Nolan Wells autopsy finds no fractures, cause of death unclear

An independent autopsy commissioned by the family of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old Mississippi football player who vanished after a July Fourth boat trip to Horn Island, found no broken bones or deep tissue injuries on his body but could not determine how or why he died, attorney Ben Crump said Wednesday.

Mr. Crump announced the preliminary findings from forensic pathologist Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., the former chief medical examiner for Washington, D.C., during a news conference at the NAACP National Convention, two days after Wells was laid to rest in his hometown of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Dr. Mitchell, in his written report, said he cannot rule out that non-accidental factors contributed to Wells’ death.

Dr. Mitchell identified a 12-by-8-inch area of red discoloration in the soft tissue at the back of Wells’ head but found no cuts or fractures underneath it and could not determine the cause, citing advanced decomposition. He was also unable to examine Wells’ airway, lungs or stomach because Mississippi’s state medical examiner had already dissected those organs and retained portions of his throat, a step his own autopsy described as standard practice. No toxicology test was performed.

Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, told reporters that “losing a child truly breaks your heart.” She and her husband, Elmore Wonsley, have said they don’t believe their son would have voluntarily separated from his friend group on the island.

Mississippi’s official autopsy, conducted July 7, has not been released. Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd has said the results are being held up by pending toxicology work. Sheriff John Ledbetter has said investigators have not found evidence of foul play but have not ruled out any possibility, and Wells’ friends have cooperated with the inquiry.

Wells was last seen on the island around 3 p.m. on July 4; his friends’ boat left roughly 90 minutes later without him. A U.S. Park Service ranger found his body in the water off the island’s northwestern tip two days later. The case, laid out in detail by Gulf Coast station WLOX, has drawn national attention amid questions over his cellphone, conflicting accounts of why he stayed behind, and the racial dynamics of a case involving a Black teenager and a group of white friends.

The independent autopsy was funded by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Foundation. A reward fund for information leading to an arrest and conviction has grown to $125,000, backed by the Rev. Al Sharpton, actor Tyler Perry and former NFL player Terrell Owens.