Nolan Wells grand jury
True crime · Heat 1.0 / 10 · 6 shows · 2h 30m airtime
A Jackson County, Mississippi grand jury voted on September 21, 2026, not to charge anyone in the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, found after a July 4th trip to Horn Island, with the body's condition and location consistent with drowning. The panel issued 132 subpoenas and heard 43 witnesses, and said toxicology was uninformative due to decomposition. The report calls the mark on the back of Wells' head an injury and notes bruising on his back and buttocks, while the family's medical examiner found shoulder and buttock bruises absent from the state report and could not rule out non-accidental factors. The retained neck organs showed an intact hyoid and no strap-muscle hemorrhage, ruling out strangulation. The discussion has since moved…
How 6 podcasts covered it
- The Megyn Kelly Show, 2026-09-22 (1:18 to 50:28)
Reports the no-charge finding and hands off to counsel
Reports the grand jury's decision and the district attorney's statement that no evidence supports racial-motivation claims, then hands off to the attorney for one of Wells' friends.
New angle: A Mississippi grand jury unanimously declined to charge anyone in Nolan Wells' death, finding the body's condition and location consistent with drowning. - Morning Wire, 2026-09-22 (7:21 to 8:43)
Reports the no-charge decision and DA statement
Reports the grand jury's decision and the district attorney's statement that the report debunks the narrative that three white friends were responsible for Nolan Wells' death, with autopsy and toxicology results still pending. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-22 (2:10 to 6:03)
Walks the report's drowning and injury findings
Reads the grand jury report page by page: the drowning finding is a diagnosis of exclusion, the manner of death is left undetermined, and the report calls the mark on the back of Wells' head an injury while noting bruising on his back and buttocks.
New angle: The grand jury report calls the mark on the back of Wells' head an injury and notes bruising on his back and buttocks. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-22 (6:42 to 11:47)
Cross-checks the toxicology claim against forensics
Walks the grand jury report page by page: 132 subpoenas, 43 witnesses, 23 grand jurors, and the panel's claim that toxicology is uninformative because of decomposition - which the forensic pathologist on air calls disingenuous, since urine, bile, vitreous and organs remain testable.
New angle: The grand jury issued 132 subpoenas and heard 43 witnesses; the panel said toxicology was uninformative due to decomposition. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-22 (13:50 to 16:39)
Reads the family's independent autopsy findings
Reads the family's independent medical examiner report: Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr. found two scalp contusions plus shoulder and buttock bruises not documented in the state report, and could not rule out non-accidental factors. Also notes the NAACP's call for the full grand jury report. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-22 (16:49 to 22:18)
Reads the neck findings ruling out strangulation
Reads the grand jury report's neck findings: the retained neck organs showed an intact hyoid and no strap-muscle hemorrhage, so the family's own pathologist found no strangulation - and the report notes homicide has no statute of limitations.
New angle: The retained neck organs showed an intact hyoid and no strap-muscle hemorrhage, ruling out strangulation. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-22 (22:25 to 27:27)
Reads the independent examiner's July report
Reads the family's independent medical examiner report from July 10: unwitnessed acute blunt force injuries to the head and body, two bruises to the back of the head, shoulder and buttock bruises the state report never documented, and a blood alcohol of 0.27. The panel's no-statute-of-limitations language is read as leaving the case open.
New angle: The independent examiner's July 10 report found a blood alcohol level of 0.27. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-24 (0:27 to 1:30)
Adds the DA's 7:54 p.m. text to the mother
Covers the family's response to the grand jury report: Crump calls the DA's investigation incomplete at a Tuesday press conference, and Wells' mother says the DA texted her at 7:54 p.m. Monday, minutes before the report went public.
