Nolan Wells’ Parents Subpoena Social Media Giants Amid Deleted Phone Content Claims

Nolan Wells‘ family is continuing to search for answers amid his mysterious death.

According to the Sun Herald, Nolan’s parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, have issued subpoenas to several social media companies seeking his account information and data as part of the investigation into the 18-year-old college football player’s fatal disappearance after he went missing during a Fourth of July trip to Mississippi’s Horn Island.

The subpoenas, which were issued on Tuesday, July 28, seek information from Nolan’s accounts on Snapchat, WhatsApp, TikTok, Meta Platforms and the location-tracking app Life360, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.

The subpoenas seek all records and information related to Nolan’s accounts, including current and former usernames and passwords, email addresses, phone numbers and display names. The family is also asking for the IP addresses tied to the accounts, as well as all communications, including chats, posts, stories and other related information, per the Sun Herald.

As Globe previously reported, Nolan’s cellphone has been at the center of the case, with Christine and Elmore revealing in a July 10 interview on Good Morning America that they’re hoping their son’s phone will provide more insight into what exactly happened that weekend.

The phone was recovered by Christine’s friend after they tracked it using Life360. While tracking the device, however, Christine claimed the phone’s location history differed from what his friends and family were seeing on Snapchat.

She also said that when she and her sister searched Nolan’s two Snapchat accounts, they found no photos or videos from the trip, which seemed unusual to them, as they believed the outing was something he would’ve documented.

“It wasn’t even 24 hours, which is how long videos and pictures stay in Snapchat. And I was just like, ‘That can’t be,'” Christine recalled. “I’ve seen Nolan whenever he snaps. When he goes, and he’s having fun, he does videos. There was absolutely nothing. No saved videos. And even my sister was like, ‘That’s suspicious.'”

The family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, who was also on hand for the interview, told GMA that they are seeking a forensic analysis of Nolan’s phone after what he described as inconsistent witness accounts, including differing descriptions of what happened that night.

Crump, 56, claims one friend told authorities that Nolan planned to return to the boat after speaking with a young woman, while another witness reportedly said Nolan intended to stay behind.

The subpoenas were filed by Mississippi-based attorney Gary Bufkin, who is assisting Crump’s independent investigation into Nolan’s death.

While Nolan, whose body was found two days after the trip to Horn Island, never returned, his friends did, bringing his phone with them, before eventually returning it to Nolan’s family.

Nolan’s friend Warren Hudson, who was on the trip, denied allegations that anyone deleted content from the young athlete’s phone.

“There was no reason for us to get on Nolan’s phone, no one touched Nolan’s phone… If none of us had touched Nolan’s phone, then y’know there’s no reason for anything to be deleted,” Hudson told conservative commentator Brandon Tatum on July 23, during an interview on The Officer Tatum YouTube channel.

“No one even was in contact with his phone until it was moved from the boat to the truck, and none of us have access to Nolan’s password to get on his phone and delete anything,” he continued.

“We had no reason to delete anything… There’s nothing to hide here,” Hudson added.