Crime Weekly - Nolan Wells | What Happened on Horn Island?

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

On July 4, 2026, 18-year-old Nolan Wells went missing during a boat trip to Horn Island, Mississippi with a group of friends, but was found dead two days later. Authorities suspect drowning, but the case remains under investigation amid unresolved questions about his final hours, including conflicting statements from his friends. The family, represented by attorney Ben Crump, has called for a thorough investigation and an independent autopsy. Try our coffee! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod ADS: https://www.Smalls.com/CrimeWeekly - Get 60% off your first order, FREE shipping, and FREE treats for LIFE! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Crime Weekly News. I'm Derek Levasseur. And I'm Stephanie Harlow. And as you can tell from the title of this episode, I would imagine that the majority of you have already heard a little bit about this case. It's making national headlines. It's all over social media. I was on vacation last week with my kids. And even then, every time I opened my phone, this is what I was seeing. So for anybody who doesn't know, 18-year-old Nolan Wells. was a college football player with his entire life ahead of him when he traveled to Mississippi's Horn Island

with a group of friends on 4th of July weekend. But when the others left the island that afternoon, Nolan did not leave with them. And after an extensive search, Nolan's body was discovered near the northwestern tip of Horn Island on July 6th. Law enforcement has said that they do not currently suspect foul play, but Nolan's family believes there are far too many unanswered questions. All right.

So, of course, you know, you got a request to talk about this for Crime Weekly. I got requests to talk about this for Crime Weekly. All over the messages, yeah. So I was already looking into it by the time we kind of sat down and we were like, what are we covering for Crime Weekly News this week? And we both kind of knew that it had to be Nolan Wells. And I think there's a lot of reasons for it. When I started looking into it, you know, I knew that it was already kind of fueled by a lot of speculation.

and there were, you know, obviously accusations being made. Yeah. And I think that this is valid in a way because there are things that we still don't know the answers to. Now, does that mean that the police don't know the answers to it? I don't know. Maybe some of the answers the police know. Maybe some of them they still don't know. But there are certain things here that to an average person, they would say, what's going on here?

I've been looking a lot into it. I've been kind of reading everything. I've been listening to different people's takes on it. And I kind of hope that maybe we can sort of clarify things. So I'm going to kind of go through the timeline. And if you have a question or you want clarification on something or if you want to make a comment, interrupt me at any point. Yeah, because full disclosure, guys, like I said, I just got back home today. I have not done any real research on this other than what I've been seeing online. The only thing I will say at the top of this show, just to address the elephant in the room, because we're always honest with you guys, a young man is dead. And for that reason alone, we need to find out the specifics of why he's no longer with us. Every child deserves that,

no doubt about it. And Nolan's family deserves to have those answers and get that justice to make sure that every stone is, no stone is left unturned and that they know definitively what happened. Yeah, because this should never happen. You go out to have a good, fun day with friends and you end up dead with your whole life in front of you. You have a daughter who's 22, 23, how old's? 24. 24. Okay, I have, I have a 13 year old. How old's Eden? He'll be 15 in August, yeah. So we're right around the corner where our kids are going to come to us and say, hey, mom, dad, friends are going. Do you mind if I go with them? And every bone in my body is going to want to say no, but they're an adult at that point. And you really can't say no. And so,

you have to eventually let the bird out of the nest. Yeah, I mean, from what I could tell, Nolan went out on the boat with, I believe, four other friends. And it's been described that Nolan and these friends had known each other since their freshman year at Ocean Springs High School, meaning at the very least they'd been friends for roughly four years by the time of the July 4th trip. And multiple local reports have described Nolan as having a tight circle of friends he grew up with in Ocean Spring. friends and family have referred to them as childhood friends, said they played sports together for years. So the exact length of time that Nolan and these other, I don't know if to call them boys or men at

this point, because to me they're boys, but in reality they're men. So young men, how long Nolan had known these other young men? I'm not sure exactly, but it seems like at least in extended period of time several years. and from the reports going on the boat to Horn Island with this same exact group of friends was not uncommon for Nolan. They did this often. And I also want to clarify because at first when I was listening to the story unfold and I found out where they were going because they were going to Horn Island, it's a remote, a very remote barrier island, approximately 10 miles south of Pascagoula. So it's part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. it can actually only be reached by boats.

So there's no other way to kind of get out there by private boat. There really isn't even anything chartered. You'd have to charter something personally. There's no like tour boats going out there or ferries going out there regularly. So at first I was like, oh, he just went to the island with four of these friends. And then they came back without him and they were alone on the island. But that doesn't appear to be what happened there. This was kind of like a boat party.

according to people that were there, there were tons of boats there. Approximately 300 people were gathered in the section of the island where they were docking the boats and getting out in the water and things like that. So this was kind of a bunch of people, and it was supposed to be like a last hurrah, you know, before everybody went back to school or work or back to college or wherever they were going. They were all home for the summer. They all knew each other through school or college or just through being local to each other. and they were like, let's all go out here, like 300 people,

and sort of have like a last kind of hurrah party thing. So it wasn't just Nolan and his friends there. It was, you know, quite a bit of people. Quite a lot of people. But the question, I think, for a lot of people, will be okay. You go there with a group of people, right? Five or six people, however many it was. And every single person, from what I understand,

maybe you'll correct me, comes back on that same boat with the exception of Wells. looking at it from that perspective, we can acknowledge there's a lot of people out there, but the question still remains for the people who got back on that boat and came home. What happened between arriving on Horn Island and leaving? Why didn't Noah come with you? Were you aware of where he was, who he was with when you left? Because if they don't have those answers, well, then obviously it's extremely suspicious on

their part. So one of the friends, Trichistan Shepherd, he said that he and Nolan and basically everyone else, that they were with and everyone else that was going to that island were drinking alcohol. So we do have minors here drinking alcohol. Not a surprise. Not saying we agree with it, but not a surprise. Yeah, what else are you going to go there and do? They also said or Shepard said that they, both he and Nolan,

and I believe the other people they were on the boat with, have been drinking since early that morning. So it kind of looks like they left from a private dock in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. And I'm sorry, it was Nolan and three friends. so four all together. Four total. And then they get to Horn Island. You know, they don't dock the boat.

