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Reward for Nolan Wells
Family and supporters of Nolan Xavier Wells gathered in a Mississippi church Monday as the Rev. Al Sharpton pleaded for new evidence about the teenager’s July 4 disappearance and death.
Sharpton promised a $100,000 reward for information about the circumstances around Wells’ death, saying, “We’re putting up $100,000 for anybody that’ll come forward. We just want the truth.”
At the funeral at Center Pointe Church in Ocean Springs, Miss., Sharpton also said Tyler Perry matched the reward amount after Sharpton put up $50,000 for tips that could lead to “an arrest and a conviction.”
People reported that Wells, an 18-year-old college student, was found dead two days after he vanished from Mississippi’s Horn Island during a Fourth of July celebration, and that official and outside investigations and autopsies were still pending.
Calls for Transparency
Sharpton told attendees at the funeral in Ocean Springs that he was demanding a transparent investigation and invoked Mississippi’s history of racist violence, including the lynching of Emmett Till and the assassination of Medgar Evers.
In the Guardian’s account of Sharpton’s remarks, he said, “There’s too many unanswered questions,” and added, “We can’t have someone in law enforcement saying there was no foul play before there was an investigation.”
The Sun Herald described Sharpton urging the crowd of almost 1,000 to know why the family finds Wells’ death suspicious, and it said Wells’ phone and car keys were left on the boat he rode to the island.
The Sun Herald also quoted Sharpton’s framing of the case in terms of what investigators have said and what the family has not been told, noting that when the family went to retrieve the phone and keys, Sharpton said they didn’t get a straight story about what had happened.
What Happens Next
Authorities said there was no evidence so far indicating foul play, while the investigation remained ongoing and the results of the official autopsy and an independent autopsy requested by Ben Crump had not yet been released to the public.
NOLA reported that Jackson County Sheriff’s Office officials said there is no evidence so far that indicates foul play, and it said Sharpton asked tipsters to reach out to the office of Ben Crump with details that could lead to an arrest.
Crump said the prosecutor agreed to present the results of the investigation to a grand jury once it is completed, and he told the crowd, “Wouldn’t you want answers?” during the funeral service.
People also said authorities had said Wells could have drowned, while Wells’ family disputed that as premature, and it added that Wells’ body was discovered on the northwest end of the island two days later.
