Nolan Wells: Autopsy Reveals No Fluid In Lungs At Time Of Death

On Thursday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump revealed new developments and discrepancies regarding the investigation into the death of Nolan Wells. These revelations come after a grand jury declined to file criminal charges in his death earlier this week. 

Crump’s office sent a statement along with several documents to NewsOne related to Nolan Wells. One of the most notable developments is the revelation that Wells’ autopsy revealed he had no fluid or debris within his airways. This is alarming for several reasons. The grand jury’s report said that “the position of, the condition of, time of discovery, and location of Mr. Wells’ body is consistent with drowning.” 

I feel like a major component in drowning is, you know, fluid filling your lungs and airways. NewsNation reports that the state medical examiner concluded in their report that Nolan’s death was undetermined. One major point of conflict around the investigation is the relative lack of inquiry about what caused the contusions found on the back of Wells’ neck.

The medical examiner’s report noted there were no white blood cells in the contusions, indicating the injury occurred shortly before death. So there’s no fluid in his lungs; there’s evidence that he was injured shortly before he died, but we’re going to go with drowning as the cause of death? 

Somehow, Mississippi authorities are at a loss for why we don’t trust them. 

Nolan Wells went missing on the Fourth of July holiday after going to a party on Mississippi’s Horn Island with several friends. His friends returned home without him, and his parents reported him missing that evening. Nolan’s body was found the following day on the shore of a barrier island. 

Ever since Nolan died, it’s felt like there’s been a pronounced effort by both the media and the state to downplay the tragedy of what happened to Nolan and engender sympathy for the friends who left him. 

Garrett Discovery, the digital forensics firm Nolan’s family retained, issued its own statement. The company laid out the ways the state hampered their investigation and walked back on their agreement to a joint investigation of Nolan’s phone. Despite agreeing to examine the phone at a neutral location, the district attorney’s office gave Nolan’s family 48 hours to turn over the phone so law enforcement could examine it at a government facility. 

“A law-enforcement-only examination at a government facility is not a mutual examination. It excludes the family’s own examiner from the room,” the statement reads. “The family had lost their son and, as you know, did not at that point trust the government to be the sole custodian of his phone. That is not an unreasonable position for grieving parents, and it is not an obstruction.”

“The statement that the District Attorney was ‘agreeable to any conditions the family wished to impose’ cannot be reconciled with conditions that the government imposed and the family did not want,” Garrett Discovery’s statement added. 

The more that comes out about the investigation, the more it feels like the state was trying to absolve anyone of potential wrongdoing as opposed to seeking justice for Nolan and his family. 

SEE ALSO:

Nolan Wells: Grand Jury Finds No Criminal Wrongdoing In Teen’s Death

Nolan Wells’ Family Met With DA, Agree To Investigate Phone Together

Nolan Wells Autopsy Results Will Be Withheld Until Grand Jury Sees Them First, DA Says