Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump is pushing investigators to release the condition Nolan Wells’ body was found in after he went missing.
That’s the question his family’s attorney, Ben Crump, is asking investigators. He gave an update on the case on Thursday.
Wells disappeared while celebrating Independence Day on the Gulf of Mexico barrier island of Horn Island, Mississippi. Crump says Wells’ body was recovered from the water near the same vicinity where he went missing two days earlier. Wells’ official cause of death has not been revealed.
Crump raised questions about where Wells’ body was discovered.
“They say they found Nolan’s body at the same location they left him at. We want to know how that is possible with the oceanic tides,” Crump said. “I mean you got low tides and you got high tides. It’s not adding up. So we are going to dot every i and cross every t until we find out what happened to Nolan Wells.”
Todd Terrell, president of the United Cajun Navy, who helped in the search for Wells, told Nancy Grace on Monday, July 20, that it was an uncommon occurrence.
“We want to make sure everybody who is remotely involved has their questions answered to make sure we have a full, fair, impartial and transparent investigation, Crump said. “We are laser-focused on getting to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”
Examining Audio
“We’ve obtained the full Sea Tow audio and retained leading audio and oceanic engineering experts to examine the evidence and make sense of conflicting accounts in Nolan Wells’ death,” Crump said.
The audio Crump is referring to is from a call made to Sea Tow in July by someone aboard Wells’ friend’s boat. They said the vessel was taking on water as it prepared to return to the mainland.
Isolated audio from the boat’s emergency call sparked intense online scrutiny after listeners claimed they could hear alarming voices in the background before the dispatcher answered.
According to one viral Threads post, “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,” fueling speculation across social media.
The boat operator said Since the audio’s release, commenters have argued it could be key evidence, with some claiming they heard someone yell, “Nolan, wake the f up,” while others called for enhanced audio analysis and demanded arrests.
The attorney announced on Thursday that experts will review the audio, while others will examine the tides and how they correspond to where Wells’ body was found.
Friends Respond to Investigation
The father of one of Wells’ friends is offering a $50,000 reward for information in the teenager’s disappearance.
It was added to the official reward amount for information in Nolan’s case, which now stands at $175,000.
Tyler Perry, Terrell Owens, and Rev. Al Sharpton have also donated.
Warren Hudson’s father, Dr. Benjamin Hudson, told TMZ he’s also offering the reward for a conviction in the case. He made it clear that his family isn’t pointing any fingers.
“We don’t know that anyone had any involvement, but we care about Nolan and want to find out what happened,” Hudson said.
Bart Edmiston Jr., 21, another one of Nolan’s friends, retained a lawyer this week. He also was on the 10-mile-long island with the 18-year-old that weekend.
Mississippi attorney Russell Latino went to Facebook on July 29 to post that he has been retained by Edmiston as his attorney and to address a photo of Edmiston with a young woman that is circulating online. Latino explained that it’s at the center of the new online rumor.
The attorney added that Edmiston was on a different boat from Wells and his friends. He was also trying to help a boat in distress at the time.
Who is Katie McCormack?
“People are asserting that the young woman in the picture is someone named Katie McCormack, that Bart had an intimate relationship with Ms. McCormack and that he killed Nolan Wells because Nolan was speaking to her,” Latino said.
The Daily Mail tabloid reports that McCormack has been identified as the young woman Wells was talking to when the three friends he came to the island with last saw him. Her sister said that McCormack believed Wells would have returned to the mainland by boat with his friends.
McCormack’s sister told the Daily Mail that she’s been cooperating with authorities.
“Katie had a conversation and assumed that Nolan was getting ready to get on the boat he came out on,” she said. “Katie assumed the ‘friends’ telling him to get on the boat wouldn’t have left him.”
There’s been no indication of any wrongdoing on McCormack’s part.
According to the attorney, the photo of Edmiston with a young woman is old, and the woman in it is not McCormack. He added that Edmiston didn’t know who McCormack was before Wells’ death.
“We can say that definitively, not because Bart has a relationship with Ms. McCormack, but because Bart knows exactly who the person photographed is,” Latino said. “So too would anyone who attended high school with them.”
Latino did not identify the woman. He said the “defamatory statements are putting Bart, his family and friends in harm’s way.” Edmiston is now taking legal action against those spreading what his family is calling “wholly fabricated” claims.
Latino added that the young athlete received a “credible death threat” tied to the “made-up speculation” surrounding the case.
Family’s Legal Battle Continues
Wells’ family issued subpoenas to several social media companies to gather more information about the teenager’s disappearance.
The family did get Wells’ phone back; however, there are still claims that his friends tampered with it. Warren Hudson, another friend of Wells, denied the allegations.
“There was no reason for us to get on Nolan’s phone; no one touched Nolan’s phone…If none of us had touched Nolan’s phone, then y’know there’s no reason for anything to be deleted,” he told Brandon Tatum on The Officer Tatum YouTube channel.
WLOX reported multiple people have received letters giving notice of an anticipated civil lawsuit by Wells’ family.
The letters allegedly told recipients to save all evidence in their possession, control, or custody in their original form. They were also told not to delete anything on any of their electronic devices.
The lawyer who sent it, Gary Bufkin, represents Wells’ estate in Jackson County Chancery Court. Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, was appointed administrator the week of his funeral.
