Nancy Grace is raising questions about the mysterious death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells after the teenager’s body was found on a Mississippi island two days after he disappeared during a Fourth of July trip with friends.
During the Monday, July 20, episode of Crime Stories, Grace took a look at several inconsistencies Nolan’s parents, Christine Wells-Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley, have raised as authorities continue to investigate how the college freshman died.
Nolan traveled to Horn Island with a group of friends on July 4, but he didn’t return home with them. His body was then discovered face down on the island’s northwest shore two days later on July 6.
While officials suspect Nolan drowned, an official cause of death hasn’t been released. However, Christine and Elmore have also requested an independent autopsy on their son’s body in Washington D.C.
Grace questioned conflicting accounts about why Nolan allegedly remained on the island after his friends chose to head back. One friend claimed Nolan stayed behind with a girl he had met earlier that day, but another person who is allegedly connected to the girl claimed Nolan appeared to be returning to the boat with his friends.
Christine Wonsley/Facebook
“Both cannot be true,” Grace said. “Those cannot mutually exist in truth. They’re mutually exclusive. He can’t go with them and stay with her on Horn Island. I don’t know who’s lying, but somebody’s lying right there.”
The former prosecutor also focused on Nolan’s cellphone, which was reportedly left aboard the boat that had taken the group of friends to Horn Island. Christine has claimed the location information from Snapchat and Life360 didn’t match and that content from the day Nolan vanished appeared to be missing.
“I’ve got a big problem with the Life360 and the phone data all not jiving,” Grace continued. “I could see it being a few blocks off, but not the discrepancy his mother is describing. I’m not buying that.”
However, attorney John Mobley, who appeared as a guest during the episode, cautioned that a full forensic examination of the phone would be needed before determining whether anything had been deleted or interpreting the phone’s location data.
Christine and Elmore have hired civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to conduct an independent investigation into Nolan’s death, including an examination of his phone, as his family continues to push for answers.