Fundraiser Launched for Nolan Wells’ Friends Seeking Legal Action for ‘Slander and Libel Being Spread’

The investigation into the death of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old who mysteriously vanished and died during a trip to Mississippi’s Horn Island, is taking another turn.

A GiveSendGo fundraiser for three of Wells’ friends, Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour, was recently launched claiming that they have been targeted with death threats and defamation as the case intensifies.

“Instead of being allowed to mourn” the death of Wells — who was discovered dead on July 6 — what followed “was an unprecedented online campaign of accusations, harassment, threats, and defamation,” the campaign stated.

Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour — who were with Wells that day, according the Sun Herald — have “been falsely and wrongly blamed by individuals online and in the media of either directly or indirectly having a hand in Nolan’s death,” the campaign continued, claiming that “race baiters sent a deranged army after them online in the name of ‘justice.'”

As Globe reported, Wells traveled to Horn Island with friends on July 4, and the boat left around 9:56 a.m., according to CBS affiliate WLOX. He was last seen near the island around 3 p.m., and he was found dead on July 6.

Wells’ friends have maintained that the Mississippi college football player opted to stay on Horn Island with an unknown female despite the others getting on the boat and heading back to the mainland.

However, his parents, Christine Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley have pushed back, saying that it would be unlike their son to do so. They hired civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to conduct a separate investigation into his death.

Many have said that race has played a factor in how the death of Wells, who was Black, was handled. His friends are white.

The purpose of the GiveSendGo fundraiser “is simple and two-fold,” it stated.

“Our first goal is to raise money to defend these friends against incoming wrongful death actions filed by Attorney Ben Crump and his team,” it continued. “Our second goal is to fund a robust legal team to sue for the litany of slander and libel being spread by not only Crump, but also many social media influencers, news outlets, and local provocateurs who know better.”

“If litigation becomes necessary, this fund will help provide the financial support needed to investigate claims, retain legal counsel, preserve evidence, and hold accountable those who crossed the line from expressing opinions into conduct the law may recognize as actionable, in any jurisdiction we can find them,” it stated.

As of publication, the campaign has raised more than $93,000 of its $100,000 goal.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe for the family of Wells has raised more than $810,000 since it was created on July 6, the day that the teenager was discovered dead.

According to the GiveSendGo for Wells’ friends, “Since the beginning of the investigation, these young men have cooperated with authorities, turned over all the information they had, and provided an overwhelming number of witnesses accounting for their whereabouts. Some of them even resorted to speaking up publicly to defend themselves against baseless allegations. But unfortunately, it has become clear that the truth doesn’t matter.”

Wells’ family is expected to take legal action. The three friends who accompanied Wells to Horn Island have retained attorneys.

The official autopsy for Wells has been completed, but it has not yet been released to the public.