Nolan Wells might have been 18, but his mom asks ‘why our baby didn’t come home’
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- Nolan Wells’ body was found after a July Fourth trip to Horn Island.
- The football player was a role model for his siblings and friends.
- His parents, who want to know what happened, spoke at a New York news conference.
Nolan Xavier Wells was a peacemaker.
He did not like to see people argue. Racial division disturbed him.
And yet, he knew the reality of being Black in America, his mother Christine Wonsley said during a news conference Friday morning in New York led by their attorney, Ben Crump, and civil rights activist Al Sharpton. His parents taught him, as many Black parents teach their children, to move carefully through the world.
The Wonsleys are not convinced Wells died violently. They just want to know what happened to their son, who was loved by many in his Ocean Springs community and beyond.
A clearer picture of Wells emerged Friday during the national media storm surrounding his death.
Wells was a role model to his siblings and friends, an exceptional young man by all accounts. “He was a great son who was on the cusp of becoming a man,” Crump said.
He boated July Fourth with white friends to Horn Island, where hundreds gathered, most of them also white. He did not return on the boat and was reported missing late Saturday night. An intense search ensued. His body washed up in the water near shore on Monday morning, investigators have said.
A slew of inconsistencies about his final hours, and Mississippi’s violent racial past, have left his parents to wonder whether his death involved foul play.
Amid their grief, they remembered their son Friday morning during appearances on ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS Mornings and at the news conference streamed on Ben Crump’s Instagram account.
“Nolan was the kindest soul,” Christine Wonsley said. “He loved everybody. He didn’t care who was Black, white, purple, green . . . Like he just wanted everyone to be at peace with one another. He loved life, and God gave him this big heart, which always, always scared us.”
Parents share memories of Nolan Wells
Wonsley said she and Wells’ father, Elmore Wonsley, talked to their son about “how to move in certain spaces.” She said that they weren’t feeding into racism, but the pattern is there. They’ve seen it many times, she said, her voice calm and matter of fact.
Nolan didn’t like to see anyone argue, including his parents. His parents were “having a moment,” she said, when Wells was a toddler. He ran into the room in his diaper and started dancing to break the tension, she said. Of course, his parents wound up laughing.
His close friends from early childhood told a Sun Herald reporter that Wells was a peacemaker Monday morning, while they waited at the Lake Mars Boat Launch in Jackson County after learning that a body matching Wells’ description had been found. If an argument broke out among them, his friends said, Wells was the one who tried to smooth tensions.
The boys played ball together throughout childhood. Football, baseball, basketball, it didn’t matter. Wells loved it all and was a superior athlete. He was a good swimmer, too, and even took lessons at the YMCA, they said.
During the news conference, Nolan’s father, Elmore Wonsley, described him as “a born people person.”
His son was a wide receiver with Southwest Mississippi Community College and had previously played at Ocean Springs High School. He and his little brother developed a special bond, their father said, because the boys played the same position.
Wells’ father was attentive, teaching his son that football was more than a game. It was a business. That was beginning to sink in for his son, his dad said. As Wells’ focus on training intensified, so did his little brother’s.
“They were becoming men,” his father said. His father often talked with Wells and gave him advice. “This was his time,” Elmore Wonsley said.
Wells’ siblings are hurting, their father said, including an older sister and twins, and his two younger siblings. Of all the children, Nolan Wells had the best sense of humor.
“He was the jester in my court,” his father said. “He will be missed greatly not only by us, but by the whole community.”
His parents are now planning his funeral. Rev. Al Sharpton said he will officiate.
His parents maintained their composure during the news conference, but Chrstine Wonsley’s voice cracked when she told the gathered national media outlets that any parent would want help finding out what happened to their child. Her husband put a hand on her shoulder as she continued in tears.
“At the end of the day,” she said, “that’s all we want. We just want to know, we just want to know what happened and why our baby didn’t come home.”
