▶ Watch Video: New video may show Nolan Wells on party boat shortly before death
The manner and cause of death for Nolan Wells, the Mississippi teen who was found dead at Horn Island after a Fourth of July outing with friends, are undetermined, pending investigation, according to attorney Ben Crump, citing a preliminary independent autopsy commissioned by the family.Crump said Wednesday there was "red discoloration" in the tissue in the back of the head, according to the autopsy, but added the reason was unknown. The body was in a state of decomposition when it was received for the autopsy, Crump said, which made it difficult for the forensic pathologist to ascertain information. The autopsy was conducted on July 10, six days after Wells' body was found. The date of Wells' death was ruled unknown, according to Crump. "This has been a difficult journey," Wells' mother, Christine Wonsley, said at a press conference Wednesday. "Losing a child truly breaks your heart. It is a pain, you just can't measure it."Crump said the autopsy was done in the "ferocious search for the truth of what really happened to Nolan Wells.""It is our hope that our local authorities will do what they need to do," Christine Wonsley said. She called the lack of information from the police investigation "concerning."The autopsy, which was paid for by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, was conducted by former Washington, D.C., chief medical examiner Dr. Roger Mitchell. He has conducted thousands of autopsies in his career, according to lawyer Lisa Park, part of Crump's law firm.The body for the autopsy by Mitchell was received after the state did its own autopsy.Elmore Wonsley, Nolan Wells' father, center, speaks next to attorney Ben Crump, left, and Rev. Al Sharpton during a memorial service for Wells, July 20, 2026, in Ocean Springs, Miss.
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