The Mysterious Death of Nolan Wells: A Horrifying New Turn After His Phone Was Found in an Extremely Suspicious Condition—With Allegations of “Fabricated Evidence” and “Completely Erased Data.” Meanwhile, His Family Has Revealed Troubling New Clues That Raise Serious Questions About the Conflicting Accounts Given by His Friends.

The Mysterious Death of Nolan Wells: A Horrifying New Turn After His Phone Was Found in an Extremely Suspicious Condition—With Allegations of “Fabricated Evidence” and “Completely Erased Data.” Meanwhile, His Family Has Revealed Troubling New Clues That Raise Serious Questions About the Conflicting Accounts Given by His Friends.

Nolan Welds bombshell tonight. The dead teens messages deleted after his body washes ashore. Uh-uh. Good evening. I’m Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. 18-year-old football star Nolan Wells heads to Horn Island with his friends to celebrate the Fourth of July.

 But hours later, after he doesn’t return to shore, his friends report him missing, launching a desperate search across the water.  They met that day and it was kind of it’s kind of one of those things. He did come off that day that he really did like her, but they that was the only time they’ve ever hung out was at Horn Island on July 4th.

 We’re sinking. Can you all please come? And is everybody on board in good health otherwise?  Yeah. Yeah. Everybody’s off.  From our friends at GMA. No, everyone was not on board. Nolan was not on board. And who’s the mysterious girl he met for the very first time the day he goes missing.

 His body spotted by the United Cajun Navy, washed ashore. We have obtained that photo. We are choosing tonight not to show it. That last sound from our friends at NBC. joining me an all-star panel. But first, straight out to Todd Terrell representing the United Cinjun Navy participating in the water search for Nelan Wells.

 Todd, thank you for being with us. What did you observe?  You know, Horn Island, that area right there is an area that we have sea planes that we operate back and forth to the island, taking people back and forth fishing or all field workers, you know, back off to rigs and stuff. Um that morning um the the body was observed on the northwest portion of Horn Island.

 Um which is not unusual for someone to drown and be washed up in that area. Um there was a park ranger that was on the island that actually had spotted the body and we were calling in down to law enforcement officials on the ground what we saw from the air. Todd Terrell joining us from the United Cinjun Navy called in to participate in the water search for this young star athlete Nolan Wales tonight.

 Mystery swirling around his death. How is it that a group of his friends go out on a boat? They go to a remote Horn Island. There is nobody there. It’s uninhabited. There is there are no phones. There are no bathrooms. as just a hangout place. How does he end up dead on the shore and everybody else makes it back? I want you to hear one more time what the group is saying about that day.

 They met that day and it was kind of it’s kind of one of those things. It did come off that day that he really did like her, but that that was the only time they’d ever hung out was at Horn Island on July 4th. from our friends at GMA. Who Who is she? Where is she? What, if anything, did she have to do if there is a she with no one’s death? That’s for our friends at GMA.

 Back to you, Todd Terrell. And I’m about to go to Caitlyn Becker, a senior national correspondent, New York Post on the story from the get-go. Todd, you stated to me that it’s quote not unusual for bodies to wash ashore in that spot. What do you mean by that? Because if it was that common, wouldn’t this be designated a dangerous area and there would be warning signs? What do you mean it’s not unusual? I find that hard to believe.

 Well, many areas along the coast of of the whole Gulf Coast area um is a dangerous area. You know, I don’t believe they could put up signs anywhere. I think it should be known that these are these are bad areas. The rip current is very bad in that northwestern portion. We call it the washing machine actually. It’s an area where the current just just rolls round and round in there like kind of like a washing machine.

 And one of the interesting things was where Nolan was found was probably pretty close to where the incident occurred. So the body didn’t go that far.  Okay. What incident was there an incident? Are you suggesting Todd Terrell? Todd Terrell uh joining us tonight from the United Cinjun Navy, our friends by the way at the United Cinjun Navy.

 They are called in on many many missing person’s case. Todd, you stated the incident. What incident? You mean he didn’t drown?  We’re saying that whatever happened, we’re calling an incident. Our job as United Kane Navy is to bring people home back to their families. First of all, alive. Second of all, recover the body if possible.

