A grand jury in Mississippi has declined to indict after finding no criminal wrongdoing in the death of Nolan Wells.
Wells vanished during a July 4 boating trip, and his body was discovered two days later amid circumstances “consistent with drowning.” The black teen’s death sparked a wave of race-related speculation from those who argued that he was killed by his boating companions, and a grand jury was impaneled to investigate and determine whether the incident warranted charges against any involved parties.
Look:
The 23-member grand jury returned a No True Bill after hearing from 43 witnesses, as well as examining physical and digital evidence from the case. Police reports, maps, images, interviews and video were among the pieces reviewed, District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath explained in a social media post on the decision Monday.
According to the report, the “position of, condition of, time of discovery, and location” of the teen’s body were ultimately found to be more consistent with a drowning death with “no credible evidence” of foul play. Additionally, a bruise on the back of his head was deemed non-fatal, though it was not explained how the bruise ultimately got there. A witness did remark on seeing Wells slip “awkwardly off the side of a boat” but could not confirm whether he had struck the back of his head during the event.
“Questions had also been raised about Wells’ alcohol consumption,” Fox News reported. “A July 5 Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Marine Patrol email previously obtained by Fox News Digital listed Wells’ alcohol intake as “heavy” while authorities searched for him. The email did not identify the source of that information.”
“The grand jury found that Wells bought alcohol using a fake ID and that no adults of legal drinking age provided him with alcohol on the island.”
A toxicology report was described as “not particularly informative” in the grand jury report “because decomposition fluid is an unreliable source for determining substance levels in a body,” according to Fox.
One seemingly strange point of interest was Wells’ cell phone, which returned to the mainland on a boat without him.
“The grand jury said it was not unusual for people visiting the island to return on different boats or leave phones and other belongings aboard boats while socializing. Wells’ phone was not the only one that returned to the mainland without its owner, according to the report,” Fox News explained.
But this may not be the end of the case. The report notes that if any new evidence is uncovered indicating that the death was non-accidental, it could be presented to the Jackson County Grand Jury “for further consideration.”
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Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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