Fox News reports that the family of Noah Wells is demanding answers after their son’s mysterious death. Originally from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Wells was an 18-year-old football player for Southwest Mississippi Community College.
Wells went on a Fourth of July boat trip with friends to Horn Island just off the state's coast. He would never return to the mainland, as two days later, that’s were his body was recovered. Allegedly, the cause of death was drowning.
It came out that Wells' friends had his phone and keys. Texts and Snapchats were also deleted.
According to NBC News, there are conflicting reports on Wells’ whereabouts that night. His friends said he stayed behind on the island, but another teenager claims that Wells went with his friends.
A video of an argument on the island has surface which people claimed involved Wells.
Jackson County Sheriff's Department investigators do not currently suspect foul play, although the official cause of death is pending toxicology reports. However, Wells' family is running an independent autopsy, and the family has questioned the transparency in the investigation up to this point.
The family is being represented by Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney. Crump says that many cases involving the death of young African Americans are simply "swept under the rug."
“Well, we refuse to sweep it under the rug. We refuse to just let Nolan Wells' death be in vain,” Crump says in a clip on WTVA 9 News.
Crump believes that race played a factor. Wells was a black teenager and his friends with him on the boating trip were white.
Wells' mother spoke as well, saying that they just want to get to the bottom of the case. She hopes that any parent in her situation would seek and receive any help.
“Because at the end of the day 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,” the mother says.
Protests have broken out across local communities, as people are searching for answers.
A friend of Wells was interviewed by ABC 7 Chicago, declining to speak on camera because he and his friends have received threats.
“We did no wrong here, and we don’t understand how we’re getting so much hate behind us. We all cared and loved Nolan, and nobody wanted to see Nolan die. Nobody wanted to see his life be taken so short,” said the friend.