 We knew in this case uh the time frame that was involved that we were looking for a recovery at this point. But when I said the incident, something happened to make Nolan not be with us anymore. Um it appears as though it was a drowning. You know, there was a lot of rumors about him being brought back to the land 10 miles away and and you know, brought back out there and jumped off.

 I don’t I don’t believe any of that is true. Whatever happened in that water, we’re calling the incident. You know, the water goes from 2 to 3t to like 20 ft real quick. You know, there was some underage kids out there drinking. It’s an island. You know, there’s no IDs being checked or anything like that. So, we said an incident, there’s anything that could have happened.

 And not every person that drowns do you hear screaming and hooping and hollering. But at this point, our job was to bring Nolan home. And we did that.  What was observed, guys, you’re seeing right now from our friends at the United Cine Navy, the video taken from their aerial craft on the beach. You see a grouping of individuals.

 Now, from another source, we have obtained photos of Nolan’s body that we are not showing it. It’s just not right. But I can tell you when you see that grouping of people on the beach, uh they look like little ant figures from this high up above. But that is where Nolan’s body is. They’re standing around it.

 As I recall, Todd Terrell Nolan was face down, still fully clothed on the beach. Is that correct?  Yes, that is correct. He was face down, which would have meant that he drowned. Now, when we say he was foundy closed beach, it was in the same vicinity of where he possibly drowned, you know, um, right there.

 So, it was not uncommon for the body to have washed up right there. That being said, that area full of rip currents, really strong right there. Goes from 2 to 3T to 20 ft pretty much within a couple steps. So, that being said, whatever happened happened really, really close to where the body was found.  You know, Todd Terrell, I I don’t mean to be giving you a hard time.

 This is not about you. The United Cajun Navy are the protagonist in this scenario. You’re the good guys. I’ve just got so many questions about how this happened. Was there anyone else on Horn Island when Nolan’s body was found?  Now, there was a the park ranger was out there and uh there was some law enforcement officials that actually had their boats anchored out there.

 You know, they were kind of like waiting around for a call what to do. What people don’t realize is when you’re [snorts] looking for a body on the water, especially in the Gulf where you have waves going and you have white caps, it’s a little bit harder to see. When you’re in a boat, you can only kind of see the vicinity around you.

 So, we put these sea planes up in the air. We can get a much more visual of a much more bigger area. And these sea planes can go low and slow. So, what we do is we stay in contact with the officials on the ground and tell them what we see. and if they see something too, they can relay it up to us and we can go investigate it.

 So, in this case, there were several law enforcement boats that were just kind of hanging out in the area on the island and there was numerous other boats in the area, you know, circling and and [clears throat] looking. But the body was found by a park ranger as it washed up on the beach.  You know, very curious, Todd. Um, guys joining us, Todd Terrell with United Cajun Navy.

 When I said, “Was anyone else on the island when no one’s body was found?” Your answer was completely 100% accurate. But let me rephrase and refine my question. You’re saying the park ranger found him. That leads me to believe there were no friends. There was no newly met girlfriend. So, am I left to believe that he goes out swimming all on his own and the friend girl leaves, the mates from school leave, everybody just leaves him out in the water and he dies and then just conveniently washes ashore.

Somebody just left him out in the water. Does that make sense to you, Todd Terrell? Well, you know, being being a person that goes to this island and and several other areas that you can only get to by boat. We have some restaurants and bars in Louisiana that you can only get to by boat, which means you have to hitch a ride with somebody on a boat or that has a boat to get there, which a lot of things could go wrong in that scenario.

But as far as what we believe, I believe that Nolan went out there with a group of friends. Uh they were friendly obviously so because he was even out there. I mean, you got to understand to go to an island, you have to have a boat, which means you have to have friends, which you have to have people that kind of like you to even bring you out there.

 So, when Nolan got out there, the group of guys he was with, you know, they decided to come in a little bit early. They were having some Indian trouble in their boat, which is not uncommon. Happens a lot. Um, Nolan, for whatever reason, decided to stay on the island, which is not uncommon. He could have, you know, had this girl he was talking to, he could have just, for whatever reason, decided to stay.

 Not uncommon. That doesn’t give us any reason to think foul play or anything was involved there. The issue is when he stayed on the island, he had to hitch a ride back in with somebody. And there’s where the issue becomes, who did he hitch a ride back in exactly? How were these people connected to him? How did they know him? And it’s not uncommon for you not to know somebody at all and just say, “Hey, I need a ride back in.

