On Monday, the Wells family was delivered devastating news as they received confirmation that their son, who went missing over the holiday weekend, was found deceased on Horn Island, 10 miles off the coast of Mississippi. Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old collegiate football player at Southwest Mississippi Community College, went on a boating trip with his friends to Horn Island, where he never returned that day.
“Too many unanswered questions. How can an island that was searched yesterday produce my grandson’s body this morning?” Wells Sr., the grandfather of Nolan, wrote Monday. “There’s nothing right about this; Nolan Xavier Wells deserved the same things that people he knew and associated with will enjoy in life.”
Reactions from social media also question the investigation and everything leading up to the news of Wells’ death, with many pointing to the picture of him on the boat with his friends seemingly hours before his disappearance, with Wells being the only Black person there.
A viral video circulating online shows a panoramic view of water, but at one point, an argument can be heard in the background. The camera then pans to a group of young men in swimsuits talking on the beach. One Black man is wearing a blue swimsuit. Many online believe that it is Wells.
Due to video quality, there’s no confirmation that it was Wells’ boat, but one witness claimed that it was Wells disagreeing with his friends. Matthew Lamp claimed on Facebook he was in one of the boats when he heard the fight.
“One of my passengers is pretty certain he was part of the group that was almost fighting around 5 p.m.,” Lamp wrote on Facebook. He said the boat that Wells’ friends were on left the scene very quickly after the fight.
“The three people on my boat that saw it all say [the fight] was amongst themselves,” Lamp wrote on Facebook.
Another witness, Deidra Archangel, also claimed she heard Wells and his friends arguing on the beach not far from where Wells’ body was found. According to Sheriff Ledbetter of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Wells decided to stay on the island after meeting a girl, and his friends Eli Jax Pitalo, Erick Alcantara, Wyatt Pyron, Warren Hudson, and Morgan Seymour left without him and reported they didn’t hear from him after they left the island around 3 pm on Saturday.
A GoFundMe has been set up by a friend of the family to help with funeral and memorial expenses. The description reads, “Nolan Xavier Wells was a beloved son, grandson, brother, friend, and teammate whose life touched so many people.” The investigation is ongoing.
