Law&Crime Sidebar - Nolan Wells Island Death Mystery Deepens

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

When 18-year-old football player Nolan Wells was found dead on Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi, authorities suspected a tragic drowning. But a viral video and conflicting stories have raised serious questions about his final moments. While attorney Ben Crump points to a potential altercation, a close friend of Wells is speaking out to push back against the rumors and clear his group's name. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber breaks down the latest developments in the investigation alongside retired detective and law enforcement instructor Matt Irvine.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Take your business to the next level with a free 14-day trial at https://odoo.com/sidebar.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From claims of Nolan Wells attending a pool party to reports of a fight, there is a lot of back and forth about the final moments of this team football player who died over the July 4th weekend. We are sorting through the latest developments and what to focus on with a retired detective. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, so we have these new details about the tragic death of 18-year-old Southwest Mississippi Community. college football player, Nolan Wells, a graduate of Ocean Springs High, disappeared while boating with friends on Horn Island. It's right off the coast of Mississippi. This was during the July 4th weekend. And by the way, this is an island where there's limited access. You've got to have a boat. It's a wilderness area. There's no commercial development. And that says something. That says

something about the investigation and what might have happened here. But we know the tragedy of this case. We know that Nolan's body was found that Monday on the island washed ashore. His family demanding transparency. They are demanding a full investigation into what happened. They have retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump. They have ordered an independent investigation and an independent autopsy. In fact, Ben Crum told ABC News Live last week that Nolan's body would be flown to Washington, D.C., for an independent autopsy. And by the way, this follows Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynn Jr.'s announcement that an autopsy is being conducted by the state ME office, but the results are pending because of toxicology test findings that could take several weeks. But authorities reportedly

believe that this was an accident, that this was a case of drowning, that there are no signs of foul play at this point, even though they're continuing the investigation. But there are questions. For instance, according to CNN, Nolan didn't return to the dock with his friends that day and his family didn't understand why he would separate from them, that he was supposed to take a different boat back, but didn't. Nolan apparently didn't have a cell phone with him. There were reports of an alleged altercation that day. According to the sheriff, one of Nolan's friends contacted the Coast Guard on the night of July 4th at around 11 p.m. Nolan's mom called the sheriff's office midday leading into July 5th. The family has concerns about why Nolan just stayed without

friends. His mother saying to GMA, that we cannot answer. I just, I can't, I can't fathom why he would. His father's saying, we always told him if you go with a group, you stay with the group. In fact, Sheriff John Ledbetter previously indicated that Nolan may have stayed on the island rather than heading back to the mainland. But even Nolan's friend, J. Bon Williams, told CNN, quote, I've never known Nolan to stay back while his friends leave. He's always been a guy where if he rode with you, he's going to come back with you. That's always how he's been every single time. There's also this.

Nolan's mother told GMA that they tracked Nolan's phone using the Light 360 app, And they found out that his phone was with his friends, and she claims that it's possible some of the text and messages were deleted. So a lot is going on, and as this is going on, we have new developments. There is some back and forth we need to talk about. Apparently, there is a video that is circulated online showing what appears to be an argument that day. And some believe that it involves Nolan. This is something Ben Crump discussed in a press conference last week as one of the contradictions or conflicts in this case.

And then the fact, Reverend Al, that they have this video of an argument that is going on. And, and, you know, thank God, all young people, they have cell phones. And anytime you hear people raising their voice, they start the video. And so you hear on the video, Nolan said, give me my freaking phone. What are you freaking doing? And that becomes even more relevant when you think about the story that they are presenting that Nolan chose to stay behind. That's what they're saying. The glaring contradictions are just jump out at you.

The fact that he is there with his friends, and you look at all the videos. It seems to be he's the only black on the island or maybe one other but not many. And so Jared, you have where a young woman he was talking to says that, well, Nolan said he was going back to get on the boat with the boys. The boys say that Nolan told them he was going to stay and talk to the young woman. It's a contradiction. They're not saying the same thing. One of them is telling the truth. One of them is not.

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was asking for his phone back and that he was part of this argument, Nolan's reported good friend traced in Shepard claims that's not the case, that there was no altercation that involved Nolan. He even claimed that Nolan isn't even in the video, quote, that's me yelling. There was no talk about a phone in that video. Nolan wasn't on the island. And Shepard said it was a fight with a stranger. Shepard said that Nolan stayed behind after the boat had to return to shore because of an electrical issue that Nolan had met a girl. This is something we've heard before, that he met a girl and he stayed behind. And Shepard claimed that he would come back on a different friend's boat. He also countered this narrative that Nolan was at a pool party early in the morning of July 5th.