” They say, “Yeah, come on. Get in the boat with us.” So, if I say, “Hey, Nancy, come on. Get in the boat with us.” That means at that point we’re responsible for you.  But but Todd, Todd, here’s my issue. Again, I agree with what you said, but the critical moment is somebody had to leave him there alone for the rest of the scenario that you’re describing to unfold.

 He had to be alone. And and Todd, and I’m going to bring you the rest of the panel. I want you to hear this. That is from Anna Moore on Snapchat. And you have to listen very intently to hear what she claims is being said. Todd Terrell, United Cage Navy. Please don’t don’t move. Joining me now, Caitlyn Becker, the senior national correspondent, New York Post.

 She is the star of New York Post Cast. New York Post Cast. That’s her podcast. Caitlyn, thank you for being with us. Now, according to what this Anna Moore on Snapchat has revealed, you can hear, and this is also according to the attorneys, give me my effing phone. This is Nolan reportedly talking. What the f are you doing? The friend, they claim, uh, Tristan Shepard.

 I can’t tell that from what I’m hearing. The friend says, “Get off me. Get the f off this boat. F you, bro.” Now, the voice we believe is Nolan’s is, “Give my effing phone. What the f are you doing?” And then another voice, “Get off me. Get the f off this boat. F you.” Okay, what do we know? And Caitlyn Becker joining us from New York Post.

 Who is this mysterious friend girl? Because I want to talk to her.  I want to talk to her too, Nancy. The the video is tough. The Snapchat is really tough because you do clearly hear an angry altercation. There is the assumption that we’re working off of that it is Nolan. However, a few other friends have confirmed it’s not Nolan. There’s actually someone who said it was me, not him.

 So, you have someone coming forward saying that is not him on the video. So then did no altercation actually take place or is someone jumping in saying that’s me to misdirect or to redirect us from looking at it? That’s the one question. The other question that you asked is who’s the girl? Her name is apparently allegedly Katie. That’s kind of all we know.

 Just Katie. Someone purporting to be related to Katie went on social media and this is not something that they’ve been able to confirm, nor have investigators confirmed it. But according to this person, Haiti said, “We met, we talked, he seemed like he was going back on the boat with his friends, and that was that.

” So Haiti  Okay, hold on. Right there. Caitlyn Becker. Caitlyn, Caitlyn, Caitlyn,  right there. The girl, if she exists,  Mhm. says they talked, they chatted it up, probably flirting with each other if accounts are true. Then he leaves to go back to the boat with his friends, but according to the friends, he stayed with her right there.

That is a conflict. That doesn’t fit. Now, Caitlyn Becker and the rest of the panel, I want you to hear this.  Is that Nolan in the video?  I I can’t tell. It’s too far away. But in that video, I feel like it’s the voices are too clear. Like from the side, it’s too clear for it to be that far away for it to be Nolan arguing.

 And then also that altercation, it sounds just like my other friend that got into an altercation on the boat. And they were trying to like as he was in the altercation, I was calming him down. They were trying to get him out off the island. They were trying to get him back to land because he was just losing it.

 Okay. So you’ve got that’s from our friend Harvey Leven at TMZ. So, you got half the people saying that is Nolan that’s in an altercation and is getting thrown off the boat. And then you got half the people going, “Oh, no, no, no. That’s not him.” But to me, the clear problem is that critical moment where Katie, if she exists, says he went back with his friends.

 And the friends say, “Oh, no, we left. He wanted to stay with her.” Right there. That is the first conflict. Both cannot be true. Those cannot mutually exist in truth. They’re mutually exclusive. He can’t go with them and stay with her on Horn Island. Right there, John Mobly joining me. High-profile lawyer out of Charleston, South Carolina.

 John, that’s where it starts. That lie. I don’t know who’s lying, but somebody’s lying right there. Mobly.  Well, I don’t know that I would necessarily agree with you on that. I think they can be both partially true dependent on perspective. I think one thing we have to kind of keep in mind with this is we have a lot of different people telling things from different perspectives um from their own individual’s perspectives.

