Nolan Wells’ family targeted with hate mail

The mother of Nolan Wells says she and her husband have received anonymous hate mail featuring a defaced photo of their legal team as they continue seeking answers about the death of their 18-year-old son.

Wells, a wide receiver for Southwest Mississippi Community College, disappeared during a Fourth of July trip with friends to Horn Island, a barrier island located about 10 miles off the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

His friends told investigators that when they left the island Wells chose to remain behind to catch a ride with another group. However, Wells’ phone and keys were later recovered from the boat they were in. His body was found on July 6 in waters near the island’s northwestern tip.

Christine Wonsley, Wells’ mother, shared an image of a letter on Facebook after it was delivered to her home. The postmark indicated the mail originated from Denver, Colorado, on July 15, 2026. The sender defaced an Associated Press photograph taken during a news conference at the National Action Network headquarters on Friday, July 10, 2026, in New York.

The individual drew arrows and dollar signs next to the faces of civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton and family attorney Ben Crump, with Wonsley in the middle of the image.

“Whoever sent this to my home, may the good Lord have mercy on your soul,” Wonsley wrote in the caption of her post. “Bold enough to send this crap but not bold enough to list your return address. This is America where a grieving mother and father have to deal with this type of behavior because we asked a simple question of what happened to our son and accepted all the help we could get to find answers. Please go touch some grass.”

In a statement provided to WLBT, the FBI’s Jackson Field Office said it is assisting the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office with certain aspects of the investigation and is separately investigating “interstate threats” directed at individuals connected to the case.

Newsweek has reached out to Crump, Sharpton and the FBI for comment.

In the initial days following the discovery, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said that investigators did not suspect foul play. The official autopsy results remain pending as authorities await toxicology reports.

However, while authorities believe Wells voluntarily stayed behind on the island, his family and Crump have challenged that narrative, pointing to inconsistencies in witness statements.

Crump’s legal team obtained video he said captured a confrontation shortly before Wells disappeared.

Wells’ family has questioned investigators’ conclusion that he voluntarily remained on the island after friends departed. Speaking at a news conference in New York, Crump said Wells can be heard saying, “Give me my freaking phone. What are you freaking doing?” in the footage obtained by the family.

Crump argued the video raised additional questions about conflicting witness accounts. The attorney has expressed skepticism regarding the timeline and details provided by Nolan Wells‘ friends. Family members have also noted that Wells was an elite athlete capable of swimming.

However, Tracestin Shepherd, a friend who was on Horn Island that day, told Rolling Stone on Saturday that he, not Wells, can be heard yelling in the video. Shepherd said the footage captured events surrounding a separate altercation involving him and another man, and that Wells was not visible in the recording.

Crump pointed out that Wells appeared to be one of the few Black individuals present among roughly 200 people on the island during the holiday celebration.

“Our lived experiences tell us that we must question everything, everybody’s role, law enforcement’s role,” civil rights attorney Crump said during a press conference in Pascagoula. “That is the lived experience of us as Black people in America.”

During a July 10 news conference at the National Action Network in New York, Crump announced that Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp would fund an independent autopsy for Wells and thanked filmmaker Tyler Perry for covering the family’s funeral expenses.

Following a meeting between the family’s legal team and Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, officials confirmed that the findings of the completed death investigation will be presented to a grand jury for review.

A grand jury is a group of citizens that reviews evidence presented by prosecutors to determine whether there is enough probable cause to bring criminal charges and issue an indictment.

Emergency audio from the day Wells vanished off the Mississippi Gulf Coast raised fresh questions regarding the timeline of his final hours.

The recording captures a distress call made around 4 p.m. on July 4 by the operator of the boat carrying Wells’ friends, reporting a bilge pump failure near Horn Island. The call occurred roughly an hour after Wells was allegedly last seen by members of the group, and before the vessel returned to the mainland.

The audio does not answer what happened to Wells but it provides one of the clearest documented snapshots yet of the chaotic hours surrounding his disappearance.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Tony Phillips