‘We refuse to close the chapter’: Leaders, Nolan Wells’ parents renew push for federal investigation into his death

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (WLOX/Gray News) — Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the parents of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, along with other community leaders, held a press conference to call for a federal investigation into Wells’ death.

California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and others sent a letter to Jessica Bowron, acting director of the U.S. National Park Service, asking the agency’s Investigative Services Branch to open a “prompt and exhaustive investigation” into Wells’ death.

The letter read, in part, “Nolan’s family deserves answers, and this matter demands and deserves your immediate attention.”

The letter pointed out that most of Horn Island is federally designated land and asked the park service to “examine every circumstance surrounding Nolan’s death and pursue every available lead.”

“We have not closed our case, and we refuse to close the chapter of Nolan Xavier Wells,” Crump said.

Wells’ body was found in the water just off Horn Island on the morning of July 6. He was reported missing the night of July 4 after he didn’t return from a boating trip with friends.

Two and a half months later, a Jackson County grand jury returned a “no true bill,” meaning no criminal charges or indictments will be issued at this time.

Jackson County District Attorney Angel Meyers McIlrath has repeatedly said that her office has taken the investigation seriously and turned over all available evidence to the grand jury.

Stop AAPI Hate Executive Director Cynthia Choi spoke at the press conference, saying the organization stands with Wells’ family, “for as long as it takes.”

“When a family is denied truth, and when anyone seeking justice is met with closed doors — intimidation instead of answers — this fight belongs to us,” Choi said.

Choi also condemned those attempting to harass or threaten Wells’ family, referencing those who targeted his mother, Christine Wells Wonsley, and her job as a nurse practitioner.

At the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum on Saturday, Wonsley was given the organization’s “Voice of Courage” award for “standing in the gap and fighting for the truth of Nolan Wells,” according to Crump.

At Monday’s press conference, Wonsley said she “never thought [she] would be in this position.”

“I never thought I would be someone who was giving a voice to so many who feel like they have none because our justice system told us to take the answer you’ve been given,” Wonsley said. “We have been left with more questions and heartbreak than any answers. As a matter of fact, no one has given us any answers, other than, ‘consistent with accidentally drowning.’ That’s all our Black child, our Black and Asian child, has received, is ‘accidental drowning.’”

Both the state and independent autopsies ruled Wells’ cause and manner of death undetermined. According to the independent autopsy, blunt-force injuries were found on the back of his head and other areas of his back.

The grand jury report noted that accidental drowning is consistent with the evidence and that the evidence does not rule it out.

“Today, I am asking the people whose job it is to serve and protect to keep their word to our family,” Elmore Wonsley, Wells’ dad, said at the press conference. “Our son was found on federal land, and we are asking the FBI to step in and do a full investigation. We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for what any father would do for his child, and that’s to find the truth about what happened to his child.”