Man arrested for threatening Mississippi judge linked to Nolan Wells case

A Sacramento man, 27-year-old Joseph Dumarce, was booked into the Sacramento County Jail on a felony count of transmitting threatening communications to Mississippi Chancery Judge Ashlee Cole. The threat, sent via Facebook, referenced a package that would "blow you away" and mentioned "so much blood everywhere," according to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Brodey Gibson. Cole, whose son Warren Hudson was a friend of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, had previously deactivated her social-media accounts after receiving death threats.

The FBI traced the threatening Facebook account to email, CashApp and Google accounts linked to Dumarce, as well as a phone number that called the Jackson County Chancery Court on July 11. A Mississippi federal grand jury indicted Dumarce on July 28 for interstate transmission of a threatening communication, a charge that carries up to five years in prison. He remains in custody without bail.

In a separate case, Ohio resident Francine Edwards, 41, was arrested on July 31 on suspicion of making bomb threats against the George County Chancery Clerk and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. Like Dumarce, Edwards faces a federal charge for threatening interstate communication and is being held without bond.

The investigations into Wells’s death, which occurred after he disappeared on a boat trip to Horn Island and was found dead two days later, have prompted his family and friends to report additional harassment. Wells’s mother, Christine Wonsley, said she has received threatening messages and emails, and the family’s attorneys have advised associates to preserve all records as litigation is anticipated.

"I deactivated my social media because of death threats directed at me and my family," Judge Cole said in a prior Facebook post.

Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter noted that while initial assessments did not rule out foul play, the case remains open pending further investigation.