A Fourth of July celebration ended in tragedy this week when a Mississippi teenager on a boating trip with friends disappeared and his body washed ashore days later, officials have said.
An investigation is underway into the death of Nolan Xavier Wells, 18, as scrutiny of the circumstances has swirled online.
Wells was last seen boating with friends around 3 p.m. Saturday on Horn Island, a barrier reef off Mississippi accessible only by boat, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department said. He was wearing blue swim trunks and sunglasses.
Wells’ mother reported him missing that night after he did not return on the boat with the rest of the group, according to Ben Crump, the prominent civil rights attorney retained by Wells’ family.
A two-day search was launched that included the National Park Service, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and the Coast Guard.
A U.S. park ranger found his body Monday at the northwestern tip of the island, Crump said.
The Jackson County Coroner’s Office confirmed to NBC News that the body was identified as that of Wells. A cause of death has not been determined pending autopsy and toxicology reports.
His family is trying to piece together what happened on the boat and learn why he was left alone.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, shared photos Sunday on Facebook that she said were of Wells with his friends on the boat on the Fourth. The photos show her son with three other young males. Other boats are also seen in the distance.
Crump told NBC affiliate WESH of Orlando, Florida, “You had this 18-year-old kid who went out celebrating on the Fourth of July with his friends on a boat, and tragically, they all came back, but Nolan didn’t, and Nolan was the only African American in the group, and so it is like making people harken back to the sins of the past in the state of Mississippi.”
Crump told WESH that Wells’ friends and relatives do not accept that his death “was a drowning, an accidental drowning.”
Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told The Associated Press that Wells’ friends are cooperating with the investigation.
“From the people we’ve talked to, it sounds like he chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else,” Ledbetter said.
Crump said he will lead an independent investigation. He told WESH that Wells’ body will be flown to Washington, D.C., for an independent autopsy “that has no affiliation with Mississippi law enforcement officials.”
Meanwhile, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is asking anyone who may have had any sightings of or interactions with Wells on the Fourth to reach out and to send in any photos or videos taken on the northwest tip of Horn Island that day that could depict Wells.
“We recognize that a significant amount of information, speculation, and commentary has been shared on social media and throughout the community,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement. “As with any active investigation, our investigators are working to establish the facts through eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, and other reliable information.”
Wells was a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College and was preparing to return for the coming football season. He would have turned 19 next month, according to Crump.
Wonsley said Monday on Facebook that she and her family “are absolutely devastated.”
“My heart is broken for our sweet son who was always willing to cheer and uplift others,” she said. “Nolan was a special soul, God took his time creating our son.”
