No indictments handed down by Jackson County grand jury in death of Nolan Wells

• “The Crump team knew better, but allowed the public to believe, among other false narratives, that our medical examiners withheld Nolan’s lungs and stomach when his body was released, that things had been deleted off of Nolan’s phone before it was given back to his family, that I refused to cooperate with the examination of Nolan’s cell phone, that I refused to provide Nolan’s autopsy results to the family,” District Attorney Angel Myers-McIlrath said. “All lies, and they knew it.”

Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers-McIlrath announced late Monday evening that the grand jury had unanimously returned a no true bill in the death investigation of Ocean Springs teen Nolan Wells.

This means no criminal charges or indictments are forthcoming.

“In addition to bringing prosecutions against the guilty, the grand jury must also exonerate those who have been falsely accused,” McIlrath stated.

She noted that the grand jury was comprised of a diverse group of individuals representing the Jackson County community. Reports indicate that the grand jury consisted of people of white, black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American descent.

The 18-year-old was reported missing July 4 after he did not return from an outing with friends where they were celebrating the holiday on Horn Island off of the Mississippi Coast.

The friends have publicly said that Wells chose to stay on the island and not return with them. The boat the group used to make the trip to the island reportedly began taking on water and the teens headed back to shore earlier than expected, even calling for assistance as they made their way back to land.

When Wells did not return later that evening, the friends and his parents began searching for the teen.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department took to the water to try and locate Wells with the assistance of the United Cajun Navy, the Department of Marine Resources, and the Coast Guard. Friends of Wells and those wanting to help from the community also joined the search, including his high school football coach.

Wells’ body was found the morning of July 6 on the shoreline of the island.

The Sheriff’s Department worked with other agencies, including the FBI, to conduct an investigation into Wells’ death. Sheriff John Ledbetter said early on that there were no initial signs of foul play but that the investigation remained open as they conducted a complete investigation into what occurred that day. 

Rampant social media speculation as to the cause of the death took hold almost immediately after Wells went missing, not just in South Mississippi, but across the nation. Accusations of the death being the result of a racially motivated act stirred despite no evidence to back up such claims. Photos of Wells, a black teen, with his friends, who were mostly white, were spread around by social media influencers and even celebrities making racially charged claims against the white teens, their families, and the Mississippi community at large. Death threats and other messages were sent to the friends and their parents, resulting in multiple arrests and a string of defamation lawsuits.

Wells’ parents started a GoFundMe page in the days after his death. It has raised over $885,000. They hired civil rights attorney Ben Crump who brought in Rev. Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, Tyler Perry, Colin Kaepernick and others to raise the profile of the case.

Crump and Sharpton’s entry into the case further stoked racial tensions, with Crump, who Sharpton referred to as “the Attorney General for Black America,” using his platform at the conferences of the NAACP and the National Urban League, traditional black organizations, to further a racial narrative with no evidence yet to back up those talking points.

Crump has driven persistent speculation of potential foul play and the role Wells’ friends played on the day of his disappearance.

Crump and his legal team commissioned a second, independent autopsy of Wells’ body conducted by Dr. Roger Mitchell, a forensic pathologist. Crump presented those findings at the NAACP conference in Chicago, noting the findings showed that the cause and manner of death was “undetermined pending further investigation.”

More from the District Attorney

In a video posted to Facebook Monday evening, McIlrath said the death Wells has devastated the Jackson County community.

“Outsiders and influencers have attempted to exploit Nolan’s death to divide and create chaos here. But we are better together,” she said.

She pushed back on the “hateful rhetoric and vile speculation.”

“The narrative that three white boys and a black boy went to an island, and only three white friends returned spread like wildfire. This was false,” McIlrath said, before laying out the details in the case as the investigation confirmed. “There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s disappearance and death were racially motivated.”

She said Wells’ family, the crime team and anyone close to the teen knew that his disappearance and death were not the result of racial hate or violence. Yet, McIlrath said the “flames of that narrative” set against the backdrop of Mississippi’s past “were fanned by both people who knew the truth and those who didn’t.”

