The legal battle surrounding Nolan Wells’ death is heating up. Attorneys for three friends who were with Wells before his death are pushing back against claims that messages were deleted from his phone—and say they plan to sue family attorney Ben Crump for defamation.
Forensic examiner Andrew Garrett, who was hired by Wells’ family, claimed at a Thursday news conference that messages were deleted sometime between Wells’ last use of the phone on July 4 and when it was returned to his family. Garrett said he could not identify who deleted the data but maintained that “somebody had to take a user action to delete data.”
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Edward Andrew Paltzik, who represents Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour, denied that his clients were responsible. “Warren, Jax and Morgan did not erase anything and never had access to his phone,” Paltzik told TMZ. “If anything was erased, they didn’t do it.”
Attorney Tyler Cox, who also represents the three men, said a woman in the group collected the phones left on the boat—including Wells’—and placed them in a truck.
“It stayed there until Christine’s friend came over to get Nolan’s phone,” Cox said, referring to Wells’ mother. “The same girl in the group retrieved the phone from the truck and gave it to Christine’s friend around 1:30 a.m.”
Cox also claimed that a grand jury found no evidence that anything had been deleted from the phone, insisting that “the people on the boat did not erase anything.” The grand jury ultimately declined to pursue criminal charges.
Crump has said Wells’ phone data, including Snapchat messages, was provided to the district attorney. Paltzik disputed that the device itself had been turned over.
“Ben keeps calling for transparency, yet they refuse to give the biggest evidence — his phone — to the DA,” Paltzik said.
According to Garrett, more than 280 pages of records showed that Wells used Snapchat and Instagram for approximately 95% of his communications. Garrett said a group chat involving Wells’ friends continued after his death, with participants apparently unaware that the messages were syncing to his phone.
Crump said the messages included conversations about other people on Horn Island and concerns about race.
“We have all of the snaps. I mean all of them, from his friend group,” Crump said, adding that names were being withheld for privacy. “They were very telling and very enlightening.”
Crump also said some messages referenced “real sketchy” people nearby and warned against being “left alone with them, especially if they’re drunk.”
“When they say the friends had conversations about racism, what friends are they talking about? This is vague nonsense,” Paltzik said. “What is he talking about?” Paltzik said his legal team intends to sue Crump for defamation.
Separately, an independent autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family found that the 18-year-old suffered blunt-force trauma to the back of his head, along with additional injuries to his back.