They're going to put an anchor in because it's just a little kind of boat thing. There's not, and there's not docks there. It's a remote barrier island. Yeah, it's like dock it. Maybe you swim to shore. Yeah, throw down an anchor. Maybe, you know, you get out. It's like the water's waist deep.

You kind of wade in. Probably deeper at some points depending on where you're able to drop anchor. So at some point during the day, according to Nolan's friends, Nolan reportedly began speaking with a young woman identified as Katie. Now, her alleged last name is going around online. I'm not going to give it. Unless somebody has publicly come forward and identified themselves, I'm not going to give their name.

No, very important to the story. Again, because we're building a timeline, right, of all the players involved. So that's important. Now, according to Nolan's friend, who has spoken publicly, this was the first time that Nolan met Katie and basically it was like yeah this is the first time they'd ever met or hung out but we could definitely tell that Nolan liked her he was kind of into her and he was spending time with her while they were at Horn Island near the shoreline so then what we have here is Nolan left his phone his cell phone on the boat and this is a big issue

that people have because later when the friends come back without Nolan, they have his phone. And everyone's like, well, why the hell do you have his phone? What 18 year old is going to a party on an island and leaving their phone on the boat? And basically, the friends and a lot of other people, too, who do this kind of thing often, they were like, yeah, you always leave your phone on the boat. Like I have to agree with them, though. Like, as I'm sitting at home listening to it right now, that is my first reaction as well. Like, what 18 year is going to leave their phone on the boat, especially if they're potentially meeting up with people. They've never met before. They may want to exchange numbers, take photos. This is a great fourth of a July

weekend party. I question that action as well. Like I can see most teenagers saying, you know what, I'm going back to the boat to get my phone. It's that important. Kind of made it seem like they'd go back and forth from the shore to the boat, from the shore to the boat, grab more more beer or whatever they got on the boat, we'll go back to the shore. But most people were like, yeah, you're getting out of boat, it's deep water. Like nobody wants to risk dropping the phone in the water. Nolan was going to be spending a lot of time swimming so he don't want to leave his phone on shore where somebody could grab it. That's fair. I see it. I see that. Yeah. Personally for me, like if I'm doing something like this, I'll bring a wet bag. I'll put my phone in it. But yes, if I'm on an island where there's like a lot

of people, I don't want to leave the wet bag with my phone in it on the shore while I'm in the water swimming and enjoying myself because my phone could go missing. So that's kind of the way it was described. So Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter initially said Nolan was last seen near Horn Island at approximately 3 p.m. He was reportedly wearing blue swim trunks, sunglasses, and no shirt. Now, one of the friend's mothers, Judge Ashley Cole, she said that her son last saw Nolan around this time. However, another witness would later say that he saw Nolan after 4 p.m., creating some uncertainty about the exact last known citing. Now, this I think, once again, very few things are clear here. I think that the friend who said he saw Nolan around four had come on a different boat. So that's kind of where I think maybe that came in. However, if it was a friend who said he last saw Nolan around four and he was from the same boat,

then that might be something we have to look into. So now we also have around 401 p.m. a viral confrontation. video. So this has been going all around all over social media. I screen recorded it so we can put it in here and we'll play it now. So now you have this, you can see, right? You kind of get a glimpse that there's a lot of boats, a lot of people here on Horn Island. Better idea of what it looks like trying to drive up to that island as well. You're not like, you're not pulling up on shore. No. And there's a group of people on the shore and it appears some altercation is happening. And some people online have claimed that they've enhanced the audio of the video and you can hear

Nolan saying, you know, give me my freaking phone, what are you doing? And that's what he's saying in this video. And with his phone being brought back to, you know, home without Nolan, people are thinking that this is a confrontation involving Nolan and his friends who he was. Not a great look yeah so however one of nolan's friends later appeared in good morning america and said nolan was not the person yelling in the video he said nolan wasn't even in the video the friend said the voice belonged to him he was arguing with a stranger a man he didn't know this man started a fight and according to the the person who was talking on good morning america he said that it was one of his family members and uh another friend jvon williams who was like restraining him

him on a boat while he yelled at them to let him go so that he can continue the confrontation. Yeah. So, yeah, like I said, he said Nolan wasn't in this confrontation. He wasn't even there involved in it. And that is his voice. A couple things you can do right there, right? It's you could look at it from the perspective of if this guy's involved, he could be lying to try to cover his tracks.

But what you can do is say, okay, great, lock in his story, have him write a written statement, and get everyone that he's mentioned who was involved in that altercation down on paper and identify them and go speak with them, including the people that he was having the issues with. So I believe that law enforcement has already done this. That's, of course. So they're able to go out there and corroborate that story exactly the way he's describing it. Now, if anything doesn't line up, well, now you have more questions as far as his credibility.

But these are the things you would do. Now take it at face value. understand that he could be lying to try to deter you from looking in the right direction. So you go out there and you can confirm everything that you're capable of confirming, including the person he was having the issue with who was not on Nolan's boat, had nothing to do with Nolan and would have no reason to lie and say, yeah, no, I was fighting with this guy when in reality he was fighting with Nolan. Yeah, and you can clearly see there's a lot of people watching this altercation,

or at least in the general vicinity of the altercation. Probably 15, 20, if not more people who can confirm that altercation and who it was between by seeing photos or videos. Yeah, it's not just a he said she said thing. It's a, there's plenty of eyewitnesses who can say whether or not Nolan was involved in that altercation. And I'm sure that that is being investigated and looked into right now. And before you go even further, I can promise you this. I'll bet my life on it. There are videos that we have not seen yet.

just by looking at that location, there was probably multiple people recording throughout that day. And there are videos that have been turned over because they were at the request of law enforcement where they haven't publicly released them yet, but they hopefully will at a later date where you are probably going to see Nolan at different times throughout the day in the background of these videos. Well, so the Dane County Sheriff's Office has requested what they have called undoctored or unedited pictures and videos from that day at that location. And you're getting that request for these unedited videos and pictures because we've had some, you know, some issues.

