The investigation into the Nolan Wells case took another turn this week as key evidence emerged in the death of the 18-year-old. The newly reviewed towed boat video and GPS data confirmed the teen was missing from the towed vessel. There were seven people on board, as seen in the footage; however, Nolan was missing.
Newly reviewed footage reportedly showed Nolan Wells was not on the towed boat
TMZ obtained the recording released by Mississippi’s Department of Marine Resources on Sunday, July 26. It captured an emergency distress call placed from a Horn Island boat around 4 p.m. on July 4. In the recording, a panicked teen can be heard telling a Sea Tow dispatcher that the boat’s bilge pump had failed and the vessel was taking on water.
“We’re sinking. Can y’all please come?” the teen could be heard in the video.
Sea Tow didn’t end up towing the boat; however, another vessel anchored near Horn Island stepped in to tow them. The group eventually restarted their boat’s engine and returned to the mainland on their own.
However, various accounts from Wells’ friends conflict with timelines of what actually happened in the final hours.
Wells’ friends told authorities, as reported by TMZ, they urged him to board the boat with them, but he chose to stay behind on the island with a girl. The group stated they departed Horn Island around 4:30 p.m. on July 4. However, witnesses told police they spotted Wells on the island as late as 6:00 p.m., hours after his friends claimed to have left.
GPS data reviewed by the Jackson County, Mississippi investigation show the boat left Horn Island around 4:31 p.m. and returned to the group’s original departure point later that evening. Wells was reported missing that night and was found dead in the water off the island two days later, on July 6.
The Wells family retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump and commissioned an independent autopsy. The private examination concluded that Wells’ cause and manner of death remain “undetermined pending investigation.”
TELL US—DO YOU THINK THE NEW AUDIO BRINGS INVESTIGATORS CLOSER TO ANSWERS IN NOLAN WELLS’ CASE?
