Nolan Wells Cell Phone Data, Autopsy Released After Grand Jury Clears Friends, Finds No Evidence of Crime

Update September 25, 2026, 3:55pm ET: This article was updated with details about the autopsy and cell phone ; Originally published September 22, 2026 at 5:19pm

In a victory for due process and the rule of law, officials in Mississippi announced Monday night that a grand jury unanimously voted against bringing criminal charges over the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells. Subsequently, Wells’ family’s legal team released the independent forensic examination of his cell phone and the state’s autopsy report.

The Tragic Death

The teen, who was black, was last seen alive on July 4 on Horn Island, an island 10 miles off the coast of Mississippi that is only accessible by boat, after going with a group of friends from high school for a Fourth of July party. 

The group traveled aboard three separate boats and friends said Wells decided to stay on the island when the boat he arrived on left early because it was taking on water. It was reported that Wells stayed behind to talk to a girl he was interested in, and the others assumed he would get a ride back on another vessel. But he never made it back to the mainland. A massive search began and his body was found two days later, face down in the water along the shoreline of Horn Island.

Wells’ parents said they believed local authorities were too quick to rule their son’s death an accident and began working with known race-baiters Benjamin Crump and Al Sharpton. That has led to a litany of allegations against Wells’ mostly white friends who were with him on the day of his death.

The Grand Jury Report

The grand jury wrote in its report that “the position of, the condition of, time of discovery, and location of Mr. Wells’ body is consistent with drowning.” The Jackson County district attorney went further, saying, “there is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan’s disappearance and death were racially motivated.” 

The grand jury met from September 14 to September 18, as 23 jurors heard from over 40 witnesses and reviewed evidence ranging from GPS data to cellphone extractions to photos and videos from the island. NPR reported evidence reviewed also included findings from Crump’s team.

With the grand jury’s return a “no true bill” in Wells’ death investigation, no indictment or charges will be filed.

The Autopsy

According to the district attorney, Wells’ family’s legal team informed her office late last month that it had found no evidence a crime was committed against Wells. “On August 13, 2026, after the Crump team conducted and released the results of its independent autopsy and after receiving hundreds of tips, they advised my office that they had no evidence of a crime being committed against Nolan Wells,” she said.

Even so, that same team is now casting doubt on the grand jury’s findings, claiming the report offers more questions than answers, and accusing the district attorney of ending the investigation without determining exactly what caused blunt force trauma to the back of Wells’ head and body.

“All other causes must be ruled out prior to certifying a death as drowning,” Crump said at the news conference Tuesday. “What is another cause the district attorney failed to rule out? Blunt force trauma… Common sense tells you that this child did not just drown.”

At the same presser, Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, said she didn’t believe the grand jury’s conclusion that her son had accidentally drowned was supported by the autopsy findings. “How can a jury come to the conclusion of drowning, despite knowing that there was trauma to his body, and despite hearing many inconsistencies,” she asked.

On Thursday, Wells’ family released the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, which found that the cause and manner of death are “undetermined.” The report indicated that the pathologist found “evidence of injury” to the back of the teen’s head that is described as “two dark red-purple subcutaneous scalp contusions.” Additionally, the state’s autopsy did not find fluid in the airways or in the stomach.

The state autopsy report’s conclusion matched the findings of the private autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family, which was released in July, and ruled his cause and manner of death as “undetermined pending investigation.”

Analyzing the Autopsies

On Friday’s show, Megyn noted that the combination of the bruising and lack of water in the lungs or stomach led many on the internet to reach the cast the same doubt on the grand jury report as Crump and Wonsley.

“They’re saying the autopsy shows a contusion on the lower back of his head and no water in the lungs or stomach, and I want to say up front that is interesting, and I get it,” she admitted. “That would suggest, if you didn’t know more, he didn’t drown and somehow he hit his head.”