New angle: Christine Wells-Wansley received a text from the district attorney at 7:54 p.m. Monday, minutes before the report's public release. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-24 (1:30 to 2:10)
Recaps the no-charge decision and family's rejection
Recaps the grand jury's no-charge decision and the family's rejection of it - the mother's statement that the report offered no answers, the friends' leaking-boat account, the July 6 recovery at the island's northwestern tip. It stays inside the week's coverage. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-24 (2:53 to 3:26)
Recaps the drowning conclusion and autopsy
Recaps the grand jury's drowning conclusion and the family's independent autopsy - the two unexplained bruises on the back of the head, the undetermined cause, drowning as a diagnosis of exclusion. It stays inside the deltas already on the record. - Dateline NBC, 2026-09-24 (28:06 to 31:28)
Recaps the no-true bill and the family's response
Recaps the no-true bill and the family's response: the independent autopsy's undetermined cause and two bruises, the state's unreleased autopsy, Crump's press conference, and the mother's remarks. It stays inside the week's coverage, adding no new fact. - The Megyn Kelly Show, 2026-09-25 (2:39 to 16:40)
Cross-checks Crump's forensics against the DA rebuttal
Reads the grand jury's no-foul-play finding against Crump's phone-forensics presser, and works through the DA's rebuttal: the 30-hour download was never given to the state, only two emails and about 300 pages of selected findings were, and the Snapchat deletions are automated.
New angle: The state received only two emails with about 300 pages of selected phone findings, not the 30-hour download Crump's expert described. - The Megyn Kelly Show, 2026-09-25 (25:11 to 50:18)
Brings a pathologist to read the autopsy
Brings in a forensic pathologist to read the autopsy both sides released: the head contusion could only form while Wells was alive, and the 270 mg/dL ethanol reading may be inflated by decomposition to roughly 200 - about ten drinks in an hour.
New angle: Decomposition can inflate the 270 mg/dL ethanol reading by 50–70 mg/dL, putting the real level near 200. - Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-09-25 (0:00 to 1:30)
Reports the NAACP joining the family's counsel
Opens a special edition on the no-true bill and the prosecutor's push to close the case, then brings on the NAACP's general counsel. The new fact is the NAACP joining Crump as counsel for the family, not just calling for the report's release.
New angle: The NAACP has joined Ben Crump in representing the Wells family. - Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-09-25 (1:30 to 3:23)
Adds confirmed blood at the blunt force trauma
NAACP general counsel Kristen Clarke, in her first appearance on the record here, says the prosecutor's job is not done, that witnesses still need to be pressed, and that there is confirmed blood in the area of blunt force trauma to the front and back of Wells' head and his back.
New angle: Clarke says there is confirmed blood in the area of blunt force trauma to Wells' head and back. - Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-09-25 (3:25 to 6:19)
Retells the no-true bill and notification fight
Kristen Clarke walks through the DA's Facebook video and the family's two-minute heads-up text, then argues the federal government should keep committing resources because Horn Island is federal land. Retells the no-true bill and the notification fight already on the record. - Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-09-25 (6:32 to 9:21)
Reports the CBC request for a DOJ probe
Clarke, the NAACP's general counsel and a former head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division, calls for the full investigative file to be disclosed and for the FBI's role to be clarified, arguing Horn Island's federal status gives Washington a basis to commit more resources. She also notes the Congressional Black Caucus has asked the Justice Department to open an…
New angle: The Congressional Black Caucus has called for the Justice Department to open an investigation into Nolan Wells' death. - Legal AF by MeidasTouch, 2026-09-25 (9:21 to 12:02)
Adds the NAACP call for a special prosecutor
Kristen Clarke, now NAACP general counsel, joins to push past the no-true-bill: she says confidence in the grand jury outcome is hard to sustain and floats an independent special prosecutor appointed by the governor and Mississippi attorney general, while urging witnesses to use the Crump firm tip line.
New angle: The NAACP is calling for the governor and Mississippi attorney general to appoint an independent special prosecutor. - Morning Wire, 2026-09-25 (4:24 to 5:42)
Adds Jeffries questioning the drowning finding
Covers Hakeem Jeffries questioning the Mississippi grand jury's drowning finding in the Nolan Wells case, citing an independent autopsy that found head trauma and severe bruising; the grand jury reviewed 43 witnesses, 100-plus subpoenas, GPS data and surveillance footage.
New angle: An independent autopsy found trauma and severe bruising to Nolan Wells's head, and the grand jury included black jurors. - Law&Crime Sidebar, 2026-09-25 (1:17 to 1:56)
Reports the first on-record deletion claim
Reports the day-after press conference where Ben Crump's forensic examiner, Garrett Discovery CEO Andrew Garrett, said things were deleted from Nolan Wells' phone between his last use and the family's retrieval - the first on-record claim of deletions, against the DA's denial. - Law&Crime Sidebar, 2026-09-25 (1:52 to 3:02)
Plays the DA denying any deletion
Plays the district attorney's recorded statement denying any deletion from Nolan Wells' phone and calling the withheld-autopsy claims lies; her office says it cooperated with all parties. A direct official response to the family examiner's deletion claim.
