Nolan Wells Update: Friend Details Calling Teen’s Mom to Tell Her He Was Nowhere to Be Found

Nolan Wells‘ friend Warren Hudson is continuing to share details about their 4th of July outing to Mississippi’s Horn Island that ended in the 18-year-old’s tragic and mysterious death.

During Hudson’s multi-part interview with conservative commentator Brandon Tatum on The Officer Tatum YouTube channel, the third part (published on Thursday, July 23) recounts Hudson’s call with Christine Wonsley to tell her that her son was nowhere to be found.

Hudson said the last time he saw Wells was on July 4 around 3 p.m. local time, when he was “cradling a girl in his arms.” According to Hudson, the group began heading back to the mainland at around 4:30 in the afternoon but Wells allegedly decided to stay back.

Later, the group was at a friend’s house. “All my friends were just hanging out,” Hudson said, explaining that one addressed Wells’ whereabouts. “I was like, ‘Well, where is Nolan? Have y’all heard from him?’ And he was, ‘No, we haven’t.’ And I was like, ‘OK, well, you know, it’s a little concerning.'”

Hudson said that he texted some friends to ask if they had seen Wells or were with him, to which they all had replied, “No.” That’s when Hudson asked one of Wells’ friends for his mother’s phone number to see if she had received any communication from her son.

“If she hasn’t heard from Nolan then I’m calling the Coast Guard,” Hudson said. “I walked down to the dock with a couple of my buddies, and I called Ms. Christine. I called her the first time — she didn’t answer. I called her a second time, and I got on the phone with her, and I asked her if she had heard from Nolan, and she said no.”

“And I said, ‘Alright, well, don’t freak out. I’m going to call the Coast Guard,'” he said, adding that their phone call took place around 11 p.m.

Host Tatum pushed back, asking Hudson why he would immediately go to the Coast Guard instead of thinking that Wells may have just slept at someone else’s house.

“My friends and I have been on the water our whole life,” Hudson explained. “Stuff happens. People die all the time. I know people that have died out there. And, you know, it’s a fun place to be, but it’s also a very, very dangerous place to be if you’re not handling it right. I hadn’t heard from him, and obviously I’m thinking I’d way rather be safe than sorry. I mean, I would rather call the Coast Guard 100 times and lose my mind over it and my buddy be OK than, you know, me not know where he is and him not be okay.”

Hudson said that when he spoke with the Coast Guard, he gave them a description of Wells and explained where he last saw his friend.

As Globe previously reported, after Wells disappeared, his body was found in the water near the island two days later following an extensive search.

While investigators have said drowning is suspected, they haven’t released an official cause of death, and the case remains under investigation.

The family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, said at Wednesday’s press conference that an independent autopsy found that Wells’ cause of death was “undetermined pending investigation.”

Wells’ family has pushed back on the claim that the teen voluntarily stayed behind on the island, and they’ve hired the civil rights attorney to conduct a separate investigation into his death.

The three friends who accompanied Wells have retained attorneys.