Breaking News · Nolan Wells Case · Updated October 2, 2026, 7:35 PM CDT
This continues our full timeline of the case and our report on the grand jury decision.
Eleven days after a Mississippi grand jury declined to charge anyone, protests over Nolan Wells’ death are spreading from a county courthouse to high schools and college campuses.[3]
Wells, 18, a Black college freshman from Ocean Springs, was reported missing the night of July 4 after a boating trip to Horn Island. His body was found in the water off the island on July 6.[5]
The official cause and manner of death remain undetermined. That one word is why this story is not closed, and why this report leans toward more investigation, not less.
Below: what the protesters are doing, what exactly they are angry about, what the district attorney and the grand jury say in response, and which questions both sides agree are still open.
1. The protests, from Pascagoula to Atlanta
On Tuesday, September 29, a small group stood outside the Jackson County Courthouse with signs reading “Justice for Nolan” and “Resign, Reopen, Reassign.” WLOX reported that the Mississippi Rising Coalition organized it and has held other protests over the past couple of months.[5]
Sarah Emmett, a teacher who drove down from Starkville, said: “I think of all the times my daughter has gone out with friends and returned home safe, and that didn’t happen here, and that just hurts my heart.”[5]
On Monday, September 28, students at Wauwatosa West High School in Wisconsin walked out and marched to Firefly Park. CBS 58 reported that students who left without parental permission were marked absent.[6]
On Thursday, October 1, hundreds of students marched across the Atlanta University Center, from the Woodruff Library at Clark Atlanta to King Chapel at Morehouse, Capital B Atlanta reported. The Spelman and Clark Atlanta chapters of the NAACP organized it.[4]
The chants were specific: “He didn’t drown” and “No water in his lungs.” Organizers also called for a social media blackout and asked people to change their profile pictures so Wells’ name stays in the news.[4]
Clark Atlanta sophomore Besiyah, who gave only a first name, said: “It’s time to get angry.”[4]
Watch NBC News on the earlier protests, in July:
NBC News, a news organization, on YouTube (July 13, 2026): “Protesters demand answers after the death of Nolan Wells.”
2. Why are people outraged
Four things come up again and again, in the chants, in the lawyers’ statements, and in the reporting. Each is listed with who says it.
The head injury and the empty lungs. Both the state autopsy and the independent autopsy found two roughly two-inch bruises on the back of Wells’ head, according to the Crump legal team and ClickOrlando.[1][7] Attorney Liza Park said the state report found “no water in the stomach. There’s no water in the lungs. There’s no water in the throat.”[1]
The grand jury report calls drowning “consistent with” the evidence, and both pathologists call it a “diagnosis of exclusion.”[2][3] Crump argues that this does not rule out blunt force trauma.[3]
The timing of the bruise. Park said no white blood cells were found, which she said means the injury happened within about four hours of death.[2] The independent pathologist, Dr. Roger Mitchell, wrote that such a bruise “is compatible with a very recent antemortem injury, generally within the first few hours.”[2]
The phone. Digital forensic expert Andrew Garrett told the press conference that data was deleted from Wells’ phone between the time Wells last had it and the time his parents got it. “They were Snapchat, correct,” he said when asked what was deleted.[1]
Garrett also said he could not speak to intent. “I can’t talk to intent, unfortunately,” he said.[1]
The history. CNN notes the speculation is set against “Mississippi’s fraught history of racial violence.”[3] Crump said messages on the phone show some of Wells’ friends were concerned that “people on Horn Island can be racist.” WLOX noted it had no transcript and was relying on what Crump read aloud.[1]
Watch the full phone-findings news conference from WLOX:
WLOX News, a news organization, on YouTube (September 24, 2026): “FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: Forensic examiner details data recovered from Nolan Wells’ phone.”