The District Attorney further said there is not a shred of evidence to support the racially charged narratives surrounding the case.

McIlrath states that on July 15, the crime team showed Wells’ family of the teen purchasing his own alcohol.

“But that fact they chose not to share with the public,” she said.

The report shows Wells purchased the alcohol using a fake ID.

McIlrath said from the first meeting with the Wells family and their attorneys that she extended the offer for them to provide any evidence the family wanted presented to the grand jury, including the findings and testimony of their independent medical examiner.

“On August 13, 2026, after the Crump team conducted and released the results of its independent autopsy, and after receiving hundreds of tips, they advised my office that they had no evidence of a crime being committed against Nolan Wells,” McIlrath said. “Just this weekend I read where a congresswoman had met with Nolan’s family and the Crump team and said that Nolan Wells is another black boy murdered, and no one seems to care. Ma’am, you are wrong.”

McIlrath said “the Crump team knows this and knows that they are dealing with a district attorney whose unwavering pursuit of the truth gave them all a seat at the table to offer the grand jury any and every piece of evidence they deemed important to this investigation.”

She said the meeting with the congresswoman came after the Crump team advised her office they had discovered no evidence of a crime.

“What I am suggesting is that the Crump team knew better but did not do better,” McIlrath said.

The District Attorney further pushed back on the narrative around examining Wells’ cell phone. She said the state of Mississippi had no legal avenue to seize and search the teen’s phone.

“Nolan’s family received that phone in the very early morning hours of July 5, and it continues to remain in their possession,” she said. “Nolan’s family and the Crump team have always been in complete control of Nolan’s cell phone, including when, where, how, and if the phone would be examined by the state.”

At the July 15 meeting, McIlrath said she accepted the Crump team’s offer to participate in a mutual examination of the phone. Yet, when the extraction did not happen in a reasonable time, she sought to move forward, saying, “We could not wait on the Crump team.”

“I could not allow this investigation to be delayed, especially as tensions rose, false information exploded and threats and harassment continued to escalate,” she said.

However, when the agreed upon date arrived for the phone examination, McIlrath said privately retained examiners advised that the mutual extraction would not occur as they had begun a private extraction the prior evening and it was not complete.

“I respected the family’s decision for a private examination and requested that they share those results with my officer,” she said. “On August 28, 2026, the Crump team advised that I would receive the extraction data by FedEx within 48 hours and provided a 14-page preliminary report indicating the phone had not been accessed by anyone other than Nolan’s family and nothing had been deleted off of the phone since Nolan’s last use.”

She said her office never received the full extraction data as promised or a full report of the cell phone. After the grand jury convened, the Crump team provided a 282-page selection of reports from the phone which the grand jury considered.

McIlrath went on to say that she invited and hosted the family’s independent medical examiner. Dr. Mitchell came to Mississippi for two days, examined Wells’ throat structure, and was provided full investigative reports. He then testified before the grand jury.

McIlrath said she shared Wells’ autopsy and toxicology results with the family’s attorney after not being able to reach his mother directly.

“The Crump team knew better, but allowed the public to believe, among other false narratives, that our medical examiners withheld Nolan’s lungs and stomach when his body was released, that things had been deleted off of Nolan’s phone before it was given back to his family, that I refused to cooperate with the examination of Nolan’s cell phone, that I refused to provide Nolan’s autopsy results to the family,” McIlrath said. “All lies, and they knew it.”

Crump Response

Soon after McIlrath released her statement on the grand jury report as well as the supporting documents, Ben Crump posted the following on social media: “No True Bill Does Not Resolve How Nolan Wells Died.”

“The public still deserves a clear account supported by records, evidence, and independent scrutiny,” Crump wrote on a graphic of Wells. “Nolan Wells’ death still demands answers. No true bill should not mean no further questions.”

Document Release

You can view the grand jury report as well as other documents shared by the District Attorney’s office here.