New Nolan Wells text message report raises questions about investigation into teen’s death
TheGrio...
Civil rights attorney Charles Coleman Jr. explains what the newly released 300-page report of Nolan Wells’ text messages means for the investigation into his death.
As communities across the country continue to proclaim justice for Nolan Wells, new details have emerged this week in the late teen’s case. Digital investigation firm Garrett Discovery recently released a 300-page report on Nolan Wells’ phone records, examining text and Snapchat messages. According to Garrett’s investigation, the messages reveal Well’s friends reacting to the news of him being missing and his ultimate death.
“There is def some sus s*** going on,” one person wrote in a chat.
Another message read: “That’s not like Nolan bro just to get left.”
And as news broke of Wells’ death and public speculation grew, Wells’ friends reportedly shared messages warning each other not to speak to anyone outside of their friend group and sharing “advice” for if they got called in for questioning and more.
“They posted this update and every single comment is just abt how we’re covering it up,” one message sent on July 7th read. And in the days leading up to Wells’ funeral, users were seen saying, “We need to go to Nolan’s funeral and get with all our other black friends to prove a statement for the media.”
Now the release of this analysis has raised for questions among the public, as it comes weeks after a grand jury declined any charge anyone in connection to Wells’ death, citing no evidence of foul play. In a conversation with theGrio, civil rights attorney and former Brooklyn prosecutor Charles Coleman Jr. explained what these findings mean for the case.
“As of right now, we don’t know what it means. I don’t necessarily think that it calls for a full reopening of the investigation,” Coleman Jr. told theGrio. “But if I was the family’s attorney, and looking at this, I would want to be sure whether the prosecutors had actually done a job investigating what was in those text messages and reconciling that against the other information that they had gotten through the course of the investigation.”
He continued: “I want to know basically: Have you vetted this in a way that either reconciles with what you’ve heard before, or have you vetted any of the potential discrepancies here that you’re seeing in these text messages based on the information that you already had?Does this jive with what people have told you, or does it contradict, and if it contradicts, where does it contradict, and what have you done about the contradictions?”
While legal experts aren’t certain these messages will reopen the case, Coleman Jr. does note that it raises more questions. He said it is important to be certain the Jackson County prosecutor “has made every effort to make sure that whatever the investigation had unearthed, that this fits in the stories of the witnesses that they had previously interviewed.”
“And if it does not, then we’ve got to go back to the grand jury. We’ve got to ask some more questions. We’ve got to keep investigating,” he said.
In order for the case to be reopened, Coleman Jr. explained that the messages would need to contain a substantive lead that points closer to understanding whether a crime occurred, or reveal conflict with what Wells’ friends told investigators.
For Coleman, the renewed scrutiny goes back to how the investigation was handled from the start. Since news broke of Wells’ death, conflicting information and accounts continue to arise. From local officials announcing it as a drowning before any autopsy had been conducted, to missing details in the state autopsy, to how the grand jury decision was announced, both the public and Wells’ family have called out the ways in which the case had been handled.
“This is a perfect example… of where the issue of transparency in the overall process comes to rear its ugly head again, because folks are not clear about how this investigation was conducted in its entirety,” he said. “Yes, the report was issued. It was, of course, redacted, but I think that there are still a lot of people who are suspect of the investigation itself because of the lack of transparency that occurred in the information blackout, even to the family.”
That distrust, he said, is why the public is now “doubling back” with questions for investigators: “Did you all look at this? And if so, what did you all think? And how did this play into your grand jury presentation?”
“In the absence of information, that gap, as we saw in the… Nolan Wells case, creates a lot of space for people to come up with different theories and spread those, and those end up filling the space where the information should actually be,” he added. “Yes, you always want transparency, but more importantly, we have to, as a public, really try and remember how important it is to remain disciplined and search for actual verified facts. If there’s anything that is harmful to an investigation, to a case, it is when there is a trough of misinformation and disinformation that is circulating through the court of public opinion without it having been verified. That helps no one.”
In the 103 days since Wells’ disappearance and death, his parents Christine and Elmore Wonsley have been asking one question: what happened to their son?
“Our child went out with young men who he thought was his friends. Everyone made it home, but Nolan. Two days later, he’s found dead,” Christine said in a press conference. “We have been left with more questions and heartbreak than any answers. As a matter of fact, no one has given us any answers.”
“So it is our plea that his case is reopened, re-examined, but also that the authorities do their job, treat him as if this were your child, your niece, your nephew, whatever you need to do to give us an honest and thorough investigation. That’s it. That is all we want,” she concluded.