 It’s certainly conceivable that he let his friends leave to stay with the female if he was with the female assuming that happened. And once he finished his communication or whatever he was doing, the female told her he was leaving to go back with his friends. And from her standpoint, he said he was going back with his friends, which did not necessarily mean they were the same friends that dropped them off.

 So I I would disagree with you on that.  Hold on. Mobly, let me see. Mobly. Mobly, you’re right. Because as I’ve told many, many juries, as a trial judge once always said in his jury instructions, it is your duty to make all witnesses speak the truth and impeachy to no one. So actually what you’re saying could be could be true.

 If there’s another group of friends, if they exist, we haven’t heard about them. But you’re saying he left with one group and had planned to come back with another group. Okay. I don’t know if you’re just spinning that out, but that could be possible. Okay, Mobly, listen to this.  You said that you hear on the video Nolan saying, “This is my freaking phone.

 What are you freaking doing?”  That’s what a witness told us and that’s what we reported out. Then another witness that come forth said, “No, that was his voice.” We have other witnesses saying, there were other altercations. So, as Mr. Hurt said, we’re trying to go through it all and so forth. And we’ll be even more careful to say this is what a witness told us in the future.

 And so your team hasn’t been able to look fully into that and confirm whether it was or was not.  No, we have audio people doing it, but we know certain people said it was him. And there are certain people said it was not him.  That is our friend, high-profile lawyer Ben Crump. And the last thing you want is him 3 in up your tailpipe. Okay.

 Uh that’s our friends at Fox 10. So this is where it stands. Who left him there? Is there really a Katie? Did he stay with her? Did he leave with his friends? How did he end up there alone? Which I find very, very disturbing. And also back to Caitlyn Becker joining us, senior national correspondent, New York Post star of NY post. The Postcast.

 Instead of podcast, it’s a postcast. Caitlyn, now allegations have reared their ugly head that his phone has been tampered with and items have been deleted. Explain. They had his phone and when his mother was looking for his phone when they when he was missing, there were two different ways to identify it.

 Either a Snapchat location or a Life 360 location. They showed different locations, which is very possible because one updates automatically, the other only updates when you open the app, but when she finally tracked it down, she says there was nothing on it from that day. And this is a teenager. This is a teenager who is constantly on their phones. Yes.

When you’re on a boat like this and you’re you’re out there, you leave it on the boat because you can’t really get it wet and you don’t want to have it come to the beach with you because you have to actually go in the water to get there. But to have the phone from these friends who didn’t willingly turn it over, didn’t give it to investigators, didn’t give it to his mom, just had it.

And for her to open it up and say, “I see nothing from that day.” No snapchats, no photos. It looked like things were missing. like there was a gap in the timeline of the life cycle of his phone.  Okay, I’ve got another problem uh regarding his phone. Well, number one to Dr.

 Jamie Lacy joining us, licensed psychotherapist, CEO of Life Counseling Solutions, author of well many books, but how to heal from a toxic relationship and she’s the star of Let’s Talk About It with Janie Lacy. Okay, Dr. Janie, who leaves their phone behind? Now look, I just got off a boat with my twins. We went fishing all over the panhandle.

 We have what you call dry bags. We don’t leave our boat, we don’t leave our phone anywhere because what if we need it? What if we need it out in the middle of nowhere and we were on a little strip of land right off the Gulf where like Horn Island, there’s no people. We were there fishing alone, believe it or not.

 And we had our cell phones. Now I’m an adult. A teen. What teen leaves their cell phone? Uh, none. Exactly, Nancy. I have a teenager. His phone is with him in his pocket all the time. And he even brings his phone to the bathroom. So, we know that teens do not leave their phone. It is their way to communicate. It is attached to them.

So, when I think about what we’re talking about right here is right, concealments. And I can’t speak to what these young people did, but I can tell you, especially young people, when it comes to their phone and they’re constantly posting things, it is their norm. So, when it comes to deleting, hiding, or even going silent after a tragedy, to me, it’s almost always driven by fear.

 Fear of potential blame, fear of consequences, fear of what the truth might mean about themselves. But we know that secrets don’t protect. And when teens don’t have their phone or when their phone potentially is taken from their friends, we know that there’s a reason behind that. It’s usually driven by by fear. Nancy,  okay, got another issue.

