Nolan Wells' Parents Break Silence On 'GMA': What We Know
Nolan Wells' Father Said 'If You Go With A Group, You Stay With A Group' — Black Parents Know Exactly What He Meant
- Nolan's parents say he always checked in, but didn't this time, raising alarm bells.
The parents of 18-year-old Nolan Wells are finally breaking their silence about his tragic death. During a July 10 interview on Good Morning America with Michael Strahan, alongside their attorney Ben Crump, Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, said they were still struggling to understand why their son would separate from his friends during his July 4 outing to Horn Island, which ended in tragedy after his body was found in the water on the island’s northwestern end on July 6.
“We [were] always talking,” Elmore explained, telling Strahan that he always taught his son “if you go with a group, you stay with a group” while traveling.
“I’d always tell him, look, if you go with five, you come back with five. Do not separate from the group because I always say safety is in numbers, and he’d always said, ‘Yes, sir. So, he knew to stay with a group. So why would he split from this group? I don’t know.”
Christine Wonsley said Nolan did not check in with her like he normally would upon returning, which raised alarms.
During the interview, Strahan asked Nolan Wells’ parents whether their son had checked in before he disappeared. Christine said he hadn’t, which immediately raised alarm bells because Nolan had always made it a point to let her know when he made it home safely. She explained that he had been taking occasional trips to Horn Island with friends since last year and had never failed to call or text after returning. Instead of hearing from Nolan, however, she received a call from one of his friends.
Nolan’s father, Elmore, said the timing of his son’s death made the loss even more heartbreaking because Nolan was preparing to return to college football camp. The Fourth of July weekend, he explained, was meant to be his son’s “last hurray” before getting back to training.
“The entire summer, he’s training,” the grieving father said. “He got more serious. He started to understand what I was trying to tell him about football, not just being fun, but as you get further in it, it becomes a business. If you want to excel, and you have to understand, you have to understand both at the same time.”
Nolan Wells’ mother said she used a tracking app to find her son’s phone and claimed messages were deleted from his Snapchat.
New questions about the case surfaced earlier this week after civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump revealed that messages had allegedly been deleted from Nolan’s cellphone after he went missing. Christine said she discovered the issue through the location-sharing app Life360, which she had downloaded to help keep track of her son’s whereabouts for safety.
According to Christine, a friend later recovered Nolan’s phone after tracking it through Life360. However, she said the phone’s location history did not match what Nolan’s friends were seeing through Snapchat.
She also revealed that she and her sister checked both of Nolan’s Snapchat accounts, expecting to find photos or videos from the trip, but found nothing.
“It isn’t even 24 hours, which is how long videos and pictures stay in Snapchat. And I was just like, ‘That can’t be,'” Christine recalled. “I was just like, ‘That can’t be.’ There was absolutely nothing,” she continued. “I’ve seen Nolan whenever he snaps. When he goes and he’s having fun, he does videos. There was absolutely nothing.”
Ben Crump says Nolan Wells’ independent autopsy received financial support from NFL alum Colin Kaepernick.
Crump said his legal team has launched its own independent investigation alongside the official Mississippi investigation. The family is also commissioning an independent autopsy, which Crump said is being funded in part by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The examination will be conducted in Washington, D.C., because the Wells family wanted a forensic pathologist with no ties to Mississippi law enforcement.
In addition to the autopsy, Crump said experts will perform a forensic analysis of Nolan’s cellphone. He also pointed to what he described as inconsistencies in witness statements, including conflicting accounts from Nolan’s friends about whether he planned to return to the boat after speaking with a young woman. According to Crump, one witness claimed Nolan intended to rejoin the group, while another said he planned to stay behind.
Ben Crump revealed more details about the viral video that allegedly captured Nolan Wells in an argument.
Crump also referenced a viral video that allegedly captures Nolan asking for his phone before it later disappeared.
“You can hear an argument going where Nolan is saying, ‘Give me my freaking phone! What are you freaking doing?'” Crump said of the footage. “And so then his phone ends up missing? I don’t know any teenagers, Michael Strahan, who says — If you believe that story— I’ma stay behind and I’m going to leave my phone? I mean, no young person leaves their cell phone. Even, why didn’t his body wash up with the tide on Sunday? Why would it come on Monday? It’s not adding up, and that is the problem when you think about the history of Mississippi.”
Later in the interview, Christine became emotional when Strahan asked what she wanted the public to know about her son.
“Nolan was just like this bright light, right? Walk into a room, his smile, his energy was just just so infectious. Like it’s almost like he drew you into him, and he was just one of those people, he always wanted everyone to be included. He didn’t want anyone to feel left out,” she said. “I always told Nolan, like you know, you have to be careful when you have such a big heart like that.”
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the video’s origins and more.
Meanwhile, investigators with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department are asking the public to come forward with any additional photos or videos taken during the alleged altercation on Horn Island. Sheriff John Ledbetter told ABC News on Friday that investigators are reviewing the viral video, although authorities have not yet determined its origin.
Ledbetter also said investigators have requested Nolan’s cellphone so it can undergo a forensic extraction.
“At this time we do not have the cell phone that they speak of and we’ve never had the cell phone, but it’s to my understanding that we’ve requested the cell phone for an extraction,” he said.
The sheriff added that investigators are also looking into comments made by the mother of one of Nolan’s friends, who reportedly said Nolan voluntarily stayed behind after the group’s boat experienced mechanical problems.
Despite the family’s decision to pursue its own investigation, Ledbetter said he supports the effort and stressed that everyone is “working toward the same goal.” Authorities believe Wells drowned, but the sheriff stressed their work is still ongoing to determine exactly what happened.
“We want a thorough investigation. That’s what we’re going to continue to do until we arrive at the answers that the family deserves,” he added.
SEE MORE:
Nolan Wells: Family Confirms Identity Of Body Found As Nolan
Nolan Wells' Father Said 'If You Go With A Group, You Stay With A Group' — Black Parents Know Exactly What He Meant was originally published on newsone.com