There was a picture of Nolan in a pool with his friends. And I believe it was the family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, who had taken it from Nolan's Instagram and posted it or shared it and kind of suggested that the picture had been taken on July 5th, which was obviously... the day after the July 4th. So then there was this whole conspiracy thing. And then the friend who went on Good Morning America said, no, that picture was taken in June. That's not even close to this.

That's not the same month. It's not the same day. It definitely wasn't July 5th. So there's a lot of kind of muddying the waters happening. So we're actually going to take a quick break. We still have a lot to talk about. We'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Smalls.

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plus free shipping and free treats for life when you head to smalls.com slash crime weekly. Okay, we're back. So now we kind of have like the last time Nolan was seen. Was it 3 o'clock? Was it 3.30? Was it 4 o'clock? Because we have some contradicting statements. So J. Von Williams, he is the one who said he saw Nolan around 4.

And J. Von Williams is actually Nolan's best friend. That's what has been reported. Javon Williams is his best friend. and he was originally supposed to ride to Horn Island on the same boat as Nolan, but the boat filled up before he could get on. And so he ended up traveling to Horn Island on a different boat. So once again, this was kind of just like, hey, we're going on the boat. We're all going to find boats and get on boats that are going to take us to Horn Island.

It really didn't matter what boat you traveled there on. You're all going to the same place. When both groups arrived to the island, Javon said Nolan greeted him immediately as soon as we got there. He was like, hey, and he said that he loved Javon. you know, their best friends. And then Javon said he later saw Nolan talking with other friends and spending time with a girl on the island before he last saw him around 4 p.m. So that's kind of where this differs from the approximate 3 p.m. last scene time

initially provided by the sheriff and another friend's mother. Now, this could be because the other friends had stayed at the boat and we're kind of in that little section of the island, when Nolan went off with the girl and apparently some of her friends to another part of the island, and that's why Jay Vaughn last saw him around four, when the other friends said they last saw him around three, there could be a reasonable explanation for why the last given time scene is different, because initially the sheriff was working on reports from the friends that Nolan had gone there with, and then other people from the island kind of started coming in and seeing what they had seen.

So this could be just a reasonable kind of miscommunication or that the friends from the boat genuinely just last saw him around three, whereas Javon last saw him around four. Yeah, also just to add a little bit more of a wrinkle in there, we've talked about eyewitness testimony before. Most of the time, especially when they don't know that what they had seen or heard is going to be critical to solving a potential murder, right? they may get the time off a little bit. It could sometimes be hours off or it could be 10 to 15 minutes off. And I mean, if you don't have your phones too, like did Javon have his phone or was he kind of just guessing based on the last time he saw his phone? It's always an approximation, right? Like they remember seeing Nolan.

They're not immediately looking down at their watch, right? So could no one's friend have seen him closer to 315? And Jvon may have seen him closer to 350, right? So it's less of a window than we're thinking right now. where it's a bigger discrepancy. Or it could be the opposite. I'm not trying to go either way here, but I just, I know from experience, eyewitness testimony, especially when it comes to times, they're usually off.

Hell, we've covered cases where they got the completely wrong day. They're remembering something that didn't even happen on the day in question. And none of it is malicious, right? It just, it occurs sometimes. Not saying it happened here, but it's something to consider. Now, here's the part that gets me, and I will admit, this gets me. So allegedly, according to Sheriff Ledbetter, Nolan's friend said they last saw him around three. Now, according to Judge Ashley Cole, who's one of the mothers of one of Nolan's friends that was on the boat with him,

she said the three boys left Horn Island at approximately 4.30 p.m. without Nolan. She said the boat was reportedly taking on water. The group was experiencing a problem with the pump, and they told Nolan, like, we're going to have to go. and Nolan was like, no, I'm going to stay behind because he was talking to this girl. And then they, and he said, I'll just catch a ride with somebody else on a different boat, which that's not hard to believe. Because like I said, everybody's just kind of going on whatever boat has room to take you. So it doesn't matter, you know, how you got there, how you get back.

There's a bunch of people there that you know they all have boats. You're going to hop on another boat and get back to home. But if the friend said they last saw him at three and they didn't leave until 4.30, am I to believe that at three, you said you saw the boat taking on water and you told Nolan that you guys had to go and then you waited another hour and a half to leave. Yeah, I agree. And also, why not give him his phone? If you're leaving, I would assume no one would have been like, yeah, I'm going to stay, but toss me my phone. Give me my phone. I'm going to need it, potentially not only to let people know where I am. You think that Nolan would have. So apparently, according to the friend who went on

Good Morning America, Trakaston Shepard. It was normal for, like, everybody to leave their phones on the boat. And Shepard's uncle was, I guess, driving the boat, which that doesn't make sense to me because we heard that Nolan left with three friends, but now we have the uncle on there. So it's like, is the uncle part of that friend group? Because you'd think the uncle would probably be a little older than Tristan Shepard. And is the uncle an adult who was there while these minors were drinking? So there's questions there.

But apparently we have an uncle and the uncle said, yeah, we do this all the time. And then, you know, at the end of the day when we get back, I've got like five phones on my desk. And I got to start like trying to figure out how to get these phones back to these people because they just left them in the boat. But yes, I think would Nolan have asked like give me my phone back? You'd have to wonder what his past behavior was like, something like that. We'd have to definitely look into that. Maybe he wasn't thinking about it or maybe they said we're going to leave in a little bit. and he thought they were going to come back to him and let him know before they left.

