JACKSON, Miss. — A grand jury has declined to recommend criminal charges in the death of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black college student who was found dead two days after attending a July 4 boat trip and gathering on Horn Island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

The district attorney announced the grand jury’s findings late Monday after months of intense public scrutiny over how Wells disappeared from the gathering and why his friends left the island without him. The grand jury concluded there was no evidence of criminal conduct, but Wells’ family immediately rejected the findings, saying they still had unanswered questions about how he died.

The case drew widespread attention soon after Wells disappeared. A photograph showing him surrounded by white friends on a boat fueled speculation online about whether racial dynamics played a role in his death. Those discussions also drew on Mississippi’s history of racial tensions and concerns about the treatment of Black people in predominantly white settings.

On July 4, Wells and a group of friends traveled by boat to Horn Island, an uninhabited island that attracts large gatherings. Several hundred people were reportedly present that day. Around 3 p.m., some of Wells’ friends left after their boat began taking on water. They told investigators that Wells had decided to remain on the island.

The circumstances surrounding what happened afterward remain unclear.

In a redacted report posted by the district attorney’s office, the grand jury said Wells’ death was “consistent with drowning.” The panel considered the state autopsy as well as an independent autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family. Both examinations reportedly identified bruising on the back of Wells’ head but did not determine what caused his death.

Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, questioned how the grand jury reached its conclusion that her son likely drowned despite the reported injuries.

“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 said at a news conference Tuesday.

Attorneys representing Wells’ family, including civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, said the grand jury report raised additional questions rather than resolving them. They accused District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath of ending the investigation without determining the cause of the blunt-force trauma identified on Wells’ body.

Crump said that other possible causes should have been ruled out before a death could be classified as drowning. His legal team released the final version of the independent autopsy report Tuesday.

The grand jury report said a witness testified that he saw Wells slip awkwardly from the side of a boat at about 3:30 p.m. on July 4. According to the witness, Wells continued socializing afterward and did not appear to be injured. The panel said it could not determine whether the fall was responsible for the bruising found on his body.

Lawyers representing Wells’ white friends, who had faced accusations and speculation online, welcomed the grand jury’s findings. Attorney Tyler Cox said one of his clients felt relieved after the report cleared the group of wrongdoing.

The ruling, however, did not resolve the broader questions raised by Wells’ family and their attorneys. Crump and others renewed their call for the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an independent investigation. They also asked the district attorney to release the investigative file and the complete state medical examiner’s autopsy report.

Neither the district attorney’s office nor the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, which oversees the State Medical Examiner’s Office, provided the full autopsy report to The Associated Press. Robert Knochel, chief prosecutor in McIlrath’s office, said case-file information is exempt from public records laws.

Kristen Clarke, general counsel for the NAACP and a former head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said the organization supported calls for further investigation. She said federal involvement could be appropriate because Horn Island is federally maintained and patrolled.

At Wells’ funeral, Rev. Al Sharpton referred to Mississippi’s history of racial violence, including the lynching of Emmett Till and the assassination of Medgar Evers. In a statement Tuesday, Sharpton said families should not be expected to accept unanswered questions surrounding the death of a young Black person.

McIlrath, meanwhile, expressed frustration over what she described as speculation surrounding the case. In a 15-minute video announcing the grand jury findings, she said there was no evidence supporting claims that Wells’ death was racially motivated or that the investigation represented a denial of justice because of a corrupt system.

She also said attorneys for Wells’ family had told her office the previous month that their own investigation had found no evidence of criminal activity.

Questions have also remained about why Wells stayed on the island after his friends departed. His cellphone was reportedly on the boat that returned to the mainland, and Crump and Wells’ parents have questioned why he would have chosen to remain on the island without his phone.

They also raised concerns about whether messages on the phone had been altered and alleged that some of Wells’ friends were reluctant to surrender his phone and keys. The contents of the phone were reviewed by the grand jury, although the redacted report did not provide details of the evidence.

The grand jury said it was not unusual or suspicious for people to return from Horn Island on boats different from the ones they had originally used to travel there. It also noted that Wells’ was not the only phone that returned to the mainland without its owner that day.

The report also addressed alcohol found in Wells’ body. The grand jury said the result was highly unreliable because the testing involved decompositional fluid, which can contain alcohol produced after death through microbial fermentation.

The grand jury ultimately concluded that the evidence did not support criminal charges and expressed sympathy for Wells’ family. The panel also said the evidence presented during the proceedings convinced its members of Wells’ “outstanding character.”

Despite the grand jury’s decision, Wells’ family and their attorneys continue to seek additional information about the circumstances surrounding his death and have called for greater transparency in the investigation.

SOURCE: Associated Press (AP), Sophie Bates, Claudia Lauer and Dave Collins, updated September 24, 2026.