What to Know
When 18-year-old Nolan Wells died during a boating trip with friends on a small island near Mississippi, there were questions about race, foul play, and how much truth there was to the story that his friends, an all-white group of boys with Wells being the only Black teen among them, had shared. Now, there is another photo that is circulating that might speak against what Wells’ friends originally shared as their official account of what happened.
According to the other teens, Wells opted to stay on the small uninhabited barrier island Horn island after meeting a girl and they returned to the mainland without him. The photo, which was shared across social media, including in a TikTok, now says otherwise. There was already some doubt about what happened and this photo paints even more doubt on what actually happened.
Nolan Wells’ friends claimed he stayed on Horn Island before his death.
@itsdwightthomas According to this photo shared by #bencrump #nolanxavierwells ♬ original sound – itsdwightthomas
On July 3, 2026, Wells left his home and his family to go on a planned boat outing with friends for the Fourth of July weekend. Later that same day, the group of boys, minus Wells, returned to the mainland. The following day, on July 4, his friends called his family around 11 p.m., per CNN, and Wells’ family reported him missing.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, shared suspicions about what happened after she got her phone from a house with a ton of people there and noticed it almost appeared to be wiped clean, with no photos or videos from the day out on the boat at Horn Island. On July 6, Wells’ body was found near the shoreline.
The photo that was shared on TikTok, however, makes it seem like Wells did leave the island and that he was at a large house party the night that his phone was pinged on the mainland and after the group left the island. It shows someone alleged to be him in a pool with other teens, posing for a large group photo. This directly goes against the narrative that Wells remained on the island and that his friends didn’t know where he was on July 3.
According to the user who posted the TikTok with the photo, “Apparently, that’s Nolan Wells, and this is at a pool party that happened when they got back to land. Now, this is all alleged, but it’s important. One of his friends recently posted on Facebook that they actually wound up going to a friend, one of the friends on the boat, Evan’s house for a pool party. Now, she does say that they were all drinking, but she says Evan, Wyatt, Andrew and Nolan was on some stuff, substances. Now, she did say there was an altercation, and a bunch of the boys were recording and standing around and encouraging one of the other boys screaming, get him! And it sounds like they were talking about, get Nolan.”
The pool party in the photo happened after Nolan Wells and his friends were on the island.
According to the TikTok, the pool party happened after Wells and his friends returned to land. Of course, the official story is that Wells did not return from Horn Island with the rest of the group, but the photo seems to suggest otherwise. The TikTok user in the video also says that the girl Wells’ friends allege he was with on Horn Island said that she saw Wells get on the boat and leave the island.
Someone commented on the post to say, “And that’s why his mom said 360 said he was on land.”
Another wrote, that, if this photo is really from after the trip to Horn Island, “This means a whole bunch of people have known he came back that night and said nothing even though this has been all over the news and that’s really messed up.”
Nolan Wells’ family’s attorney posted the photo.
After the photo that allegedly features Wells was released to the public and shared across social media, the attorney representing Wells’ family, Ben Crump, posted it on his own Instagram.
He wrote in the caption that it was a repost from another account and added that “we sometimes have to follow all clues until the truth is found.” Although it’s unclear if that is a direct statement from Crump or part of the repost.
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