New angle: District Attorney Angel Myers McElrath denies anything was deleted from Nolan Wells' phone and says her team cooperated fully. - Law&Crime Sidebar, 2026-09-25 (3:02 to 4:02)
Names the examiner behind the deletion claim
Names the forensic examiner behind the deleted-data claim: Andrew Garrett of Garrett Discovery, hired by the family, says Snapchat material was removed from Nolan Wells' phone between his last use and the family's retrieval.
New angle: The family's phone examiner is Andrew Garrett, CEO of Garrett Discovery, who says Snapchat material was deleted. - Law&Crime Sidebar, 2026-09-25 (4:06 to 6:51)
Reconstructs the final day from GPS data
Walks through the family examiner's GPS reconstruction of Nolan Wells' final day - McDonald's, the boat ramp, Horn Island at 11:18, a 2:17 p.m. unlock, a 4:36 p.m. Sea Tow call - and notes the grand jury received a 14-page cellular report plus 260 pages of Snapchat data.
New angle: The grand jury received a 14-page cellular report and over 260 pages of Snapchat data from Garrett Discovery. - Law&Crime Sidebar, 2026-09-25 (8:01 to 8:40)
Cross-checks the GPS track against boat video
Garrett walks through the phone's GPS track: it moved over water at a speed and heading only a boat could produce, matched by video from a neighboring boat, then traveled to a residence on land. He also explains Snapchat's default deletion windows.
New angle: Video from a neighboring boat matches the phone's speed and direction over water; the phone later traveled to a residence on land. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-30 (19:01 to 19:46)
Recaps the no-true bill and tide lines
Recaps the no-true bill and the family's demand for the full report, then walks Horn Island's tide lines to explain how the body's position could be consistent with drowning. Stays inside the grand jury coverage already on the record. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-30 (1:18 to 2:12)
Reports the tide line from Horn Island
Reports from Horn Island with the United Cajun Navy: the tide carried the body up and left it on wet sand, with the water line just north of it - a first-hand read of the scene the grand jury called consistent with drowning.
New angle: The water line sat just north of where the body came to rest on wet sand. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-30 (2:14 to 4:13)
Recaps the phone fight and autopsy findings
Recaps the phone-deletion fight - Garrett's claim that Snapchat material was deleted, the DA's denial, the exchange of legal letters - then moves to the autopsy, where the forensic pathologist notes normal lung weights and no middle-ear hemorrhage. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-30 (4:56 to 9:03)
Compares the autopsy sketches side by side
Forensics segment: Morgan walks the autopsy sketches side by side and says the state rendering shows two separate occipital contusions while the independent sketch shows one continuous horizontal mark. Adds dry lungs and stomach and absent middle ear hemorrhage as drowning findings.
New angle: The state autopsy sketch shows two separate occipital contusions; the independent sketch shows one continuous horizontal mark. - Crime Stories with Nancy Grace, 2026-09-30 (9:42 to 12:02)
Debates the grand jury record with Morse
Defense attorney Greg Morse argues the family and Crump are dribbling out information and that the grand jury got it right; Grace counters that the panel never heard the witnesses who saw Nolan alive in the water between 5 and 6 p.m. A debate over the existing record, with no new document or source.
New angle: The family's digital forensics expert did not have the right software for the updated Snapchat operating system. - Law&Crime Sidebar, 2026-10-14 (1:05 to 2:07)
Recaps the grand jury and the case background
Opens the episode with a background recap of the case: the grand jury's no-charge finding, the DA's statement that there was no evidence of a crime, the July 4 disappearance and July 6 recovery off Horn Island, and Crump's press conference claims about the phone. It then reads from the Garrett report, but the substance stays inside the week's coverage. - Law&Crime Sidebar, 2026-10-14 (11:17 to 13:03)
Adds the friend's rebuttal and the photo date
Adds the friend's on-the-record rebuttal: Trayston Shepard says there was no altercation and that Nolan was not on the island when a surfaced video was shot, and dates the pool-party photo Crump shared to June 27 in Pass Christian.
New angle: Trayston Shepard says the pool-party photo Ben Crump shared was taken June 27 in Pass Christian, not July 4th.