And they had some urgency where the boat's taking on water, we got to go. We're not going to leave his phone on the sand. So we're going to take it. Because we don't know where he's at right now. So maybe they told him before he went walking off, like, hey, we're having some problems with the pump. Like if the boat starts taking on water, we got to go. And that's why there was a time lapse between when they were trying to fix the pump and when the boat started taking out water.

And they were like, we got to go. We can't stay anymore. and so there wasn't time to, you know, let him know about the phone. There might be a reasonable explanation for it, but I think all of us would agree in today's society, especially with younger people, even older people at this point, leaving your phone for extended periods of time. Unfortunately, we live in a world where that doesn't happen,

and it's even more rare for someone to say, I don't need my phone. I'm 18 years old. I'm good. You guys take off. I'll get it some other. their time. But I do think what you said is important. You can go back and talk to no one's friends and family and figure out pretty quickly what his what his normal behavior was. Was he

someone who was attached to his phone? Yeah, if they go to this island all the time, is he usually leaving his phone in the boat when they go to this island? Right. These are all things you're going to be able to confirm. He might have been the type of guy who wasn't on his phone a lot, really didn't see a need to be on it, taking photos, doing selfies, looking at social media. He might have more had it for in case of an emergency to call someone. someone. And that's, I know that sounds like a unicorn, but they are still out there. According to his family, he was, so we'll get into that, the whole Snapchat thing. So now, Sheriff Ledbetter summarized the account by saying that from what investigators understood,

Nolan chose to stay there. And Nolan's family has questioned why he would make that decision. They said Nolan has always been taught to remain with the group he arrived with rather than separate from them. But once again, we are now talking about an 18-year-old boy, young man, who's on an island with a bunch of different friends, right? Like his best friend when came in on another boat, so maybe he's thinking he'll just go back in the boat with his best friend, right? And not only that, we're talking about an 18-year-old young man

who met a girl he likes. So that's going to supersede the decision, especially if you're there with a bunch of friends already who can bring you back. And once again, people are like, well, if he liked this girl so much, why didn't he want his phone so he could get her number? This is a different time

because if Katie had her phone, Nolan wouldn't need to get her number or even give her his number. He'd be like, here's my Instagram handle, right? That's how the kids communicate now. They don't exchange phone numbers. They exchange Instagram handles. So he would just grab her phone, follow himself on Instagram, instantly connected. Or put his number in her phone.

Hey, here's my number. Just text me. So obviously Nolan did not come home the evening of July 4th. His mother, Christine Worsley, said she received a phone call from one of Nolan's friends informing her that he was missing. And according to Christine, the initial explanation was that Nolan had stayed behind to spend time with the young woman named Katie. Christine was also initially told that Katie might be missing, although the family did not know who she was and never previously heard Nolan mentioned her. And the friends were kind of like, yeah, we don't know where the girl Katie is.

This is according to Christine Worsley, Nolan's mother. So the friends told her he was talking to this girl Katie and like, we don't know where she is either. But then they were also like, but we don't even know who she is. So Christine was kind of like, how do you not know where she is if you don't even know who she is? But maybe the friends were trying to track down who they last knew Nolan to be talking to. And they were trying to talk to people on the island. And they were like, hey, can you get a hold to Katie? And they were like, well, we don't know where Katie is or we don't know who Katie is.

So maybe they were trying to explain that. But at some point, the young woman was apparently located or otherwise accounted for, obviously. But Nolan remained missing. So here's the questions that Nolan's family has, and here's the issues that they're having. So Nolan's family learned that Nolan's cell phone and the keys to his vehicle had been left behind. His car was parked in the driveway of one of his friends. So Christine said the family had to track down both Nolan's car keys and his cell phone. According to her, the friends didn't initially volunteer that they knew where those items were.

and they had to like track down the phone using an app and then they found I guess they don't explicitly say this they just say they had to track down the phone using an app and then the phone was eventually returned to Nolan's mother so they never say Nolan's family has not said who had the phone where it was they just said they had to track it down using an app and then it was returned to his mother so to be fair it could have still been on the boat and they didn't even know it was there. And then when Nolan's mother found the phone through an app location and she called the friends and she was like, hey, the phone's on your boat. They were like, oh, okay, I'll go get it to you and return it to you. They might not have known it was there. This is very kind of ambiguous, kind of

vague. Like, they tracked the phone down and then it was returned to her, but they don't say where it was or who it was with. And that's something that law enforcement, I'm sure, has, they would know the specifics of that after speaking with all the parties involved, where the phone was located, Was it hidden on the boat? I haven't even seen pictures of this boat. Have you seen pictures of the boat? You see pictures of them in the boat, yeah. Okay, because like is this a boat with like multiple compartments

where something could have been left in one of them? These are all things that as the detective, you got to answer those questions. It looks like there's compartments. Yeah, like you know, it looks like a little speedboat like that would have, yeah, compartments. I would need to know a timeline too because if we were to learn from Nolan's family that his friends, the ones who returned at this point knew that they were

looking for him, that he was missing. And it wasn't until Nolan's family used this app to say, hey. No, it's no. So they, I guess she got a call that evening from one of his friends being like, we can't find Nolan. Like, we can't find him. They, they notified the family. So they notified her. Yeah. And so right there, that could be a position where they, they had the phone. they were holding on to it hoping that no one was going to turn up and then at the same time simultaneously after the family learns that no one is currently missing they try to use the app they find them and yeah the phones with them as it would be it seems more likely the phone to be kind stored away somewhere like i've been to these boats and you've got a lot of people around splashing

water splashing in you're not just going to leave it on the floor of the boat you know but well that all this all this matters all these little details and law enforcement's not giving us everything right now. It's still early in the investigation, but all of these questions need to be answered. There's no doubt about it. So here's the thing. The family, they say that they examined the phone's location history, and they believed some of the information was inconsistent with the friends' accounts and with locations reportedly shown through Snapchat. So according to the family, there appeared to be no phone activity or no Snapchat activity during the 24 hours before Nolan disappeared. The account showed a location that did not match where the phone

was reportedly found, and there were no saved Snapchat photographs from July 4th, even though Nolan reportedly loved taking pictures. So this is what the family's saying. Now, investigators later requested the phone. ABC News reported that law enforcement has not yet received it from the family, although the family's attorney, Benjamin Crump, said that they intended to turn it over, but the family planned to have experts examined the device to determine whether any data, photographs, or messages had been deleted.

