Sheriff addresses Nolan Wells death investigation, calling for firsthand accounts
Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said Tuesday that the investigation into the death of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells is continuing, but investigators are limiting the information released for now.
“This is still a very active investigation,” he said, and investigators are still in the process of collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses.
“A lot of people are calling here to report what they saw or read on social media, and it’s not firsthand knowledge,” Ledbetter said.
Jackson County coroner Bruce Lynd Jr. identified the body that was found as Wells on Tuesday through the use of dental records.
“What we have to go on in an investigation is original documentation and firsthand knowledge” he said. “One barrier we have is social media. We are in the process of documenting, verifying, and corroborating all that information. We have to authenticate everything.”
To combat the misinformation, he said the Sheriff’s Department plans to issue another social media push asking witnesses with firsthand information to first call the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department at 228-769-3065 to talk to investigators.
“We are asking people to call first so we can separate those with true firsthand knowledge from those with secondhand or third-hand information off the Internet that may or may not be factual because we are searching for the facts,” he said.
Instead of receiving screenshots, reposts or secondhand accounts of information, related to the teen’s disappearance and death, he said the Sheriff’s Department is appealing to the witnesses to provide:
- Original videos
- Original audio
- Original photographs
- Firsthand witness accounts.
A search for Wells began after he didn’t return home after spending Saturday on Horn Island celebrating Independence Day.
An extensive search followed after the teen’s mother, Christine Wonsley, called the Sheriff’s Department to report that her son had not returned home Saturday night.
Wells had traveled by private boat to the barrier island with a group of friends. The boat launched from a dock in St. Martin or Gulf Hills, the sheriff said
Witnesses said the original group of friends left without Wells around 3:30 p.m. because he wanted to stay behind to talk to a girl and other friends.
Another friend believes he last saw Wells on Horn Island around 4 p.m.
“Our investigation includes interviewing all the parties involved,” Ledbetter said. “We are still in the process of doing that. It’s going to be ongoing; it’s not going to be a single interview.”
This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 1:59 PM.