There was this photo that had been circulating as well. So in other words, the idea would have been right that Nolan left the boat, made it to the mainland. went to this party and ended up dead. Now, Crump, and Crump even apparently shared a photo, again, of what people believed to be Nolan at this pool party. Now, according to TMZ, Crump reportedly posted this photo to social media with the caption. Now, listen, I don't know if these are facts or rumors because no official statements have been confirmed. We sometimes have to follow all clues until the truth is found. But Shepard once again pushed back, said that that photo was actually from a party on June 27,

in past Christian Mississippi. So not the weekend in question. What about Nolan's phone, right? A lot of questions about Nolan's phone. So while Attorney Ben Crump told GMA that it was suspicious that Nolan didn't have his phone with him and that his friends had it or his friend had it, Shepard says, look, it's not unusual for people to leave their phones in boats. Shepard's uncle, who was apparently driving one of the boats that day, confirmed that too. Shepard said, all our friends are out there. Who are we communicating with? And we're in salt water. We're not in freshwater. When Nolan got in the water, he put his phone on the boat dash along with probably 15 other phones. By the way, Jackson County Sheriff, John Ledbetter, told ABC News that Ben Crump has not yet turned over Wells' phone to his investigators.

Now, that's the latest reporting at the time of this broadcast. I don't know if that's changed. We'll see. But according to ABC News, Shepard claims that investigators have spoken to him and his friends. He emphasized that they have a diverse friend group. he's pushing back on the narrative that race has something to do with what happened to Nolan Wells. He indicated that he and his friend group, they have been receiving death threats since Nolan was found, that he wanted to speak out to clear up any misinformation or rumors out there,

stating that neither he nor his friend group had anything to do with Nolan's death. Again, that he rejects the idea of race being a part of this, saying, quote, they're trying to spin a narrative that's not there. He's wrong. I understand Nolan's parents are grieving, and I really think he's taken a little bit of advantage of that. And I don't like that. I really don't because they're vulnerable. And Shepard asks for everybody just to relax and let everybody mourn the loss of Nolan.

And let us remember him as the sweet guy he was and not something we're scared of because of the trauma we've had. If Ben Crump is doing his own investigation, let him do it. And then let the sheriff's office conclude their investigation and figure out the facts on their end. Let us all just know the truth instead of jumping to two conclusions about things. We did know wrong here. And we don't understand how we're getting so much hate. behind us. We all cared and loved Nolan and nobody wanted to see Nolan die. Nobody wanted to see his life be taken so short. I just know I lost my best friend. Wells was just somebody that you

automatically just felt so comfortable to talk to. Nobody would ever hurt Nolan in our friend group. We would die for him. We would do everything in our power for that guy. If he needed anything, we would do it. Nolan brought us all together. And Shepard separately told Rolling Stone in an interview that was published on Sunday, quote, I'm tired of speculation of not being able to talk. It's time for somebody to start speaking up. I'm not just hurting because of Nolan. I'm also hurting because I call my friends and you can hear it in their voice that they're terrified of what these people will do to them. It's gone completely way too far. Back to Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter, he said this week, quote, Nolan Wells family deserves a thorough and factual investigation,

and that's exactly what they're going to get. I think it is important that we do not put ourselves, on a timetable, and we do not rush ourselves, but I also think it is important to be diligent in gathering all the facts. And he has been encouraging the public's help for any information, unedited photos, videos from that weekend, adding, even if you may think that it might be insignificant, every little bit helps. And that may be a bigger contribution than you think to this case. This is what he told ABC News. I got to talk about this now. Okay, let me bring in Matt Irvine, retired detective, law enforcement instructor. I'm always happy to have Matt. I was really excited to have you on to talk about this. We haven't talked about it yet. In fact, right before we came on, right before we hit record, you and I were talking about what Sheriff Ledbetter had said about not rushing this investigation. And you were just, you were going into it. I was like, wait, save it. Save it for camera. Why do you think that let's start there? Why do you think it's so important for this statement to come out for the sheriff that said, we don't want to rush ourselves, but at the same time, understanding, you know, the family, the public, everybody wants answers. First of all, yeah, thank you, Jesse, for let me come on and discuss this case with you in this really tragic situation.

