Preliminary independent autopsy results for Nolan Wells leave questions unanswered

By Alisha Ebrahimji, Holly Yan, CNN

(CNN) — The cause of death for Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old whose body was found July 6 along the shoreline of Horn Island off the Mississippi coast, has not been determined, according to preliminary independent autopsy results announced Wednesday.

An independent investigator described the manner of death as undetermined pending further investigation, family attorney Ben Crump said.

The independent autopsy, which was requested by Wells’ family and was privately funded, is separate from the official autopsy performed by the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office on July 7. Results from the state’s autopsy investigation have not been released, pending the outcome of standard toxicology tests.

Forensic pathologist Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., who performed the independent autopsy, “identified several limitations … that create barriers to establishing a definitive cause and manner of death for Nolan Xavier Wells,” Mitchell wrote in the preliminary report.

Mitchell did not have access to all of Wells’ remains after the state’s autopsy, including a portion of the interior of Wells’ neck. But Mitchell noted it’s a “common forensic pathology practice” to retain “anterior neck structures during an initial autopsy.”

“Therefore, this pathologist cannot rule out injury to the neck as a contributor or cause of death,” the autopsy report states.

Wells’ death sparked nationwide attention and speculation that race may have played a role, given Mississippi’s fraught racial history. Photos from the trip showed the Black teen surrounded by White friends, though at least one other Black friend was also on the trip.

Wells and his friends were on a Fourth of July boat trip to Horn Island — an uninhabited stretch of land with no shelters, restrooms or communications that was busy with holiday revelers, authorities said.

His friends made it back home, but Wells did not. One of the friends said Wells stayed on the island to talk to a girl, but others have cast doubt on that notion.

“We still have more questions than we have answers at this time,” Crump said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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