{"id":13417,"date":"2026-07-22T09:06:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13417"},"modified":"2026-07-22T09:06:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T04:06:44","slug":"results-of-autopsy-of-nolan-wells-to-be-released-wednesday-familys-attorney-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=13417","title":{"rendered":"Results of autopsy of Nolan Wells to be released Wednesday, family&#8217;s attorney says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">An attorney for the family of <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nolan-wells-death-mississippi-island-mystery-4b4e63036e7fa2ad3e3cf7e505e05c8c\">Nolan Xavier Wells<\/a> says he will release the results of an independent autopsy into the 18-year-old\u2019s death on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The preliminary findings are set to be made public during a news conference held at the annual NAACP National Convention in Chicago, according to the civil rights attorney <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nolan-xavier-wells-horn-island-c9389a642ec6e8fde60faadfc442a0bb\">Ben Crump<\/a>, who is representing the family. Wells\u2019 parents are expected to attend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Crump has vowed to conduct his own investigation into the circumstances of the teenager&#8217;s disappearance, which followed a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nolan-wells-death-mississippi-island-mystery-4b4e63036e7fa2ad3e3cf7e505e05c8c\">July 4 boat trip with friends<\/a> to an island off the coast of Mississippi. Wells did not return to the mainland with his friends. His body was found floating off the island\u2019s coast two days later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The Mississippi State Medical Examiner\u2019s Office conducted its own autopsy but has yet to release the results.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The second autopsy was arranged by the family and Crump, and paid for by former NFL player Colin Kaepernick. Crump said it would determine if Wells \u201chad any physical injuries to his body beyond drowning.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The still-unknown circumstances around Wells\u2019 death have touched off rampant online speculation and prompted calls from Black leaders for transparency from local authorities. Wells, who was Black, had traveled to the island with a group of high school friends, all of whom are white. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A reward of $125,000 \u2014 jointly funded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, actor and producer Tyler Perry and former NFL player Terrell Owens \u2014 is now being offered in exchange for information leading to an arrest and conviction in connection with the death.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The autopsy announcement comes two days after Wells was <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/nolan-wells-death-funeral-mississippi-boat-trip-4d36193e025efc95f3e82246ad038fd8\">laid to rest<\/a> in his hometown of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In his eulogy, Sharpton lamented the \u201cinconsistencies and unanswered questions\u201d that had placed a dark cloud over the grieving family. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He questioned why Wells\u2019 friends had left him behind, taken his phone and keys and failed to report him missing to police. And he suggested local investigators had spoken prematurely in statements to the press indicating that no crime was suspected. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cThe reason that a lot of people across the nation are looking at this Nolan situation is because we\u2019re looking at the history in Mississippi,\u201d Sharpton added. \u201cWe can\u2019t have someone in law enforcement saying there was no foul play before there was an investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said initial interviews suggested Wells chose to stay on the island and that his friends believed he would get a ride with someone else. He has said the friends were cooperating with the investigation, which remains ongoing. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">\u201cWe are trying to be respectful and collaborative as much as we can,\u201d Crump said. \u201cBut it\u2019s always troublesome to all of us when these investigations just take forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An attorney for the family of Nolan Xavier Wells says he will release the results of an independent autopsy into the 18-year-old\u2019s death on Wednesday morning. The preliminary findings are set to be made public during a news conference held at the annual NAACP National Convention in Chicago, according to the civil rights attorney Ben&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/75fb6960-68da-4780-b389-14450b9e4d25\/wirestory_b620c2bedf4c05d2a460b5bb1e7ee02e_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}