 Caitlyn Becker joining us uh with New York Post. Caitlyn, the Live 360 seems to show something very different than other digital evidence. What do you know about that discrepancy? It  it comes down to location. where the life 360 shows him on dry land versus where the Snapchat showed him in the water where he was and where the phone was positioned.

 So that is something that I think forensic investigators have to to look into digital forensic investigators because it’s difficult to determine from looking at it from our perspective where was the phone actually. Was it out on the water at the last time it was used? Was it on dry land at the last time it was used? And when his mom went to go pick it up, who was the last person to have used it? That’s something that sticks out to me because I have to imagine it was password protected.

 And why would someone else have his password? But it seems as though his mom did or that they did so they were able to get into the phone. So the timeline of his disappearance is a big question mark because you’re getting two different locations from two different apps.   Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. If you are a homeowner, you’ve probably thought, should I call American Financing to refinance and pay off this debt? But you don’t because of your low mortgage rate.

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 Um, so one of the boys says, “Well, it’s showing that I think I can’t exactly remember what his location was showing, but my Life 360 location was showing something completely different. It was actually showing that his phone was like he was on land and and so we ended up she received the phone from that parent.” So the Snapchat location looks completely different than the Life 360 location.

 So when I pulled up Life 360, it was different. It was showing everywhere the phone had been like it had I was like, “Well, it’s showing that he’s back on land. Like I’m not.” He’s like, “But no, he didn’t come back with us.” N O I’ve tracked my son a hundred times when he’s fishing and it shows he’s in the water. When he’s off the water, it shows he’s on land. The mom is right.

 You were just hearing Christine Wanssley. That is no one’s mother from our friends at National Action Network and GMA. Okay. I got a big problem with the live 360 and the phone data all not jing. I could see it John Mobly being a few blocks off, but not the discrepancy his mother is describing. I’m not buying that. And another thing, while we’re talking about discrepancies, uh, John Mobly, do you have children?  I have children. I got Life 360.

 Uh, I use the iPhone location tracker. Um, I will tell you, you know, even though I’m not a a digital data expert, that life 360 is not always 100% accurate. I mean, I think in general, you have to kind of keep in mind with all of these phones that, you know, they’re dependent upon the signal they’re reaching, the coverage.

 I mean, as you know, you can have a group of people together, which means they’re going to take up more bandwidth and that’s going to cause signal interruption. I think be premature for anyone to try to interpret the data without an accurate digital download being conducted on the phone.  Oh, okay. I’m sure Life 360 and the iPhone industry is going to call you on that.

 I’m really surprised at this juncture, Mobly, that you’ll actually argue with digital forensic evidence. But okay, who should I believe? You or the phone, the Li 360 and the iPhone track are familiar. But that said, the reason I asked you, oh, I’m hearing something. And it’s you, Mobly.  If you have teens,  you should know about Snapchat. Okay.

 At the supper table, the children will go, “Did you see so and so?” I’m like, “No, I didn’t.” And they go, “Oh, here’s a snap.” They hold it up and they go, “Don’t touch it, mother.” Or it will, I don’t know, delete. I don’t know what it does to it. But a Snapchat, you get to look at it once and it’s gone.

 See, that’s a problem forensically and law enforcement wise with Snapchat because they they’re gone. Unlike a text or you send a photo or an email or you send a video as Alex Murdo that nailed his coffin, those stay. Snapchats disappear into the ether. So, if the Snapchats aren’t there, I can understand that.

 If there are texts deleted, I don’t understand that. Okay, let’s hear you explain that digital phenomena.  Now, I want to be clear. I want to just, you know, go back to what you talked about earlier. You talked about the digital evidence. There has not been digital forensic evidence extracted from the cell phone yet.

 What you have are the young man’s parents interpreting what they see on the phone and speculating that something must be missing. That’s what you have. But both, you know, you need to have a forensic digital data extraction and correct that can determine the text messages were sent, were they deleted, if photos deleted, all that needs to be done.

 I mean, there’s no doubt about that whatsoever. But just individuals kind of looking at the phone trying to interpret these things, that’s not digital evidence that would not be visible in court and actually, you know, it would not be reliable. We also agreed that we will have a mutual inspection of the cell phone with our experts and their experts.