That is why she and her team consulted with an independent expert, Dr. Kendall Crowns, the chief medical examiner of the Tarrant County Medical Examiner District in Fort Worth, Texas.

As it relates to the bruising, Dr. Crowns confirmed a bruise would not develop post-mortem, which means Wells hit is head prior to his death. With that said, both medical examiners determined the bruising with not life-threatening, and a witness testified under oath before the grand jury that they saw Wells slip awkwardly off the side of a boat around 3:30pm on July 4. The witness could not confirm whether Wells struck his head, and he said Wells continue to socialize after the fall and did not appear injured.

And then there are the concerns about the drowning conclusion. According to Dr. Crowns, there is a possibility of “dry drowning” that occurs due to a reflex closure of the throat, or laryngospasm, when water comes in contact with the larynx around the level of the vocal cords and the vocal cords suddenly tighten. That essentially closes the throat and the individual is left unable to breathe or take on water.

Much like in drownings in which water is inhaled, the individual dies from anoxia, or lack of oxygen getting to the brain. Dr. Crowns said this occurs in about 10 to 15 percent of cases and would explain why no water would be found in the stomach or inhaled into the lungs. “So, it is not the end of the story on the drowning conclusion to say there was no water in the lungs. It’s only part of the story,” Megyn noted.

That leads to the toxicology report, which signified Wells was, in Megyn’s words, was “definitely drunk” when he died. “The reality looking like Nolan got very intoxicated in a very short amount of time, was drinking, was boating, was in the water, and that is a very dangerous combination,” she said.

“I mean, the boys didn’t try to deny that they were drinking there that day, and it looks like, I mean, if this is true, not only was Nolan drinking, but he really got his drink on in the hour before he went into the water and died,” she explained. “And Ben Crump very much wants us to believe that that contusion happened because [Wells’] friends may have assaulted him.”

That theory, Megyn said, is not supported by the facts. “There’s zero proof of that. That’s what’s true… and both forensic evidence experts from the Crump team and the DA’s team looked at that injury and said, ‘No, that that did not kill Nolan Wells… It was a bruise at the base of the skull. That’s it,'” she added.

The Cell Phone Data

In addition to the state autopsy, Crump also released the independent forensic examination of Wells’ cell phone and offered his spin on what it means. The D.A., meanwhile, was never given access to the device as part of the investigation.

According to Crump, the last text from Wells was from the night of July 3, something the family does not find unusual because, like many young people, Wells and his friends mostly communicated via Snapchat. The forensics expert hired by Crump’s team was able to recover nearly 300 Snaps between Wells and his friend group.

GPS data was also recovered. As had previously been assumed, the phone appeared to stay on the boat Wells arrived on all day, with him returned to use it at various points.

At a Thursday press conference, Crump and his team discussed the contents of the cellphone analysis but did not release a full report of all the messages sent and received in Wells’ final days. They also tried to suggest foul play, claiming the records were “incomplete” due to messages, specifically from Snapchat, being deleted.

The D.A. has pushed back on the narrative, saying in a statement that no one physically accessed Wells’ phone after his last known use and before it was returned to his parents. And what the analysis also seemingly fails to account for–or at least make clear–is the fact that Snaps automatically delete after a period of time and can also be recalled after sending.

Crump also invoked race. “The messages on his phone and the Snaps will show some of his own friends were concerned about people on Horn Island could be racist. That’s his friends discussing that on Snap,” he claimed, before going on to discuss alleged messages about “sketchy-looking dudes” on a different boat not related to Wells’ friend group.

Quest for Accountability

Meanwhile, the attorneys representing the friends of Wells who have had their names dragged through the mud and been on the receiving end of racially charged rhetoric from the likes of Crump, Sharpton, and others have praised the grand jury’s findings and vowed to pursue legal action as necessary. 

On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Russ Latino, attorney for Bart Edmiston, to discuss the grand jury report and what it means for his client moving forward. Watch: 

You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Latino by tuning in to episode 1,403 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.