I think the sheriff's statement is entirely appropriate. It's measured. It's true to the way investigations roll out, which is that they take time. I think part of the problem with this case, and we talked about this some months back with the David Burke case, is people are conditioned from what they see on TV, what they see in the movie, is to think that investigations happen very quickly. You know, CSI results come back immediately, and that's just not the case of toxicology, CSI, forensics, autopsies. Investigations can take weeks, months, sometimes even years. And that's not what people are conditioned to see. And, you know, for families that have lost a loved one, any delay feels wrong.

And so I think it's very important that the sheriff comes out and sort of tries to manage expectations, especially because, unfortunately, I think, an early statement from the sheriff's office, something along the lines of, we don't see any foul play here. We don't suspect foul play. That's a premature statement. And I think that, unfortunately, suggested to some people that they were rushing to judgment. Why do you think they said that? Why do you think was there nothing outwardly to suggest there was foul play?

And I wonder if they said that to try to calm some of the, you know, the emotions that people had, but was there something on the outside that they could immediately determine there was no foul play? I mean, why make that statement unless they probably saw something? Well, you're exactly right. And I think it's just a question of wording. If they had said we don't see any obvious signs of foul play, but we are going to conduct a thorough investigation, I think people would have received that statement better. I think the way it was worded was investigating. They did say that. They said there's no foul play, but we're still investigating. Right. And I think really what that means is there's nothing obvious.

There's nothing clearly that indicates foul play. I think, unfortunately, people interpreted that as that they had already kind of reached a conclusion prematurely. What do you make of these different narratives, right? So you have the questions being raised by Ben Crump. And then you have this friend who came out, Nolan Well's friend came out and said, this information about there being a fight, this idea of him being at a pool party. It's from the wrong day. To see this conflicting accounts, almost conflicting accounts, right?

What do you make of that? Well, there's a couple of things seem to be going on here. One, there has been a lot of speculation, a lot of misinformation in this case. Sounds like from what we're hearing, that image from the pool party, even though it didn't come out until the weekend of July 4th, was actually taken a week or so earlier. There is some question with that recording about who is arguing with who about wanting their phone back.

The friend said it's him and not Nolan Wells. So there is just a lot of speculation and misinformation out there. And then, you know, as to the statements from the people on the island, you'd really need to dig down to see exactly what they said. Sounds like the friends told law enforcement that Nolan Wells wanted to stay behind to talk with some young woman. Sounds like the young woman said he left her to go back to get on the boat with his friends. That's not necessarily a conflicting statement, right?

Both things could be true. If she didn't actually see him get on the boat, that doesn't necessarily mean that he made it back there and something might have happened along the way. So you'd really have to look at the exact words that folks used in describing what they thought happened. And it's not unusual in a case like this for different people to have different perspectives and for those to appear to be in conflict. You have to imagine that when this friend, Mr. Shepard, comes out and makes these statements, there are those. And remember, he said he's getting death threats, right? He and his friends are getting death threats. You have to imagine people are going to be like, ah, is he telling the

truth. Is he credible? I have to imagine law enforcement has backed up his story or have spoken with him and investigated him. And I don't imagine he would have come forward and done these multiple interviews unless he feels he's telling the truth, unless he has evidence to back it up. I mean, otherwise, a lot of people would just remain silent. I find it interesting that he has done interviews with GMA and Rolling Stone and has, you know, tried to clear what he says is misinformation out there and clear his name. And obviously, he talks about receiving these threats. but I think that's significant, right? I mean, how much does that weigh in terms of his credibility?

I think it says a lot about his credibility and his intentions that he would put himself out there. He was not initially named in any of the public statement, so he's choosing to be named and choosing potentially to open himself up to the kind of threats that some of these other young people have received. Very important that everybody involved in this visit to the island to be interviewed, that they'd be interviewed separately and that the police are appropriately mum about what they're hearing from different people. Because if, in fact, something nefarious happened, you don't want to give people an opportunity to kind of coordinate their statements. And if it's an innocent situation, you don't want to be leaking information about what other people are saying because there's just a natural tendency to have statements get contaminated when people hear what other people had to say. And they'll sometimes conform their statements and their recollection to kind of fit the narrative.

if it's out there. Not again, out of any nefarious reason, but just because that's kind of how memory works. You have to imagine police are looking at that video of this argument, right? I mean, what do you think they're doing with that video? I imagine they're looking at it very carefully. Imagine they're doing everything they can both visually and in terms of audio to enhance it and determine who's talking. And I imagine that that is just a very small slice of the electronic evidence that they're looking at in this case. I mean, if you have a bunch of young people, taking a trip to an island, I imagine everybody's got phones, everybody's recording and uploading things to social media. And even if Mr. Wells' social media account was apparently quiet during

at least some of this time, some of that interaction has got to have been captured by other people. That's just sort of how young people socialize. Everything gets put online. You've seen the back and forth also with the phone, right? Like how could he not have his phone? Why would he leave his phone back behind? But you heard Shepard and Shepard? His uncle basically say it's not uncommon for people on a boat to leave their phone behind. What do you make of that? That makes sense. I mean, you're right.

