The United Cajun Navy is pushing back against claims surrounding the death of Nolan Wells and has called on the Justice Department to investigate civil rights attorney Ben Crump, accusing him of inciting terrorism as questions surrounding the Mississippi teen’s death continue to fuel a heated public debate.
The nonprofit search-and-rescue organization, which participated in the initial search for Wells after he disappeared during a Fourth of July outing on Horn Island, has maintained that the available evidence is consistent with an accidental drowning and has challenged the findings and questions raised by Wells’ family and Crump.
The United Cajun Navy addressed the case in a series of posts on X over the weekend, including responses to discussions about Wells’ cellphone, his autopsy results, and allegations surrounding the circumstances of his death. The organization also reposted a segment featuring television personality Nancy Grace discussing the case.
The group’s statements come days after Crump and forensic investigator Andrew Garrett presented new findings from an examination of Wells’ cellphone. Their presentation included evidence of deleted Snapchat messages and details from the state autopsy showing that the cause and manner of Wells’ death remained undetermined.
A Mississippi grand jury had previously declined to bring criminal charges in the case, concluding that the circumstances surrounding Wells’ death were consistent with drowning and finding no evidence of criminal conduct. The family and its attorneys have continued to question that conclusion.
However, the United Cajun Navy argued that several circulating claims do not match what its investigators and forensic experts have established.
In one post, the group said no one accessed Wells’ phone after about 2:18 p.m. on the day he disappeared until his mother recovered it later that night. The organization also claimed that no one manually deleted information from the device and that Crump’s own forensic expert had testified to those points under oath.
The organization further argued that both the state medical examiner and the private pathologist hired by Wells’ family found evidence consistent with drowning.
The group summarized its position in a series of statements, writing, “No, there was no blunt force trauma on the body, only light bruising. Yes, the original sea tow call was altered and added fake captions to by a fake audio engineer. No, none of Nolan’s friends had anything to do with his death. These are indisputable facts.”
Those claims conflict with information recently released by Wells’ family and its legal team.
Crump and Garrett said their examination recovered hundreds of pages of Snapchat conversations, including deleted messages. Garrett said the forensic team recovered roughly 1 million pieces of data from Wells’ phone and was able to reconstruct portions of the device’s activity before and after his death.
Garrett said Wells unlocked his phone with Face ID while it was aboard a boat on July 4. The device later locked again but continued receiving group chat messages before someone returned it to Wells’ family.
However, Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath has disputed the suggestion that someone physically accessed Wells’ phone after his last known use of it.
As previously reported, McIlrath said other Snapchat users could delete messages from their own accounts without handling Wells’ device. She maintained that investigators had found no evidence that anyone unlocked or otherwise accessed the phone after Wells last used it and before his parents received it.
The claim underscores that the discovery of deleted messages does not necessarily establish that someone accessed Wells’ phone after he disappeared. Garrett’s team has not publicly identified the deleted messages or determined who deleted them.
The teen’s family has continued to challenge the conclusion that he drowned after searchers found his body in water on July 6. The state autopsy found no water in his lungs, airways, or stomach, while the family’s independent pathologist documented injuries to the back of his head and back.
The United Cajun Navy’s latest statements went beyond disputing those claims. The organization also directly targeted Crump.
In a post responding to reports of bomb threats near Jackson County government buildings, the group wrote, “It’s time for the @TheJusticeDept to investigate @AttorneyCrump for inciting terrorism. Enough is enough!”
Someone reported bomb threats Friday near government buildings in Pascagoula, Mississippi. According to WLOX, one caller claimed someone had placed a bomb beneath the Jackson County coroner’s truck, while another reported a device near the Jackson County Government Services Complex. Authorities searched the locations and found no explosives or other dangerous devices
The original post cited by the United Cajun Navy attempts to connect the most recent threats to the Wells investigation. Officials have previously dealt with other threats targeting people connected to the case, and authorities have charged several people in connection with those incidents.
The group continued criticizing Crump in subsequent posts, questioning why his team had not turned Wells’ phone over to authorities before publicly announcing the discovery of the Snapchat messages.
“It’s been 72 days since @AttorneyCrump agreed to release Nolan’s phone to the authorities,” the group wrote. “Crump still has the phone.”
Crump’s team has previously explained that Wells’ parents did not intentionally withhold the phone from investigators. Attorney Lisa Parks said the family initially agreed to a joint examination but declined after the terms changed, requiring them to surrender the device without allowing them to attend the examination.
“The parents of Nolan Wells never kept the phone intentionally to keep away from DA or any law enforcement,” Parks said. “We’d been playing by the rules.”
Crump has continued to call for greater scrutiny of the case, while the Wells family has sought additional answers about what happened to their son.
The United Cajun Navy has taken a different position, arguing that online speculation has gone beyond what the available evidence supports. The group previously released a lengthy report detailing its findings after assisting with the search for Wells, including photographs, GPS data, and social media material.
Commenters flooded the United Cajun Navy’s X posts to challenge its sweeping claims. Rather than backing down, the UCN fired back at nearly every dissenting voice.
Replying to one skeptic, the group wrote, “You truly are the clinical definition of retarded.”
In another response, the UCN defended its position, posting, “No lies, and the boys were exonerated by incontrovertible evidence.”
In another instance, one user stated, “Imagine NON digital forensics experts speaking on what is and what isn’t digitally possible. Shut up and do your job and let the EXPERTS do theirs.”
They fired back claiming, “We are experts.”
In another comment, the group posted, “Every time the race card has been used during this case, it has gotten declined at the register.”
For now, no one has been charged in connection with Wells’ death. The grand jury’s decision remains in place, while his family and legal team continue to seek further investigation, and the United Cajun Navy continues to publicly challenge their claims.
Atlanta Black Star reached out to Ben Crump for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.
