Nolan Wells Family Seeks 6 Platforms' Data in 18-Year-Old's Death as Mississippi Race Questions Deepen
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 5
Nolan Wells Family Seeks 6 Platforms' Data in 18-Year-Old's Death as Mississippi Race Questions Deepen
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 5
Summary
Wells’s family has subpoenaed records from six platforms and Life360, seeking messages, photos, videos, GPS data and timestamps from 4 July as they press for answers in the 18-year-old’s death.
Family-hired investigators are also reviewing audio from a distressed 4 July call in which one of Wells’s friends said the boat to Horn Island was sinking, adding a new line of inquiry.
The push follows criticism of local authorities after Sheriff John Ledbetter said soon after the body was found on 6 July that he did not suspect foul play, while the family says updates have been scarce.
An independent autopsy released 22 July found the cause and date of death inconclusive; Ben Crump said the body was returned without Wells’s throat, while state autopsy results remain sealed until a grand jury convenes.
Because Wells was the only Black person in a white friend group and one friend is related to a local judge, the case has become a wider Mississippi flashpoint over racial bias, transparency and trust in justice.