 Attorney Eric Herz is helping lead the investigation team uh with former uh law enforcement experts who are going to help us uh with the cell phone download. So everybody will be able to see at the same time uh what the cell phone has.  Guys, uh that is our friend Ben Crump standing with the family. That’s also from our friends at WLX.

You know, um Todd Terrell is with us repping the United Cajun Navy who was called in to participate in the water search for Nolan Wells. Todd, I I’m curious about a theory that you threw out. It’s not your theory, but it is a theory that has been discussed about his body being moved.  Well, as far as the body being moved, several things there.

 Like I said before, our mission is to bring a body home or bring a person back to their family and and their, you know, their loved ones. This is on federal land. So, who has jurisdiction? First of all, it seems as though there’s federal jurisdiction out there. the fact that they stay in the body was moved. We’ve offered our services.

 We have some of the best of the best dogs available. Mr. Darius case in Baton Rouge where the kid was dumped in the landfield. We were the ones instrumental in helping bring that to light where they’re searching for him right now because of our dogs what they found at the gentleman’s house that’s in jail for murder.

 We offered our dogs to bring to the boat. There’s only one thing that will clean blood off of a boat. I’m not going to mention it because it’ll give people ideas, but I doubt if somebody would have done something, they would have used this chemical to remove the blood. So, we’ve offered our services to bring the dogs around the boat of of everyone that was potentially involved in this.

 So, the federal land thing is a big deal. So, the body being dumped, I I would say that let us bring the dog to the boat. Let us bring it. They said the boat was clean that night or the night day before. There’s only one thing that’s going to clean it. If there’s blood in that boat, we’ll find it. The other thing is getting back to the phone.

 If these guys had this phone, they stole his phone. Why didn’t they throw it away? Why didn’t they just throw it in the water? And if there is anything on it, if it was deleted, forensics, they should be able to find it. You know, my thing is if you came with these guys and they didn’t bring you home, that is not uncommon.

 So, I think there’s where the focus needs to be a on let’s get this notion that there was a body dump. Let’s bring the dogs to that boat and we’d be willing to offer our services to go check that out. And B, these guys in the boat that he came with, it’s okay that they left him on the island or they they didn’t bring him in.

 But yeah, I as far as the body being dumped, our services are offered and they’ve been offered to go bring the dogs around that boat.  Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. Please join us on Crime Stories and stream it first on Fox One. When breaking crime news develops, we investigate it and bring it to you.

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 Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Stream it first on Fox One. I hope to see you there. And thank you, friend.  Nolan voluntarily said he’s going to stay behind and his parents and friends outright reject that. They said that is not of Nolan’s character or disposition. And had he done so, would he have ever not wanted his cell phone? The young lady he was talking to, who said she he told her that he was going to get back into the boat with the boys.

 And then the boys said that Nolan said he was going to stay and talk with her. Obviously, the statements conflict with one another.  We always taught him to if you go with a group, you stay with a group.  Um even when he was in college, um he was like, “Dad, well, we’re going to ride down to a party or something in in another city.

” And I always tell him, “Look, if you go with five, you come back with five. Do not separate from the group.” Cuz I always say, “Safety is in numbers.”  And he always said, “Yes, sir.” So he knew to stay with his group. So why would he split from this group? I don’t know.  We went in his Snapchat. He had two accounts. Absolutely nothing.

 It was It wasn’t even 24 hours, which is how long videos and pictures stay in Snapchat. And I was just like, that can’t be. Like I’ve seen Nolan whenever he snaps. Like when he goes and he’s having fun, like he he does videos. Like there was absolutely nothing. No save videos. And even my sister was like, “Yeah, that’s that’s suspicious.

” You know,  that is Nolan’s family, the family lawyer on our with our friends GMA and PBS. Caitlyn Becker with us, senior national correspondent, New York Post, star of NY postcast. Caitlyn, a lot right there. Okay, you got Crump and he’s saying  it is not a Nolan’s character to have stayed behind to start with or much less without his phone.

 He identifies the conflict that we have identified tonight between the two stories. The dad insists he would never have parted with all of his friends. And last but not least, we’re hearing not only did Snapchats disappear, but that no one was a videographer, a photographer. He always took pictures of the fun times he was having, moments with his friends, games, the whole shebang. But they’re all gone.

