Family hires audio experts to examine distress call linked to missing teen Nolan Wells
The Wells family has retained audio engineers to analyze a July 4 distress call from a boat near Horn Island, while civil-rights lawyer Ben Crump urges broader forensic review and prosecutors to involve outside experts.
An attorney for the family of 18-year-old Nolan Wells said Thursday that audio engineers have been hired to examine a distress call made from a boat on the day he disappeared near Horn Island, Mississippi. The call, released by the state Department of Marine Resources, shows a voice reporting a failed bilge pump and asking a private towing company, Sea Tow, for assistance.
"Our bilge pump stopped working. We’re sinking. Can y’all please come?" the caller said, adding that about seven people were on board. A dispatcher later relayed that a relative of the boat’s owner reported the issue had been resolved and that help was no longer needed.
The family’s legal team, represented by civil-rights lawyer Ben Crump, announced at the National Urban League Conference that they are also requesting prosecutors to allow independent authorities to review the phones of friends who traveled with Wells to the island. A voicemail left for the Jackson County district attorney’s office has not been returned.
Wells’ parents used the same forum to ask anyone with information to come forward, stating, "We will not rest until we get answers." The teenager’s body was recovered two days after he failed to return to the mainland, and an independent autopsy commissioned by the family was inconclusive. The official autopsy remains sealed pending a grand jury review, a routine practice in the county.
Since the release of the dispatch audio, social-media users have identified individuals mentioned in the recording. One 21-year-old’s parents said their son was doxed and threatened after being linked to the call, and they reported that an attorney had issued a cease-and-desist letter for alleged defamatory statements.
Crump rejected criticism that his involvement might provoke online targeting, emphasizing the family’s right to seek the truth. He also referenced recent deaths of two other Black teenagers, Tyler Smith and Daniel Erving, suggesting a pattern of perceived investigative shortcomings.
"We’re not trying to cast aspersions on anybody, we want the truth. If it was your child, you’d want the same thing," Crump said.
Local authorities, including Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter, have said the friends of Wells are cooperating and that foul play is not suspected, though the investigation remains ongoing.