New Evidence: Nolan Wells’ phone will undergo a joint forensic review after growing concerns that key content may have been deleted
Nolan Wells’ cellphone will undergo a “mutual inspection” by authorities and independent experts after suspicions were raised that content on the device may have been deleted, his family’s lawyer has said.
The 18-year-old did not return with friends from a boat trip to Horn Island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast on the Fourth of July. His body was found there two days later.
Police have said nothing “yet” points to foul play, but the college football player’s family is conducting their own investigation.
Questions have been raised over why Wells left his phone before his pals returned to shore and whether Snapchat content had been deleted before it was retrieved by his family.
Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, and their lawyer, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, met with Jackson County District Attorney Angel McIlrath on Wednesday to discuss the case.
“There will be a grand jury that she will turn this case over to once they have collected all the information and finished their investigation,” Crump told a press conference after the meeting at the Jackson County Courthouse in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
“We also agreed that we would have a mutual inspection of the cellphone, with our experts and their experts.”
Crump said that former law enforcement experts will “help us with the cellphone downloads, so everybody will be able to see at the same time what the cellphone has.”
In a tearful interview Friday with Michael Strahan on “Good Morning America,” Christine Wonsley said she tracked Wells’ phone on the Life360 app after his disappearance, but was left with concerns when she recovered it.
“When we finally got his phone, me and my sister went through the phone. We went in his Snapchat. He had two accounts. Absolutely nothing,” she said.
“It wasn’t even 24 hours, which is how long videos and pictures stay on Snapchat, and I was just like ‘that can’t be’.”
“I’ve seen Nolan whenever he Snaps – like when he goes and he’s having fun, like he does videos… there was absolutely nothing… even my sister was like… ‘that’s suspicious’,” Christine Wonsley said.
His mom added during a press conference in Harlem later that day that “there were no saved pictures. There were no snaps from that day…”
“Anyone who’s ever been around Nolan will tell you at social gatherings, he’s taking videos, he’s taking pictures, he’s even come up to me when I’m getting ready to go to bed, ‘Hey, Ma, come on, take a picture of me’,” she explained.
“You know, that was Nolan, so that’s why we feel that things may have been deleted, because of the fact that there was nothing in either one of his accounts.”
Nolan Wells in a football uniform with his mother Christine Wonsley.
Nolan Wells posed in his football gear with his mother, Christine Wonsley.Facebook / Christine Wonsley
Wells’ family revealed on Wednesday that they will be holding a homegoing service for the teen at Central Point Church in their hometown of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, on Monday morning, followed by a party to celebrate him at Jackson County Fairgrounds.
The Reverend Al Sharpton will be officiating the funeral service, with costs being covered by Hollywood actor Tyler Perry. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has also helped pay for an independent autopsy of Wells’ body.
Crump told the press conference Wednesday that he hoped to be able to share the preliminary findings of the autopsy “very soon.”
“We’re concentrating on the funeral services, but hopefully shortly thereafter, we will be able to tell some findings of the preliminary autopsy,” he said.