There are not any. I also find that disturbing, Caitlyn.  It’s a little odd that there was nothing on the phone seemingly from that day. that that does strike me as odd. I do want to push back a little or set the stage a little bit for what this day was like. There were multiple boats going out at the same time to this island.

They were filling up with a few teens. They left. The next group kind of got in. This is per the reporting and for what some of the witnesses said. There was maybe a couple hundred people on that island that day that a lot of them were young. It was supposed to be some big kind of summer extravaganza before everybody, you know, went back to school.

 So, I don’t think it’s accurate to say he wouldn’t go back with his friends or he didn’t go back with his friends or he didn’t intend to go back with his friends because I think there were more than just those four friends on one vote that he it sounded like the intention was for him to go with another group.

 Where I get stuck is the point that Ben Crump made. Why would he let his phone go back with his friends? Sure, you want to stay and go back with another group. I get that. You heard, you know, you the the person who was part of the search saying that’s not uncommon. It does sound uncommon for anyone, a teenager, an adult, anyone to say, “Okay, go ahead and take my phone back with you.

 I’ll stay without a means of communication for however long.” That’s what gets me. Why would anybody let their phone go on another boat without them with no plan to get it back?  Exactly.  Now, regarding Snapchat, they delete immediately once they’re opened. They can go about 30 days unopened, but you can manually set Snapchat to a 24-hour delete.

 And I’m wondering if that’s what his mother is talking about. And on another front, listen.  We had his body flown from Mississippi to Washington DC because his family wanted to make sure that they had a doctor who had no ties to Mississippi law enforcement to do an independent examination of their son’s body.

 and we are hopeful to get that results uh in the very near future.  There is famed attorney Ben Crump speaking, the parents standing behind him, Nolan’s parents, our friends at Fox 10. Dr. Weigh- in,  you know, Nancy, you know what I would want to stress is what we see with Christine who is living through what we call ambiguity loss, right? And it is one of the most excruciating forms of grief there is when a mother buries her child without her nervous system can’t even begin to close the wound because the searching her last memories a hug

and a kiss over a salmon dinner and then silence. So grief needs a story to hold on to and until the family has truth the grief has nowhere to land. And that’s that’s why transparency in this investigation isn’t just a legal issue in my mind. It’s a mental health intervention for the answers or how they how heals.

 Joining us now, renowned guest Dr. Kendall Crowns, chief medical examiner Tarant County. He is the star of a hit podcast Mayhem in the morg. He is the esteemed lecturer at the brunette school of medicine at TCU and has performed well over 10,000 autopsies. Dr. Kendall Crowns, thank you for being with us.

 Okay, I don’t have a ruling from the medical examiner. It should be apparent if drowning was the cood cause of death. That should be very apparent uh by simply autopsying the lungs. Also, you’d know immediately if there were signs of trauma. I’ve seen the photos of his body on the beach, but as Todd Terrell from United Cajun Navy stated, the body was faced down.

 So, I couldn’t see the face, the neck, the arms, the hands for defensive wounds. I couldn’t see if there were bruises to the torso. I couldn’t see the skull was fractured. None of that. I couldn’t see if teeth were missing. But it seems to me if those exhibited, we would know there had been blunt force trauma, stabbing, shooting, uh, manual or litterphixiation.

We would know that. But yet we know nothing. So to me that would rule out drowning or trauma. Are they waiting on toxicology? Is that what they’re waiting on? And why would the body have been sent for an independent autopsy? I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. But what’s going on? Dr. Kendall Crowns.

 Okay. To start with, uh, he was in the water for several days. I’m sure the water in that area is warm, so his body is going to be decomposing. He’ll have skin slippage. He’s going to have bloating from the decompositional gases and then purge fluid coming out of his mouth and other orififices.

 So then you also probably have post-mortem animal scavenging or marine aquatic life scavenging that can create marks on the body as well. So at autopsy, your question, wouldn’t you be able to see the evidence of injury? Yes, you should still be able to see injuries, bruises, stab wounds, gunshot wounds, all that, even in decomposition, can still be seen, can still be determined.

 It doesn’t sound like he’s been consumed by aquatic life to the point that he’s skeletonized in the front of his body. So my assumption is you would still be able to see injuries. Now they are they have not given a definitive cause and manner of death yet because to me that means there’s no obvious signs of injuries or no obvious cause of death because drowning yes the lungs can swell and be uh heavy with fluid uh but this can also happen with drug overdoses.

