A Mississippi grand jury found no credible evidence tying Nolan Wells’ friends to his death, while their attorneys promised accountability over false online accusations.
The Jackson County grand jury returned a “no true bill,” meaning no indictment or criminal charges will follow from its review. The panel found Wells’ remains were discovered under circumstances consistent with drowning, Fox News Digital reported.
The decision rejects public allegations that people traveling with Wells to Horn Island committed a crime. District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath also said investigators found no evidence that race played a role in his disappearance or death.
Wells disappeared July 4, 2026, after taking a boat trip to Horn Island, a barrier island along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Search crews looked for him for two days before a National Park Service ranger found his remains at the island’s northwestern tip.
A witness told the grand jury that Wells slipped awkwardly from a boat around 3:30 p.m. on July 4. The witness could not say whether Wells struck his head, but testified that Wells kept socializing and did not appear injured.
The grand jury examined allegations involving people who traveled to or from Horn Island aboard the Triton, Palm Beach and Tideline. It found no credible evidence that any occupant committed criminal conduct connected to Wells’ death.
The panel went further. It said the accusations against the boats’ occupants were “not based in truth” and resulted from “public clamor and private malice.”
Grand jurors also addressed the physical evidence. Their report said the position and condition of Wells’ remains, along with the location and time of discovery, were consistent with drowning.
That finding did not establish a final medical cause of death. Dr. Roger Mitchell, who performed a second autopsy for Wells’ family, agreed with Mississippi’s chief medical examiner that the cause remained undetermined. Both treated drowning as a diagnosis reached only after other explanations were excluded.
That distinction matters. The grand jury found the circumstances consistent with drowning, but the medical findings described in the case did not settle every question about precisely how Wells died.
McIlrath said a claim that three White friends went to the island with a Black friend and returned without him “spread like wildfire.” She called that account false and said no evidence supported allegations of racial hate or violence.
“Nolan’s friends loved Nolan and Nolan loved them,” McIlrath said. She added that Wells chose to remain on the island and that no evidence contradicted that conclusion.
The district attorney also challenged the conduct of civil-rights attorney Ben Crump’s team. McIlrath said the team conducted an independent autopsy, received hundreds of tips and contacted her office on August 13, 2026.
McIlrath said the team advised her office at that point that it had no evidence anyone committed a crime against Wells. “What I am suggesting is that the Crump team knew better but did not do better,” she said.
The grand jury included 23 Mississippians from several racial backgrounds. Its members included 12 White people and five Black people. Hispanic, Native American, Asian and other residents also served on the panel.
Attorney Russell Latino, who represents Bart Edmiston and his family, said the grand jury carried out its duty. He argued that online figures harmed Wells’ friends, their community and Mississippi by spreading claims he described as false and malicious.
“This story involves two tragedies,” Latino said. He identified Wells’ death as one tragedy and the treatment of Wells’ friends and community as another.
Latino said the Edmiston family plans to pursue accountability against people who used Wells’ death to divide and injure others. He did not specify what legal action the family might take.
Edward Andrew Paltzik, who represents Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour, said he sent legal notices to social-media influencers and media figures. The available details do not identify every recipient or describe the demands in those notices.
After the grand jury decision, Paltzik called on Crump to apologize to the three men. He described Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour as completely innocent and said Crump had “some serious explaining to do.”
The lawyers’ planned response raises a separate question from the criminal inquiry. The grand jury addressed whether evidence supported charges; any later effort targeting online accusations would concern what people said and whether they can be held legally responsible.
For Wells’ friends, the no-true-bill decision removes the threat of indictment from this investigation. It cannot erase months of public suspicion or restore reputations by itself.
Crump rejected the idea that the grand jury result should close the matter. He said Wells’ family released the final independent autopsy report so the public could review it and cited blunt-force injuries to Wells’ head and back.
“This grand jury result leaves us with more questions than answers,” Crump said. He maintained that Wells’ family would continue seeking an explanation and urged the Justice Department to investigate if Mississippi declined to do so.
The record leaves some questions unresolved. It does not establish whether Wells hit his head during the reported fall, and the official cause and manner of death remain undetermined. No information identifies any Justice Department response to Crump’s request.
But unresolved medical questions do not amount to evidence of murder or racial violence. The grand jury heard testimony, reviewed the circumstances and found no credible basis for criminal charges against Wells’ companions.
A viral accusation is not evidence. A lawful process still has to separate suspicion from proof.
