The parents of Nolan Xavier Wells say they will continue to push for answers about his death, after a Jackson County grand jury concluded that he likely drowned and no one would face criminal charges. Their attorney Ben Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton said that the grand jury report doesn’t clo se the book on Wells’ death or answer lingering questions about what led to it or how the 18-year-old died.  His mother, Christine Wonsley, said she received a text message from Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath Monday evening, not long before McIlrath posted the grand jury’s redacted report and a video explaining its findings on Facebook.  Monday was Wonsley’s birthday.  “Last night was a reminder that our son’s life does not matter to those who hold positions that are supposed to serve and protect the public,” Christine Wonsley said Tuesday during an online news conference at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia.  Christine Wonsley smiles as she is presented with a birthday cake for her son during a vigil for Nolan Wells at Greater St. John AME Church in Biloxi on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026. Credit: Jackson Ranger/The Sun Herald Wells, who was Black, traveled from Ocean Springs to Horn Island on the Fourth of July with friends. His body was found in the water off the Mississippi Gulf Coast barrier island two days later.  While the grand jury heard evidence that he likely drowned, both the state medical examiner and a pathologist who completed an independent autopsy ruled Wells’ death as undetermined. In a preliminary report, Dr. Roger Mitchell, the pathologist hired by the family, said all other causes must be ruled out to conclude a death was by drowning.  Mitchell also wrote that the record and examination doesn’t establish whether Wells entered the water on his own or was forced into it, and whether he was conscious when it happened.  Because of lingering questions and Mitchell’s findings, the family’s legal team called for the district attorney to keep the death investigation open and to look further into blunt force injuries documented on the back of Wells’ head and neck, including whether they contributed to his death. Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Wells’ parents, released Mitchell’s final autopsy report Tuesday, which the pathologist was able to complete after traveling to Mississippi and gaining access to reports from the state medical examiner.  Mitchell concluded that two red discoloration marks were blood. The state examiner identified them as contusions early in the investigation, but did not explain where they came from, he wrote.  “That is not nothing,” attorney Liza Park, a member of the family’s legal team, said about Mitchell’s updated findings. “That is where we begin to begin to understand what happened to Nolan Wells.”  If new evidence is uncovered relating to his death, a grand jury can meet again to consider it and decide whether to charge anyone. Mississippi does not have a statute of limitations for murder charges.  The family’s legal team and the NAACP are calling for McIlrath’s office to release the state’s autopsy report and the investigative file. They also continue to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to complete a federal review as requested by the Congressional Black Caucus in August. Forensic experts are examining Wells’ cellphone, and Crump said they will talk about what they found in an upcoming news conference.  Crump asked the public not to attack Wells’ parents for continuing to seek answers.  The case gathered national attention and sparked discussion about Mississippi’s history of  investigators not examining the deaths of Black people with the same rigor as the deaths of white people.  This summer, at least three out-of-state people have been charged with threatening to kill or hurt witnesses in the investigation, including Wells’ friends and their family members.  Friends of Wells have said they faced death threats from their names, pictures and personal information being shared online. Attorney Russ Latino, who is representing a former teammate of Wells, sent a cease-and-desist letter to at least one content creator, the Sun Herald reported. Attorneys representing the three friends who traveled to Horn Island with Wells threatened to sue Sharpton, Mississippi Today has reported. This week, the same attorneys also said they would sue “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin for comments she made, the Clarion Ledger reported. On Monday, attorneys representing the friends acknowledged the grand jury’s decision not to indict, including one who demanded that Crump apologize to three of Wells’ friends.  “We still have a First Amendment right here, and we still have the right to ask questions when our children are unalived in inexplicable ways,” Crump said at the Tuesday news conference. “We won’t stay silent, we won’t let it be swept under the rug and we won’t go quietly into the night because Nolan deserves better than that.”  ...read more read less