Family of Nolan Wells Says They Remain Cooperative in DA Phone-Forensics Dispute

Attorney Ben Crump and the legal team representing the parents of 18-year-old Nolan Wells said the family has continued to cooperate with the district attorney’s investigation into the teen’s death. Wells’ body was recovered from the water off Horn Island on July 6 after he was reported missing on July 4.

In a letter to District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath dated Aug. 13, the lawyers confirmed that Wells’ parents remain willing to allow a forensic analysis of the boy’s phone, as previously agreed on July 15. That meeting set a plan for a joint examination by experts from the Digital Forensics Lab at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, with possible FBI involvement, though no specific date was ever scheduled.

The DA’s office later issued a notice on Aug. 12 ordering the family to deliver the phone by 9 a.m. on Aug. 14, a deadline that the parents could not meet because they were out of state. The parties have also not finalized a protocol covering the scope, chain of custody, data handling and return of the device.

"Nolan’s family has not refused to cooperate, and the correspondence with the District Attorney’s Office is proof of that," the statement read. "We agreed on July 15 to examine this phone together… We have yet to receive these details. Setting a 48-hour deadline while this family was out of state is not a good-faith path to answers, and it weakens our confidence in the process."

The legal team said they have asked the DA’s office to provide a detailed protocol and that the examination can be scheduled once an agreement is reached.