Normally, young people have their phones with them and on all the time. But I think getting in water would be an exception. You're not going to get in the water with your phone in your pocket. So the idea that he would leave it behind with somebody or on a boat, if he's going to be getting wet, makes a lot of sense. Now, I have to tell you, people are looking at this and saying there are strange aspects to it. I mean, even his family says he knows better than just to stay behind, right? We now not go back with his friends. His family has said he didn't have his phone.

Perhaps messages were deleted. What are potential red flags you see in this? Does it strike you as unusual that the family would want outside counsel to take a look at this to investigate? Are there aspects to where you say, you know what, this might not be so straightforward? I know you're not part of the investigation, but based on the reporting so far, what kind of questions would you have? What's giving you a hesitation or reservation, if anything? Well, the fact that he was separated from his phone for a period of time is concerning. Again, it's not necessarily evidence that anything nefarious happened, but it's a legitimate

question. Why was he not with his phone? Why was he not posting things on social media? Why are these conflicting statements about how he intended to get off the island and with whom? Those are all legitimate questions. I think it's also fair to say that a lot of people don't trust the police. and I think for a lot of people of color, and particularly people in the South,

that's not an unreasonable concern. Historically, my profession, my former profession, has not always behaved in a way that's worthy of the trust of everybody in the communities that we're supposed to serve and protect. So the idea that the parents would be suspicious, would be concerned that the local authorities might not do a great job. I think that's fair. And again, I'm not casting any aspersions on the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

I'm just saying that's a legitimate human impulse. And again, for anybody that's lost to loved one, you want answers. And anything other than absolute clarity delivered quickly just feels wrong. According to USA Today, just to expand upon this, and Crum said that the family is conducting its own investigation because of, quote, distrust of the Mississippi law enforcement officials. Crum said the young woman says that he went and got back on the boat with the boys. The boys saying no.

He said he was going to stay with her. that's a conflict. So you're getting the sense of why they're conducting their own independent investigation, their own independent autopsy. How does that affect the official investigation? How does a parallel private independent investigation conducted by the family through an attorney with an independent autopsy? How does that affect the official investigation? Well, that's an excellent question, and it really depends on the integrity and the quality of persons involved in the independent investigation. I mean, Benjamin Krump is a very eminent and well-known civil rights lawyer. I imagine that he and the family have retained people of the

highest caliber to conduct the second autopsy and any additional investigation. So hopefully, it will be something that brings out the best in both aspects of the investigation and goes a step further in uncovering the truth. It's not unusual to have more than one autopsy in a case, and it's not unusual for medical professionals to disagree. I need more than it'd be unusual for scientists or other eminent professionals to disagree about how to interpret facts in a case. Crum said that the family's going to be hiring these experts to determine whether anything had actually been deleted from Nolan's phone questioned why, again, he would remain on the island without it. What kind of experts are those? What is that information? I mean, I imagine law enforcement.

is looking at that as well, although as we reported, at least at the time of this broadcast, it doesn't appear that Crump has turned over the phone to law enforcement. If that's true, I find that interesting, right? And I also curious about how you actually do an analysis of the phone. So there are experts and there are programs that are designed to extract data from cell phones. There's a couple of programs that are used to recover data, including data that people think is deleted. So there's a lot that you can get from a cell phone. Someone that is dependent upon the phone itself, how data is stored, the choices you make,

for example, with an application like Snapchat, whether things are retained or deleted. But there are people who do nothing but cell phone forensics and forensic examination of electronic devices, and they're very good at it, and they're very good at recovering things that people think that they got rid of. In addition to whatever's on the device itself, there may be additional information on the servers of social media companies, and providers of telecommunication services. So there's a lot of information to be gleaned there, both from Mr. Wells' phone and from the devices of other people that were there on the island at the time.