So everything we're hearing about the phone, and I'm not saying anyone's lying, I'm really not. I'm just saying a simple fact, everything we know about the phone, about the Snapchat history, about the location, that's all coming from the family through Benjamin Crump. And the police do not have access to that phone to confirm or deny whether these things are true. And now it's going to be given, before it's given to law enforcement, to an investigator to forensically examine the phone to see if anything's been deleted and a lot of this stuff is happening with the autopsy as well we'll talk about that in a second but benjamin crumb's basically saying we don't trust this mississippi law enforcement so we want to have our own investigation done with the phone before law enforcement can get it and delete stuff or

lose stuff or you know doctor things i mean listen i i i don't mind it as long as they're aware that if the expert that they enlist doesn't do things the right way and the phone has been altered in any way and i'm not even going to say the word tampered but just altered in a way where the way they this digital forensics expert accesses the phone it changes the metadata that phone almost becomes it's it's inadmissible at that point because now it the chain of custody isn't there because yeah because it just as much as you want to say you want to make sure nothing happened to the phone well somebody who has the phone now i'm not saying that's true but to law enforcement law enforcement could be like, we don't know if you deleted something or if you, yeah.

So another question I have too, and I'd have to know Horn Island and the specifics of that area as far as cell phone tower usage and what type of internet connection is out there. But I would assume he had an iPhone. Maybe I'm wrong. But if he had an iPhone, you're going to have find my iPhone. You're going to have GPS coordinates. You're going to get a pretty specific area in which that phone had been left. And so if they parked their boat off the island and it was.

anchored out a little ways out, you're going to see that his phone, that Nolan's phone was in that boat the entire time. But if you see that phone moving throughout the island throughout the day, then his friends got some explaining to do. Yeah. And maybe that's what the family means by the location data doesn't match what his friends have said. But we don't know that until someone can confirm, you know, and give specifics. So maybe they're working. I hope it's in collaboration where behind the scenes law enforcement goes to Nolan's family and to Ben, and to Ben, Ben, Benjamin Crumpin says, listen, we understand where your heads are at on this one. Can we do something together?

Can we work with the forensic examiner along with the state examiner? To work jointly and see if they come to the same conclusions instead of you guys doing your own thing. And then us not being able to use what you find because the person you used or whatever wasn't certified, whatever the case may be. If I'm going to them, I'm saying, guys, listen, I want what you want. I want the truth. let's work together. Let's work together to get that and not only get the truth, but make sure we do it in the right way

so that if we find something here that is nefarious in nature, we can make sure that the people responsible are held accountable. We don't want them getting off on a technicality. And that's what I would be professing to them. This is, once again, questions that were hearing from Benjamin Crump that aren't sort of being, you know, kind of supported by actual evidence. Like he didn't show a screenshot of Nolan's Snapchat. has strayed to be like, see, nothing was here.

They're just saying it. So we also have Benjamin Crump claiming that he has spoken to Katie. And where the friends say that they last saw Nolan talking to Katie, Katie allegedly, according to Benjamin Crump, claims that she saw him leave on the boat with his friends. Okay. Okay. So according to Benjamin Crump, now I know the police have probably talked to Katie. The police have also said to their knowledge of what they know, there is no signs of foul play.

And they're kind of making it seem like Nolan's death was an accident. Now, I don't know if I necessarily believe that Nolan's death was an accident because he's on an island with a bunch of people. And he said he was going to leave with them or somebody. And he never did. So what happened where Nolan is alone there and nobody sees him and they leave without him, like his best friend? right was still there because he didn't come on the boat with with nolan and the other three so did nobody ever say like where's nolan or did they think that he left with his friends so what happened if the three friends left at around 430 and nolan was still there on the island and he turned up

dead i still have questions about how that happened no there's a lot of people on that island and and i think that the fact that there's such an uproar about this case is warranted to a certain degree because there is some suspicious circumstances here you have a young man who's on an island definitely knew how to swim i don't know how good of a swimmer he was but from what i understood he could swim and all of a sudden for the reasons you just mentioned he's dead how did that happen right if it's not of natural causes what occurred here yeah so even if he went swimming and let's say he accidentally drowned was nobody at any point like hey did nolan get back or like where's nolan i just Saw him.

Did Nolan just decide to go swim out into the middle of nowhere by himself? I don't know. There's people saying like the, on that side of the island, there is like currents and stuff. And listen, I'm scared. I'm scared of the ocean. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

I've never, a quick story for myself. I, I, I, there was, this is a stupid thing. Don't recommend it. I was in college, Connecticut. There was a hurricane. And we decided to go into the water because we're dumb. And I remember the rip current. how bad it was.

And I was like, I'm gonna die tonight. It was like the middle of the night. But I was in there with like 15 people. I wouldn't have done that alone, right? And so wherever Nolan was, whatever the circumstances surrounding his death was, there's a witness. Somebody knows what happened.

I'm saying, and people are saying like, there's currents and he was drinking. So that's a recipe for disaster. Yes, but like, why would he be swimming alone when there's like 300 people on the island? Do we expect to believe that he just like, he was so drunk that he just, walked into the ocean.

I mean, he could have been drunk to the point where he was like, maybe Katie and her friends left. And he was like, let me take a quick swim before I go back to everyone else. Maybe, but like the ocean scares me. And I will drink and like go in the ocean, but I would not do that if I was completely alone on that portion of the beach. Later in the end, I mean, it's probably getting darker out at this point. That,

that it is absolutely suspicious. The reason people are asking so many questions because things aren't adding up. Yeah. So that's why I'm saying. From the limited information I have, I agree with them completely. When the sheriff's like. oh, as far as we can tell, there's no foul play.

