On the Fourth of July, 2026, 18 year old Nolan Wells attended an Independence Day gathering on Horn Island, a barrier island about five miles off the coast of Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. This is where roughly 300 teenagers would be gathering to celebrate the holiday weekend. Nolan traveled to the island with a larger group across several boats. Nolan Wells would never make it back home to his parents. He would die on that island. And to this day we still don't have answers as to how or at the hands of who.

Here is the timeline of events:

11:14 AM Nolan's boat arrives at Horn Island

2:23 PM Nolan was photographed on the boat with two older adults. This is the last known image of Nolan Wells. 

4:31 PM The boat departed the island and returned to Fort Bayou at 5:52 p.m. and docked at 6:06 p.m. Witnesses state that Nolan didn't go back with the boat and stayed back on the island with other friends and a young woman he had become acquainted with, which his parents say would be out of his character. 

Around 11:00 PM Nolan's parents reported him missing. Experts state that messages were deleted from Nolan's phone the day that he disappeared and that the phone was tampered with after he died. Nolan last accessed his phone around 2:18 PM. The attorney of the friends that were with Nolan (Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour) denied that they were responsible for any deleted messages. These are the same friends who left the island without Nolan. 

July 6th  After a search, Nolan's body was discovered along the shoreline by a park ranger. He was discovered face down and fully clothed not too far from the current and the suspected manner of death was drowning. 

September 18th The Jackson County grand jury completed its review and made its decision to decline criminal indictments on the friends of Nolan. The grand jury decided that Wells' cause of death was undetermined and based on the condition of his body and where it was found, his death was "consistent with drowning." 

September 24th  The results of the independent autopsy on behalf of Nolan's family are released . The results found no water was found in his lungs and also found two 2-inch contusions — or bruises — on the back of Nolan’s head. The autopsy also noted that it was unclear as to how or in what shape Nolan's body entered the water. The Mississippi state medical examiner defined the cause of death as "undetermined". 

Present Day We do not know what happened to Nolan Wells and that is the problem. Too often, Black boys and girls in this country go missing or are murdered under suspicious circumstances and we are told to move on or listen to the words of grand juries and law enforcement as if they can't be wrong. And I am saying now, that is NOT good enough. We must demand ANSWERS. We must demand JUSTICE. 

Rev. Al Sharpton, who led Wells' eulogy, wrote in a statement: “We will not confuse the absence of an indictment with the presence of an answer."

Our Demands are in line with the demands of Nolan Well's parents. We want further investigation into the death of their son and to get definitive answers. 

Add your name to demand change and join me in calling for justice for Nolan Wells.