Now, I mentioned the family's arranging for this forensic pathologist in Washington, D.C. to conduct the second private, independent forensic autopsy. Crumpet added, if he's drowning, nobody sees him drown, nobody offers assistance, nobody tries to help. I thought that was an interesting comment, too, right? I mean, that's a point. That's a good point to make. How does you just drown and no one sees him? Mr. Kromp is asking very legitimate questions about apparent discrepancies between the different accounts,

about why Mr. Wells was separated from his phone, and this question of drowning is interesting, especially because Mr. Wells, excuse me, was apparently a very strong swimmer. But drowning doesn't always look like this desperate thrashing around that we might be used to from the media. Drowning is often silent. It doesn't necessarily look like somebody's in distress, and even a very strong swimmer can be overcome by currents and by things in the water that might impair their ability to swim.

One of the things that Crump also mentioned was, or questioned, was when Nolan's body was found, right? According to New York Post, Crum said, his body should have been there on July 5th. Why would it not appear until July 6th? If he stayed back on the island, there were boats there, There were people. It's just not adding up. What do you think? Again, Mr. Crump is raising legitimate questions, but for every one of these questions,

there are both sort of innocent and more nefarious answers. If somebody drowns, it's not uncommon for their body to remain out at sea or in a body of water for days or even longer before it's discovered, depending on occurrence and where the drowning happens. The sheriff had asked for, and is still asking for the public's help, right? Asking specifically for original, unedited photos and videos that were taken on the northwest tip of Horn Island on July 4th, 2026, particularly those depicting alleged altercations or containing images of or believed to include Nolan Wells. That's actual a quote. Original media often contains critical details that may be essential to the ongoing investigation. And look, the sheriff has encouraged anybody, even if you think it's small, even if you think,

it's insignificant, turn it over because you may not know the value of it. So again, why do you think the sheriff wants this? What are they going to do with this information? How do they analyze it? How do they process it? How does it fit into the overall investigation? Well, it's a very legitimate ask by the sheriff's office, and it's going to probably take them a while to go through all the potential sources of electronic evidence in this case. I would expect that there were many people present on this island besides Nolan Wells and his friends who might have captured some part of some interaction. And if they're going to be parsing through, you know, a day's worth of film from multiple people, and probably in many cases having to slow things down,

enhance things to try to figure out what they're really looking at, that's something that's going to take a while. But it's an absolutely essential source of information in this case. Matt, what are you going to be looking out for next? In other words, when do you think we're going to be getting information. When do you think we'll get some update, either from law enforcement? I also wonder if it's difficult to predict when we get some more information from this independent investigation from Ben Crump. I mean, I imagine if they get the independent autopsy results, would they share that immediately? What should we be looking out for next? Well, I would expect that the forensic examination of phones and other electronic media is likely to

take weeks, could even take months, depending on the amount of data involved. And it also has to do with the amount of personnel that are available to review all that data. That could be in itself very time-consuming. The autopsy itself, at least the preliminary autopsy, both the official one and the private one commissioned by the family, should be complete or close to complete now or very soon. But there's additional steps like looking at toxicology, for example, that may take again, additional weeks. So that's going to take a while. I think that probably additional potential witnesses may be identified besides the group of friends that went to the island with Mr. Wells. Those interviews may take additional days and weeks. They're probably going to be re-interviews

as they gain information from one person that requires them to go back and clarify or confirm information with somebody they've already talked to. So I think we're probably talking about a matter of weeks, both for the Jackson County Sheriff's investigation and hopefully for the independent investigation sought by the family and by Mr. Cromp. So I'm hoping it's not going to be too much longer than that. The tough thing about a case like this is sometimes even after all the information is in, you don't have a clear answer. I mean, for example, if the determination is that he drowned, well, that's a cause of death. It's not a manner of death, right? You could drown accidentally. You could drown by suicide, you could drown by homicide. So we might at the end of the day have all the facts in

and still not have an answer that satisfies the grieving family or other people that are concerned about what happened. Because the forensic evidence wouldn't be so clear to suggest how someone drowned, right? I mean, how could you show unless there was some sort of blunt force trauma or some sort of evidence of, you know, he was held down or pushed in the water or something like that. It would be really hard to know. Exactly. And even if there are some injuries to his body, depending on the injuries, they could be something caused by another person or caused by a body being in a rough currents. Matt Irvine, thanks for coming on. As always, thank you for giving us things to be thinking about as we cover this and continue to wait for answers. And we're just hoping the family gets those answers. So Matt, that's much. Thank you, Jesse.

And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's Peacock as well if you want to Follow me, X, Instagram, my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday, and Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern. See you next time, everybody.