We're waiting on autopsy results. And his mother comes back and she's like, what, accidental drowning? That's the best you have for us. I agree. Because there was enough people there that somebody should have seen him or had eyes on him if he went in the water. And they would have seen that he didn't come out.

Did he say, hey, guys, watch me and start swimming out into the middle of the water. And everyone's like, what are you doing? Was there something that happened that would indicate that this wasn't accidental drowning. Are there multiple people who are saying that? Okay, cool, then come out and let us know. But I think right now they're just staying tight-lipped because they want to get all the information before saying anything. And here's another thing. So the official search for Nolan starts on Saturday, July 5th, right? And they send out broadcasts, alerting boaters and others in the area that there's a missing person search. A helicopter was sent out to search Horn Island and the

surrounding waters. Multiple local state and volunteer agencies joined the operations search teams and boats and aircraft were examining Horn Island, nearby islands, and the surrounding Gulf waters. And then on Sunday, July 6, this is when Nolan's body is found. So they send more search teams out early in the morning before 6 a.m. They're patrolling the waters and searching the waters between Horn Island and Ship Island. The aerial search extends south towards the Chandelier Islands. Additional search boats were deployed shortly before 8 a.m.

And then at approximately 8.45 a.m., authorities received a report that a body had been found near the northwestern tip of Horn Island. That body was discovered by a United States Park Service Ranger, and the location became important to Nolan's family because obviously search teams had already been looking around the island the previous day and even earlier that morning. So Nolan's grandfather later questioned how the island could have been searched without the body being located until the following morning.

He said there's nothing right about this. And I mean, if Nolan had drowned, I guess his body could have, washed up at that point. But once again, yeah, if you're like actively searching that exact area, especially because that was nearby the area where he was last seen, his body would have had to have, you know, washed up between what, like 6 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. and then somebody stumbled upon it. I'd have to know more about the area. I've seen this before. We've talked about it on many cases. Robin Pope always comes to mind with this one where there's debris in the water, there's track. in the water and yeah but she was in the water for a long time this is July 4th to

the 6th but but she went under immediately because they were looking for her the next day and she must have got caught on whatever she got caught on and it wasn't until 23 days later that whatever she was caught on finally let her go so in this case if it is exactly the way it sounds he could have initially got caught on something and unlike Robin Pope came off of whatever it was due to the currents a lot quicker than Robin Pope did. So I'm not saying that's what happened, but if we had like this crystal ball where we could see if it was an accidental drowning, or even if it wasn't, right, even if he was killed

and thrown in the water, that same night, he could have got stuck on something on his shorts or whatever and then came loose after the current change direction and then he was found. So it is possible. I think it's possible. I mean, I know what people are inferring here that maybe he was thrown in the water later. Also, also possible. But it's not completely out of the ordinary or physically impossible that he could have been in the water the entire time, even though they were searching and they missed him. Or they might be inferring that the searches weren't as thorough as they claim to be. You know, I'm not sure what, what they are inferring here. But let's take a quick break. We'll be right back. Okay. So obviously Nolan's body is found. It is sent in for an autopsy

at the Mississippi State Medical Examiner's Office Coast Laboratory. The autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, July 7th. So on July 7th, Nolan's family announced that they had retained civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump. Crump said his legal team would conduct an independent review of the circumstances surrounding Nolan's death. The family called for the timely release of autopsy findings, investigative records, witness accounts, photographs and videos, and information concerning Nolan's final movements, which I don't think is irrational. I don't think that's the wrong thing to do.

Maybe not release it to the public and everybody, but yes, Nolan's family should be, I believe in this circumstance, kept apprised of what the police know. Like, what were Nolan's final moments? Who did last see him? So at that point, this is when also the Jackson County Sheriff's Office issued a public request,

asking anyone who'd been on Horn Island on July 4th to provide photographs. videos, eyewitness accounts, information concerning Nolan, information about any unusual activity on the island. And Sheriff Ledbetter told ABC News that the investigators did not currently suspect foul play. At the same time, law enforcement was reportedly reviewing that viral video of the argument that occurred around 401 p.m. on Horn Island on July 4th. And officials had not publicly identified everyone shown or heard in their recording.

So then we have the Family News Conference on July 10th. This is when Nolan's mother publicly questioned why authorities appeared to be moving so quickly toward an accidental drowning explanation. Christine said she respected law enforcement but was uncomfortable with how soon drowning had been discussed. I agree, actually. She questioned why investigators would reach that conclusion before all the evidence, including the final autopsy findings and conflicting witness statements have been thoroughly examined. So Benjamin Crump announced that Nolan's family wanted an independent examination. So apparently the autopsy was done on July 7th in Mississippi, and then Nolan's body was transported from Mississippi to Washington, D.C. The family said they want a doctor with no connection to Mississippi law enforcement or the original investigation to conduct a separate autopsy.

And the purpose was to independently assess Nolan's injuries, determine the cause and manner of death, and compare those findings with the official state examination. And once again, I have no problem with this. The official autopsy was already done. So we've seen many, many times where the coroners do some shitty autopsy and they miss things. And then a second independent autopsy discovers things that the first missed. I have no issue with this. In fact, I encourage it. And I am very interested to see what, if any, dissimilarities are noted in both autopsies.

So I'm interested to see that I don't have an issue with an independent autopsy. Now, second opinion is always better than just one opinion. Not an issue. Now, the phone, I feel like by now law enforcement should have it. So if you want law enforcement to be able to conduct a thorough investigation and release all of this stuff to you, they're probably going to need the phone, right? Because not having the phone is going to prevent them from a timely release of the investigation. But then Monday, July 13th, so this was just yesterday.

