(NEW YORK) — The parents of Nolan Xavier Wells, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, broke their silence on their son’s mysterious death in an interview with “Good Morning America” anchor Michael Strahan on Friday morning.
“We just want honesty and transparency. We want a thorough investigation,” Christine Wonsley said. “We want that same respect that would be given to anybody else, and that’s it. We just want answers.”
The Wonsleys, who were joined by their attorney Ben Crump, called for a “thorough” and independent investigation.
They also expressed the need to shed more light on unanswered questions, including what they allege are deleted messages from their son’s phone, that have led them to become “suspicious” about his death following a July 4 boating trip.
“Nolan was just like this bright light … his smile, his energy was just, just so infectious,” Christine Wonsley said. “He was just a genuinely a good person. Like I always say, all the best parts of me are with him.”
Elmore Wonsley said Wells “was very loving.”
“There was not a friend that he couldn’t make … he’s gonna be really missed,” he said.
Wells, who played football at Southwest Mississippi Community College, went missing during a Fourth of July celebration with high school friends on Horn Island, a popular undeveloped island just south of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, officials said.
The 18-year-old’s body was recovered on Monday. Authorities said they suspect Wells drowned, but are still investigating. An autopsy was conducted but results could take weeks, officials said.
The disappearance
According to Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter, a friend of Wells contacted the Coast Guard around 11 p.m. last Saturday, July 4. Separately, Wells’ mother contacted the sheriff’s office about her son around midnight leading into Sunday, July 5.
The Wonsleys cast doubt on claims by friends that Wells decided to stay behind on the island, while his friends left.
“That we cannot answer,” Christine Wonsley said when asked why Wells would stay behind. “I just, I can’t — I can’t fathom why he would.”
Elmore Wonsley said that would have gone against the advice they gave Wells.
“We always told him, if you go with a group, you stay with a group,” he said.
Ledbetter told ABC News in an interview that aired on “GMA” on Friday that nothing “yet” from the evidence they collected indicates that foul play was involved in Wells’ death, but the investigation will take time and is ongoing, he added.
“We’re working towards the same goal as the family. We want a thorough investigation. We’re trying to find out everything ,” he said. “We are providing a thorough, professional, and accurate investigation. That’s what we’re going to continue to do, until we arrive at the answers that the family deserves.”
Crump, the attorney representing the Wonsleys, told ABC News Live in an interview on Wednesday that Wells could swim, his family is “not accepting that Nolan drowned accidentally.”
Unanswered questions
Christine Wonsley told “GMA” that his family tracked his phone, but when she went to pick it up from Wells’ friends, she said it appears that some texts and SnapChat messages had been deleted. It is unclear which friends Wells’ phone was retrieved from and who could have been in possession of it prior to that.
“When we finally got his phone, me and my sister went through the phone. We went in his Snapchat. He had two accounts. Absolutely nothing,” Christine Wonsley said. “It wasn’t even 24 hours, which is how long videos and pictures stay in Snapchat … even my sister was like ‘Yeah, that’s suspicious.'”
Crump, who joined the Wonsleys on “GMA” Friday, said that the family has questions about a cell phone video of an “argument” that was posted online.
“You can hear an argument going where Nolan is saying, ‘Give me my freaking phone! What are you freaking doing?’ And so then his phone ends up missing,” Crump said.
“No young person leaves their cell phone,” he added. “It’s not adding up, and that is the problem when you think about the history of Mississippi. Yeah, so there are so many questions that need to be answered.”
Ledbetter told GMA on Thursday night that Wells’ phone has not been turned over to investigators yet.
“It may be important, may be a piece that we haven’t got yet,” he said.
Crump told reporters during a press conference on Friday that the family plans to turn the phone over to law enforcement after their own investigators complete their examination.
“We’re going to do it expeditiously and give it to them to examine it as well,” he said.
Ledbetter noted that the “argument” video will be part of the investigation.
As the family searches for answers, the investigation will continue in Washington, D.C., Crump said, where “we are having an independent autopsy done at behest of his family.”
He noted that former NFL football star Colin Kaepernick helped pay for it.
“We flew his body up from Mississippi to D.C. because they wanted an autopsy done by a person with no interaction with the Mississippi law enforcement because there’s an issue of trust here that is really important,” Crump said.
Ledbetter told “GMA” that the sheriff’s office welcomes the independent investigation.
“By all means, that’s more information looking into the death of Nolan that will be made available and another set of eyes looking at it,” he said.
Ledbetter asked the public for “patience” as investigators look into a “substantial amount” of tips, in addition to reviewing photo and video evidence.
The sheriff’s department stressed Wednesday that the investigation is ongoing and urged anyone who was on or near the northwest tip of Horn Island to come forward with photos or videos, “particularly those depicting alleged altercations or containing images of, or believed to include Nolan Wells.”
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenick, Kirk Cohall and Mark Guarino contributed to this report.
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