Nolan Wells’ family has spent months asking for somebody with federal power to take a hard look at how their son died. On Wednesday, the president gave them something to hold onto, even if it isn’t a promise yet…
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Reporters at the White House asked President Donald Trump whether he plans to push the FBI to open an independent investigation into the 18-year-old’s death. Trump answered that “we’re looking at that.” Reuters reports he added, “Yes, we are.” Now, that all he said and didn’t expand on the matter. No order, no announcement, no timeline.
More On Nolan Wells’ Case
As we previously reported, Wells’ body was found July 6 on the northwest end of Horn Island, a barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, after he went missing during a Fourth of July weekend trip with friends from Ocean Springs. He was out there with a group of white friends. Authorities never alleged foul play, but family members and civil rights leaders raised hard questions about transparency, accountability.
The answers haven’t come easy. Both the state autopsy and an independent one listed Nolan’s cause and manner of death as undetermined which is a rough place to leave parents. A Jackson County grand jury then declined to indict anyone, citing no credible evidence of criminal conduct, and the FBI said it wouldn’t investigate because it saw no evidence of foul play. His mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, and father, Elmore Wonsley Sr., weren’t about to let it rest, and neither was their attorney, Ben Crump.
Crump, who has been all over this case since the family brought him in, took Trump’s comment and ran with it. He pointed out that Sunday marks 100 days since his team started digging, and said the president’s words carry more weight than the FBI’s earlier response. He also made clear the family is ready to roll up its sleeves, saying his team “stands ready to work with the federal government.”
Earlier this week, at a press conference, he put the family’s position even more plainly: “we refuse to close the chapter.”
Crump has also zeroed in on what he sees as the biggest open question in the case. He has said it comes down to three words, “blunt force trauma,” and that the family will keep fighting for answers. The family has gone beyond the FBI, too. They’ve written to the National Park Service, asking its Investigative Services Branch for a “prompt and exhaustive investigation,” and they’ve pressed the Justice Department to explain what federal steps have actually been taken and to release whatever it lawfully can.
So where does that leave things? Nowhere official yet. A president saying his team is “looking at” something is a long way from agents knocking on doors, and the FBI has already said once that it saw no basis to reopen the matter.
With 100 days almost here, they’re still asking the same thing they started with, and now somebody with real power has said out loud that the question is being considered. We’ll see whether anything follows.