wells’ friends struggling to answer the dispatcher’s basic questions as the boat takes on water.
Wells went out to Horn Island with friends to celebrate the Fourth of July before he went missing. Authorities found him dead two days later.
A Confusing Call
The audio call begins with background voices and hold music playing before the conversation starts.
Once the dispatcher picks up, the caller asks for help because the bilge pump isn’t working and the boat is sinking. He asked for help to “unsank” the boat and be towed back to shore.
When the dispatcher asks for membership information, the boat operator struggles to answer. He then finally gives the dispatcher his GPS coordinates.
The dispatcher encountered more confusion when asking how many people were on board.
“How many adults and children are on board,” the dispatcher asks.
“No, there’s no children,” the caller responds.
Clearly taken aback, the dispatcher follows up. “So, is there anybody on board? How many adults, sir? That was the question.”
The boat operator gets distracted by other people before eventually responding, “Nobody here is over the age of 21.”
The response confuses the dispatcher, who then asks, “How many living, breathing people are on the boat?” The caller responds that there are “about seven”.
After getting some more information, the dispatcher calls the tow boat captain, who says he’s in touch with the boat operator’s grandfather.
According to TMZ, the grandfather, Jerry Adkerson, recently let authorities search his boat and check the GPS coordinates to aid their investigation.
The captain tells the dispatcher that his grandfather had assured him the situation was under control and that those on board did not need assistance after all.
🚨 Nolan Wells' friend panics during emergency call, says boat is sinking at Horn Island.
— TMZ (@TMZ) July 24, 2026
Exclusive details: https://t.co/BapDEEdVi9 pic.twitter.com/9GW1wKPHYw
Did You Hear That?
Since the audio was released, people online have been trying to decipher voices and sounds heard in the background of the call.
In a Threads post made by anasellschicago, she claims you can hear someone call Nolan’s name before the dispatcher picks up the call.
“In the very beginning, you hear a young lady in the background say, “Is he dead?” and then you hear someone yell “Nolan” and then “oh my god” and then slight panic,” she wrote.
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Internet personality secretservicesam believes he heard the same thing at the beginning of the audio.
“First of all, the guy making the call sounds definitely drunk. I don’t know. Are we reaching here? I think there is more to this call in the background, he said.
Wells’ friend, Warren Hudson, admitted in a podcast interview that the group had been drinking that day on the boat.
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Most people in his comments agree that this audio call is a big piece of evidence.
“Someone else says, ‘ Nolan, wake the f up.’ A female’s voice asked if he was dead, so like we all suspected, they know, and they’re lying,” one user wrote.
“An engineer needs to come in and remove the front vocals so we can hear the background, but I heard it too,” another said.
Others are calling on law enforcement to take action. “I definitely heard it!!!!! Where are the indictments??!!!! And arrests!!!” one commenter wrote.
Justice for Nolan
No arrests have been made in the case, as the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is still actively investigating.
Wells’ family is not waiting on law enforcement for all the answers. They hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump to help them find out what happened to their son.
Crump is asking anyone who was on Horn Island on the Fourth of July to come forward with any pictures, videos, or eyewitness accounts from that day.
“We’re going to get to the truth, but what we need is to make sure we get all of the information,” Crump said.
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An independent autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family ruled his cause and manner of death “undetermined pending investigation.”
The Mississippi state medical examiner conducted the initial autopsy on July 7, but those findings will remain sealed until a grand jury reviews all evidence in the case.