3. What the district attorney and the grand jury say
The grand jury, 23 people from Jackson County, issued a unanimous no true bill. CNN reports it issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses.[3]
District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said in a video statement: “There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s death and disappearance were racially motivated.”[3]
The report says a witness saw Wells fall “awkwardly off the side of a boat” around 3:30 p.m. on July 4, after which he kept socializing and appeared uninjured. That is the grand jury’s account of a possible source of the head bruise. The autopsies do not confirm it.[3]
On the phone, McIlrath said a preliminary extraction report showed “the phone had not been accessed by anyone other than Nolan’s family, and nothing had been deleted off of the phone since Nolan’s last use.” The Crump team’s full extraction disputes the part about deletions.[1]
She also said the state had “no legal avenue to seize and search Nolan’s cell phone.” The family says it never agreed to the lab terms the district attorney proposed, which would have meant leaving the phone with law enforcement.[1][2]
Watch ABC News on the grand jury report:
ABC News, a news organization, on YouTube (September 22, 2026): “No criminal charges in the death of Nolan Wells: Grand jury report.”
4. The questions both sides leave open
Two points are not in dispute. Both the state medical examiner and the independent pathologist ruled the cause and manner of death undetermined.[2]
And neither autopsy established what happened in Wells’ last moments. Mitchell wrote that the investigation should stay open until these can be “definitively established”: the circumstances of the blunt-force injuries, the events immediately preceding entry into the water, his level of consciousness, the witness timeline, and any “potential intervening non-accidental factors.”[2]
Crump’s own position is narrower than some of the online claims. “We don’t know what happened to Nolan Wells,” he said. “We’re not accusing anybody of anything nefarious.”[1]
There are open items that a further investigation could settle:
- What the 282 pages of recovered Snapchat messages say, and who deleted the data, and when. Garrett said “somebody had to take a user action to delete data.”[7]
- How the phone moved after the group left Horn Island. Garrett said it stayed on the boat and was last used there around 2:18 p.m., and that some activity came after Wells died.[1][7]
- How the head injury happened, given the witness account of a fall and the pathologists’ statements about timing.
- Whether the state’s full investigative file and autopsy are made public. The NAACP and the family have asked for both, and Crump said the family received the state autopsy only on the evening of September 23.[1]
The family has also renewed its request for an independent federal review. The Congressional Black Caucus first called for one in a letter on August 12, the Mississippi Free Press reported.[2]
Crump’s message to anyone with information: “If you know anything, come forward.”[1]
Watch the Associated Press on the family’s response:
Associated Press, a news organization, on YouTube (September 22, 2026): “LIVE: Press conference after Nolan Wells grand jury declines to bring charges.”
What to watch
Whether the district attorney keeps the investigation open. Whether the full state file is released. Whether the Justice Department opens the federal review that the family and the Congressional Black Caucus requested.
Where it happened
Pins mark the places named in the reports, not exact addresses. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors.
Where the protests spread
Pins mark the places named in the reports, not exact addresses. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors.
How to Verify This Yourself
Read the reports directly: WLOX on the phone findings, the Mississippi Free Press on the autopsies, CNN on the grand jury report and Capital B Atlanta on the Atlanta march. The grand jury report was released by the Jackson County District Attorney’s office.
References
- WLOX. ‘Things were deleted’: Ben Crump, forensic expert announce cellphone findings, state autopsy results in Nolan Wells case (September 24, 2026). ↩
- Mississippi Free Press. Crump releases full independent autopsy of Nolan Wells, says questions of Wells’ death remain (September 23, 2026). ↩
- CNN. A grand jury found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in Nolan Wells’ death. His family says their fight for justice goes on (September 21, 2026). ↩
- Capital B Atlanta. Solidarity With Nolan Wells Inspires AUC Students to March (October 2, 2026). ↩
- WLOX. ‘Justice for Nolan’: Protesters gather outside Jackson County Courthouse (September 29, 2026). ↩
- CBS 58 Milwaukee. Wauwatosa West HS students stage walkout in support of Nolan Wells (September 28, 2026). ↩
- ClickOrlando. Orlando firm surfaces new evidence in Nolan Wells case (September 24, 2026). ↩
Investigative methodology: this report was written by hand from the reports listed above. Quoted passages are verbatim from those sources and each claim is attributed to the report it comes from. The cause and manner of Nolan Wells’ death are officially undetermined, and nothing here asserts how he died.
Kemetic Minds Editorial Desk
Verified NewsroomPrimary-sourced investigative intelligence on civil rights, voting rights, federal policy, and consumer protection. Sourced from primary legal filings, government statistics, and direct field reporting.