{"id":777803,"date":"2026-07-22T12:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T12:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/777803\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T12:19:12","slug":"nolan-wells-family-to-announce-independent-autopsy-findings-on-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/777803\/","title":{"rendered":"Nolan Wells’ family to announce independent autopsy findings on Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

The preliminary findings from Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells<\/a>‘ independent autopsy will be announced on Wednesday as the investigation into the 18-year-old’s death continues, family attorney Ben Crump said.<\/p>\n

Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, were desperate for answers<\/a> and sent the teen’s body to Washington, D.C., for an independent autopsy. The Wonsleys will join Crump to announce those findings at 9 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0official\u00a0autopsy\u00a0report\u00a0from the\u00a0State Medical Examiner’s office in Mississippi is still pending,\u00a0according to Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd Jr. Once that report is complete,\u00a0it will be provided to the local coroner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wells went missing on the 4th of July after going on a\u00a0boat trip with friends<\/a>\u00a0to Horn Island, according to authorities. It appears Wells stayed behind on the island after his friends left, officials said.<\/p>\n

The college football player’s body was recovered on July 6, and authorities said they suspect Wells drowned. Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter\u00a0said there was no initial indication of a crime, but he stressed that investigators are “working diligently to determine exactly what occurred.”<\/p>\n

“Nolan Wells’ family deserves a thorough and factual investigation, and that’s exactly what they’re going to get,” he told ABC News last week.<\/p>\n

Ledbetter also said the sheriff’s office welcomes the family’s independent investigation.<\/p>\n

At Wells’ funeral in his hometown of Ocean Springs<\/a>\u00a0on Monday, his mother said his family and friends “will miss everything about him.”<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.<\/p>\n

ABC News’\u00a0Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ABC News Internet Ventures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The preliminary findings from Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells‘ independent autopsy will be announced on Wednesday as the investigation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[331517,4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-777803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-331517","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}