 So differentiating a drowning from a drug overdose is difficult. So you  no no no N O  yes  well I don’t know how many autopsies manifest in the same but  I’ve done a lot so  absolutely zero but I don’t need to have my MD or be the lecturer at Bernett School of Medicine to know that if the lungs are full and it could be drowning or um fluid caused by an overdose.

Can’t you get the fluid and test it?  So testing of the fluid from the lungs is you there’s nothing to test for. What you’re going to look for is the pulmonary edema or fluid in the lungs. You’re going to try and differentiate a drug overdose from drowning with a toxicologic study which is what they’re doing.

 And that can take up to 6 to 8 weeks. Drowning is a diagnosis of exclusion because it can mimic so many other things, including a drug overdose. You want to rule those things out before you determine cause and manner of death. And that’s probably what they’re doing. They’re making sure he didn’t overdose before they make the decision that he drowned.

 Now, the second autopsy being done, that’s just the family obviously has no confidence in the local medical examiner/corner system and they’ve sent it to an independent person to do a second autopsy. Not uncommon, especially in cases that are more high-profile or there’s some sort of dispute and they send it to an independent person to do a second autopsy to see what they can find.

 And it, from my knowledge, the information on that still isn’t out yet. So they’re also probably trying to find out what the toxologic studies are going to show before they make a decision. So right now we’re kind of pending on what drugs he has on board before they make an make a cause and manner of death statement.  Dr. Kindle crowns.

 I understand and I also understand your explanation regarding the potential drowning fluid in the lungs as opposed to or compared to the fluid in the lungs if there had been an overdose. If he’s found right there face down, it looked to me like in the surf, not out in the water floating, but up on [snorts] the beach.

 So even if that was the least of it, the water still would have gone into his nose and mouth. If he were alive, he could have inhaled it or ingested it, even if a drug overdose was the true COD, which would require, I guess what, Dr. Crown, a dual finding of drowning and OD. And I I’ll just state for the record, let it be noted in the record, that I have never performed an autopsy, but I’m glad you pointed that out.

 So what about the fluid in the lungs if there had been an OD? And by the way, there is no suggestion that drugs were used that day. None whatsoever. But that said, you’re saying that there would be no difference in the fluid found in his lungs. So, with a drowning, you’re you’re going into heart failure at some point from the enoxia created or the lack of oxygen to the brain created by the drowning cuz there’s no air and water.

 And that causes your body to shut down, which causes fluid to back up and causes pulmonary edema or swelling of the lungs. The same process happens in a drug overdose. But when you’re drowning and you’re inhaling that water, you get some water in your in your lungs as well, but you’re also swallowing, gulping it, throwing back up, and then swallowing and gulping it again.

 So, you’ll have water in your stomach that you can look for in a drowning. Not always. And sometimes you’ll get water in a area in your sinus cavity called the sppheninoid sinus as well. But the pulmonary edema created by drowning looks exactly like the pulmonary edema created by a drug overdose. So you can’t really differentiate the two of those and that’s why the drug testing is so important. And yes, you are correct.

 If drugs come back on board like let’s just say fentanyl it would be part one drowning part two fentanel toxicity and then manner would be accident. So it it it’s going to be a drowning no matter what but is there going to be a toxicology component added on and that’s probably what they’re working on as we speak.

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Thanks, Smalls, and thank you from our cat, Cinnamon. In the last hours, this young man with his life before him has been laid to rest. his parents attending his funeral instead of getting ready for his next big school event, getting ready for fall school. We wait as justice unfolds. If you know or think you know anything regarding Nolan’s death, please dial 2287693063.

We remember American hero, Deputy Sheriff Adam Heightman. Creek County Sheriff’s Oklahoma passed away in the line of duty after six years leaving behind a grieving wife Samantha and two little girls, Olivia and Chloe. American hero Deputy Sheriff Adam Heightman. Thank you to our guests, but especially to you for being with us.

 Nancy Grace signing off for tonight, but I’ll see you tomorrow night. And until then, good night, friend. Hi guys, please join us on our mission to find missing people, especially children, to solve unsolved homicides. And if you’re on the go, please join us on your favorite podcast app where you can get all our content where we in our way seek justice.