This is when Nolan's friend went on Good Morning America, and he said he and the other friends are receiving threats and accusations online. He maintained they had done nothing to harm Nolan. They were like, we love him. He's our close friend. Like, why would we ever want to hurt him? Which, once again, there are really no motives as far as we know of why they would want to do this as far as we know. They were all good friends.

They were having fun that day. So like I said, the friends like, that's not Nolan on the video. That's me. We're not trying to take his phone. We would never take his phone. Why would we do that? And yeah, it's pretty much where we've got these central, unanswered questions of like, did Nolan stay on Horn Island voluntarily?

His friends say he did. Benjamin Crump says that Katie, who Nolan had been seen with, claimed he returned to the boat with the boys. Okay, what was Nolan's true last known location in time? So who saw him last at three? Who saw him last at four? What was the conversation like? When did Nolan's friends tell him they were going to leave?

We need to know all this. Was Nolan involved in that argument that was captured on video? If he was, and it is actually him saying, what are you doing, giving my phone, now I have other questions about that. Why were Nolan's phone and car keys left with his friends? Like I said, the friends are like he left down the boat because he went swimming. When the phone was tracked, it could have been tracked to the boat and his friends had completely forgotten the phone was there. Or like you said, they could have been holding on to it, hoping that he was just going to pop up at their door because his car was at one of the friend's house and be like, hey, I'm here to get my phone in my car. who knows what explains the phone location information because the family says the location history doesn't

align with the accounts they received but the phone has not yet been forensically examined so what does that exactly mean you know we don't know exactly what that means and we don't really know how how much information is authentic that we're receiving kind of second hand and third hand once again there were no saved photographs from the outing that we have pictures of nolan on the boat like heading out there but nothing from when they were on Horn Island and his family says no he loved taking pictures he was always taking pictures on Snapchat there would be no reason that there weren't photos taken from Snapchat unless someone had erased them we we don't know that once again we don't know if there were pictures taken or we don't know if Nolan genuinely was just like I want to you know experience this day I don't want to get my phone wet I'm going to be swimming a lot so I'm going to leave my phone on the boat I'll take pictures before we get off the boat how was Nolan's body missed during the initial search I'm not sure once again We'd have to know more about the island. Was it like very hard to see maybe from an aerial search? Could it have been easily missed or did his body wash up after the search has happened

and before he was found? I don't know. Now we have what caused Nolan's death, right? Because law enforcement has set of foul plays not currently suspected, but Nolan's family is right. They haven't done an autopsy yet. So was there water found in his lungs like a drowning? Or was there not water found in his lungs?

Like he was already dead when he went in the water. Was there any drugs or alcohol found in his system? Like we know there probably will be alcohol found in his system, but was there something else that maybe he could have taken that caused a reaction he wasn't familiar with? Or maybe somebody could have slipped him something that caused him to, you know, become unconscious and maybe pass out on the shore and get swept into the water? I don't know. But once again, Derek and I both agree. Why would Nolan ever be anywhere close to or in the water when he was completely alone when there was hundreds of of people on this island. So it is weird kind of that law enforcement is kind of like leaning more

towards. They haven't said, we think he drowned, but they said there's no foul play, which means that they can tell. So which means that they are leaning towards, it was an accidental death. And he was found, you know, he was obviously washed up because he wasn't on the island when they were searching. So it means he was in the water, which means they think it might have been an accidental drowning. But it's like, how did that happen when there was so many people? people there and they were all friends and they all knew each other. Like, why was he ever alone on that island? What happened there?

So that's where we're at now. What are your final thoughts? My final thoughts is first and foremost for all of the reasons that you just laid out. No one's family is correct. There are more questions than answers. And we need to find those answers for no one and his family. No parents should have their son or daughter leave for what would and should be a fun day. Fourth of July weekend and have their child never return home.

And on the surface, because we don't have a lot of those answers, there are things about this case that is suspicious. I think about Katie. I think about the other friends that were there. I have a hard time believing that 18-year-old Nolan was just walking aimlessly throughout the island alone. Even if this was an accidental drowning, if that's what is confirmed here.

I personally believe that more than likely we're going to find out that there were people there. There were people present for it. Maybe they couldn't help them. Maybe it wasn't malicious, but they haven't come forward or they're skating the truth because they don't want it to look bad for them. I don't believe that no one or most young men are going to just walk off and go out for one last swim before leaving the island alone. So I think when we start to gather all the information, all the phone coverage, all the technological advances that we have and data we can obtain, maybe we will have a fuller picture of what happened.

But I really would love the opportunity to sit down with Katie, not to say she's somehow involved with what happened to him. But I feel like if that was the reason he stayed behind, if she was that reason, then he would have been with her until he decided to leave. I mean, according to his friends, both the ones on the boat and his best friend who wasn't on the boat, that is who he was talking to. Yeah. And we have to really get to the bottom of Katie's account, according to Nolan's family, where she's saying, I saw him get on the boat with his friends. Okay, can you describe them? Can we show her a photo array? Can we confirm that they are, in fact, the same friends that he went there with? She said, friends. Is it a different group of friends? She may not know the first group of friends. She might have gone on the boat with, he might have gone on a boat with a different group of friends. Yeah. And the other thing that we have to talk about because it's a big part of this case and I've seen it on social media is that race is playing a part in this.

You see a photo of Nolan who is black hanging out with his white friends. And that is not the reason to me that this case is suspicious. However, we may find out that race did play a part in this. We do know it took place in Mississippi. If I said to you right now, Stephanie, well, his friends left, Nolan's friends left. He was out there and he was talking to this girl, Katie. I don't know what Katie is. I'm going to assume that she's white.

I could be wrong. But maybe someone else who doesn't know Nolan sees him pursuing Katie, doesn't like it, and starts issues with Nolan. That's a common story we've seen and heard many times before. Maybe Kate's got a boyfriend there or something. Maybe Katie had a boyfriend or a friend of a friend who knew her ex-boyfriend. Or someone who wanted to be her boyfriend. Yeah.

