Nolan Wells Case Facts and Under-the-Radar News: Week of July 27

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A weekly check-in on two fronts: where the Nolan Wells case actually stands on the facts, and a couple of other civil rights and accountability stories from the past week that deserve more attention than they got.

Nolan Wells: the facts so far

Wells, 18, was last seen on Horn Island, Mississippi on July 4 as his friends’ boat departed without him^[1]. His mother reported him missing that evening. A multi-agency search — the Coast Guard, the sheriff’s office, and the United Cajun Navy — grew over the following two days, with a command post set up at Lake Mars Boat Launch and aircraft joining the water search^[1]. On July 6, a body matching Wells’s description was found by a park ranger on Horn Island and the search was called off; his mother confirmed his death on Facebook^[2]. The coroner’s office confirmed via DNA and dental records on July 7 that the body was Wells’s, and the family retained attorney Ben Crump^[1]. A GoFundMe for funeral costs passed six figures overnight as tributes poured in^[3].

This week’s developments

The most significant new movement this week involves Bart Edmiston Jr., a University of Wyoming punter and friend of Wells who was on Horn Island the day Wells disappeared. After a viral old photo showing Edmiston Jr. with a young woman was misread on social media as evidence linking him to Wells’s death, Edmiston Jr.’s attorney, Russell Latino, said Edmiston Jr. has never dated the woman social media users are naming and did not know her before Wells’s death^[4]. Edmiston Jr.’s family says he was on a different boat, boarded a distressed vessel to help remove a stuck transom plug, and towed it briefly to help it drain — and that more than 20 people across both boats witnessed those actions^[5]. His attorney says Edmiston Jr. has fully cooperated with investigators, providing his boat, GPS records and phone, and is now pursuing legal action against people spreading what his family calls “wholly fabricated” claims — after Latino said Edmiston Jr. received a “credible death threat” tied to the online speculation^[4].

Separately, conservative commentator Brandon Tatum has publicly claimed Wells was using cocaine on Horn Island before his death^[6]. That claim has not been confirmed by investigators, the family, or any official report, and toxicology results have not been publicly released. We’re flagging it here as a claim in circulation, not a verified fact — readers should treat it with the same caution as the earlier unverified claims this case has generated.

For the full day-by-day record, see our complete timeline of the case and our continuously updated live tracker.

Other news you may have missed this week

A $1 million settlement in the Jayden Baez shooting. The family of Jayden Baez, a 20-year-old fatally shot by Osceola County, Florida sheriff’s deputies in a Target parking lot in April 2022, has reached a $1 million settlement in their federal civil rights lawsuit^[7]. Deputies had been alerted after two teens were seen shoplifting about $46 in Pokémon cards and pizza from the store; plainclothes deputies conducting a training exercise nearby surrounded Baez’s car as he left, and two deputies opened fire after Baez’s car struck a patrol vehicle, killing Baez and injuring two other teens in the car^[8]. Attorney Mark NeJame, who represented the family, said the case “screams of excessive force”^[7]. The settlement was reached even as the deputies who fired were still appealing a lower court’s ruling that denied them qualified immunity^[8].

A Horry County school bus driver settlement. Horry County Schools in South Carolina has settled for $175,000 with Stephanie Floyd-McInnis, whose daughter’s arm was allegedly shut in a school bus door in August 2023^[9]. According to the lawsuit, the girl fell asleep and missed her stop; when driver Thomas Interlandi tried to drop her at a different stop, she said she was afraid of dogs nearby that her family had a history with. The lawsuit alleges Interlandi then shut her arm in the door and drove in reverse back to her previous stop with her arm still stuck, telling her it “serves her right” for where she put her hand^[9]^[10]. Interlandi was arrested over the incident on charges that were later dropped, and the district denied negligence as part of the settlement^[9].

Both settlements moved through the legal system quietly this week, with far less national attention than higher-profile cases — but each represents a real family that spent years pursuing accountability through the courts.

What story from this week do you think deserves more coverage? Tell us in the comments below.