That's right. there's a lot that could be going on there and they may not have liked the fact that this other guy was hitting on her and yeah absolutely it could have been because of the color of his skin but we need to know more because i want to know more about these friends and what they're involvement was the initial friends and if they do have no involvement i feel bad because i've seen everything like i'm sure all of you guys have and the main reason that there's questions right now is because one not everything has been disclosed and to the credit of no one's family and i could be wrong on this, I haven't seen them come out and say that directly. They're just looking for answers about

their son. They want to know what happened. And from what I've seen, and Stephanie, I could be wrong, they are more saying that it's suspicious in nature. There's a lot of unanswered questions that they have. And they're looking for those answers. And there's nothing wrong with that. I am here to support them on that. We all need to know what happened on that island. And so I'm hoping as the days and weeks unfold, we get some more clarification on this case because everyone involved deserves it. Nolan, his family, his friends, anybody who's potentially being implicated, we need to get the specifics of what happened. And if it turns out that someone is lying and there's something nefarious here, let's make sure we dot our eyes, cross our T's, get all the evidence we can and go after

that person or persons. Yeah, I definitely haven't heard anything directly from Nolan's family. saying like, oh, his friends were white, so they did something to him. That seems to be a social media. No doubt. Implication. No doubt. No doubt. That's or like an interpretation of it.

Now his family's definitely saying like, we don't believe that this can be written off as an accidental death. And Derek and Err saying the same thing. Now, once again, even I think Nolan's mom was like, yeah, he's known these kids for a while, you know. So I don't think she's saying anything bad about the friends. But there shouldn't be a jump to blame the friends. And this happened in the Idaho case, too, with Brian Koberger, where the roommates are still to this day, people online are suspecting them and saying that, you know,

I think when somebody's lost their friend, like they're already going through enough, especially because, yeah, there's going to be guilt, whether or not he told you to leave him there or not. Like, there's going to be guilt. Like, we left him there. And we should have, like, had his back and we should have stayed and, like, brought him back with us.

You know, even though he's 18, and he can say what if he wants to say, they're still going to be guilt that they're going to carry with them forever. So they don't need this on top of everything else, especially because I would say very much with my chest, there is no direct evidence tying them to anything bad happening to Nolan, the three friends that came with him on the boat.

Now, everybody else on the island, I'm maybe side-eyeing them a little bit, okay, but it's because I want to know what did you see because you had to have seen something. But the friends who were on the boat and who left, there's no direct evidence to say that they did anything to him. So I would say that we probably should hold off on throwing accusations and threatening them before we know more. But that's, yeah, it's sad all around.

I mean, Nolan had a promising future ahead of him. He was a very talented athlete. He was a kind person. He was smart and funny. And his family obviously loved him. A tragic situation. It looks like Oregon Island is approximately 4.2 square miles. And as you show, you guys have seen from the video, there were a lot of people out there, a lot of phones, a lot of eyewitnesses.

I think with everything out there, unless there's like something bigger going on here that we're unaware of, law enforcement should be able to piece together what actually happened or at least narrow down the final moments. There's a lot of people there. I feel like that should be pretty easy to do. Yeah. So if there's a major update in this case, we'll absolutely let you guys know. I'm assuming there's going to be something, some press releases, things of that nature. Yeah, well, we'll see what the toxicology and the autopsies, both of them say. Yeah, and one thing you didn't mention that I did see, and we could talk, this could be a four-hour episode, so I understand why you didn't.

But yeah, you had brought up briefly about one of the children or one of the young men being on that boat, their mother's a judge. She came out with a press release as well, and she had kind of dispelled some certain things and said that, yes, she is a judge, but, you know, her son was here. and that, you know, they're hoping for the best in the situation. They're thinking about no one and his family. And now if you're someone who believes there's more going on here, you're going to look at that letter and you're going to say, I'm making a hand gesture here, but you're going to be like, yeah, okay, buddy, you're, you're in on it too.

They're covering this up because your son was involved and you're a judge. Yeah, she's saying I'm deactivating my social media because I'm getting, you know, threats and people and, you know, people are like, well, of course you're deactivating your social media because we, you don't want us to be able to go back and, see all the things you've said in the past, which I don't believe that there's any evidence she's ever said anything bad, but they're saying, oh, you're deactivating because you don't want us to be able to find that stuff. So depending on where you sit on this, whether you're

kind of more extreme or more like in the middle, you're going to view her statement through a different lens. But I think she's just trying to protect her kid, honestly. We don't know. We don't know. But you're right. And even more so, even when we start to get the results, unless there's a video like supporting it, there are still going to be people that think this is a conspiracy. And coincidentally, a lot of people are comparing this to another case that you and I recently covered. Is it Tom La Horstford?

You nailed it. Yeah, which I do think that there was some race, you know, things that play there. No doubt. Yeah, so. And I hope that's clear in what I was saying earlier. I'm not saying that there couldn't be, I think I did say it. We may find out that the motivation in this case was race. I just feel like the people who are taking those photos of Nolan and his friends and automatically saying,

see, that's where he made his first mistake. That's what's wrong with the world because we all got to get on the same page. But yeah, Tom O'Horseford is another case they're relating this to in the injustice in that case. And we have talked about how we feel about it. But yeah, as of right now, Stephanie, thank you for giving us the download on it. There is a lot of information out there, probably even more. So feel free to share it in the comments. And if there's a major break in this case,

definitely bring it to you guys for sure. Until then, everyone stay safe out there. We'll be back with the fourth and final part of Harmony Montgomery. It's been a world win. It's been tough. It's a rollercoaster of emotions. It's a story you have to cover, but it's one that makes it really angry. It's one I'll never forget. And we're seeing all your comments on it and we appreciate you guys sticking with us for the ride because it's a tough one, especially for people who have children. So we'll be back with you guys soon. Until then, stay safe out there. Have a good night. Bye.