The investigation into the death of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells has taken another turn after a forensic examination of his cellphone uncovered more than 1 million digital artifacts. The report includes Snapchat and Instagram activity, GPS records, phone logs, Apple Health information, application activity and evidence involving deleted or unsent messages.

The findings were presented Thursday, Sept. 24, by digital forensic investigator Andrew Garrett of Garrett Discovery, the firm retained by Wells’ family. The presentation came only days after a Mississippi grand jury declined to recommend criminal charges in connection with Wells’ death, creating a new layer of questions around what happened after the Black college student travelled to Horn Island with friends for a July 4 gathering.

What happened to Nolan Wells on Horn Island?

Wells’ body was found in the water on July 6, two days after the July 4 outing. The Jackson County grand jury later concluded that the circumstances surrounding the discovery of his body were consistent with drowning and found insufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

But the case has remained disputed because both the state medical examiner and an independent forensic pathologist had classified Wells’ cause and manner of death as undetermined.

The new cellphone examination does not independently establish that Wells was killed, nor does it identify anyone responsible for his death. Instead, it adds previously undisclosed information about the activity and movement of Wells’ cellphone after the last recorded use attributed to him.

That distinction is central to understanding what Garrett’s findings actually show.

Earlier in the Case: State law enforcement’s initial handling of the Horn Island boat trip set the stage for everything that followed. For more, read our story on the Nolan Wells Boat Trip and Mississippi Law Enforcement Response.

Garrett Discovery recovered more than 1 million digital artifacts

Garrett said his team created a forensic image of Wells’ phone and recovered more than 1 million digital artifacts.

The material included:

• Snapchat and Instagram activity
• GPS information
• Phone logs
• Apple Health records
• Application activity
• Other data used to reconstruct the phone’s timeline
• Evidence of deleted or unsent messages

Snapchat was especially significant because Garrett said Wells primarily communicated through the platform rather than traditional text messages.

The forensic team reportedly had to use additional methods to process the Snapchat information because commonly used forensic programs could not fully handle the version of Snapchat installed on the device.

According to Garrett, the examination showed that Wells was actively using his phone on July 4. The device was unlocked, Face ID was used, Wells communicated with others and he interacted with applications before the phone was locked again.

Garrett said the forensic reconstruction placed Wells’ last use of the phone at approximately 2:17 p.m. At that time, the team placed the phone on a boat.

What happened to the device after that became one of the most significant parts of the presentation.

Deleted Snapchat data became a major focus of the forensic report

Garrett said the examination identified Snapchat data that had been deleted after Wells’ final use of the phone.

He stressed that the digital evidence could establish that data was deleted, but he could not determine who deleted it or why.

“There were things that were deleted from the phone,” Garrett said. “I can’t talk to intent.”

The forensic examiner also said the deletions involved Snapchat and that some form of user action would have been required for the data to be removed.

The team additionally found evidence that messages had been deleted or left unsent.

However, the presence of deleted material does not establish who performed the action or demonstrate that the deletion was connected to Wells’ death.

Garrett also rejected the suggestion that Wells’ family was simply mistaken about material disappearing from the phone.

“No,” Garrett said when asked whether the family was wrong to believe things had been deleted. “I think if you were to look at the phone like we did and look through the message threads and stuff, you could put together that things were deleted.”

Those findings establish a digital change on the device, but they do not by themselves establish motive, intent or responsibility.

More on the Investigation: An independent autopsy commissioned by the family raised early questions that still haven’t been fully answered. For more, check out our coverage of the Ben Crump Independent Autopsy Findings.

GPS records traced Wells’ cellphone after 2:17 p.m.

The cellphone examination also produced a GPS-based reconstruction covering July 4 and the following morning.

Garrett said the data showed the phone leaving Horn Island by water, reaching a boat ramp and later travelling to a residence before Wells’ parents recovered the device.

The forensic team plotted the phone’s movements using GPS information and other digital records. During the public presentation, a version was used that obscured private residences and names.

According to Garrett’s reconstruction, the phone remained on a boat after leaving Horn Island and reached a boat ramp at approximately 7:24 p.m. From there, it travelled on land to a residence.

Investigators also reviewed material from another nearby boat travelling in the same general direction and at a similar speed.

The GPS trail therefore provides a more detailed picture of where Wells’ cellphone travelled after its last recorded use. It does not, on its own, establish who was carrying the device or what happened to Wells during that period.

Nolan Wells cellphone timeline

Time	Digital or investigative event
Before 8:24 a.m.	The phone showed activity associated with travel to McDonald’s and communications with friends.
Around 8:37 a.m.	The device showed further movement and communications.
10:30 a.m.–10:54 a.m.	The phone was associated with travel by boat, along with messages and calls.
Around 11:18 a.m.	The device reached Horn Island.
2:17 p.m.	The phone was unlocked and showed application activity. Garrett identified this as the last time Wells himself used the phone.
Around 2:18 p.m.	The forensic reconstruction placed the phone on a boat.
4:36 p.m.	The phone’s records included activity connected with a reported call to C-Tow concerning a boat problem.
7:24 p.m.	The phone reached a boat ramp before subsequently travelling to a residence.
Around 3 a.m. the following morning	Wells’ parents recovered the cellphone.

Messages continued appearing after Wells’ death

The forensic examination also captured communications that continued after Wells’ death.

Garrett said those messages were part of ongoing group conversations and were not necessarily written with knowledge of what had happened to Wells.

“The individuals that are part of this chat group continued talking after he was dead, not understanding that their messages were also sinking onto Nolan’s phone,” Garrett said.

The detail adds another piece to the phone’s timeline, while also illustrating why digital evidence needs to be interpreted carefully. Messages arriving on a device after someone’s death do not necessarily mean the people sending them knew the person had died.

Why the cellphone examination became disputed

The handling of Wells’ cellphone has also become a point of disagreement between his family and Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath.

McIlrath previously said the state did not have a legal avenue to seize and search the cellphone because Wells’ family retained possession of it. She also said the family and its attorneys remained in control of when, where and how the phone was examined.

Wells’ family eventually hired Garrett Discovery to conduct its own forensic examination.

Garrett disputes the district attorney’s description of why a planned joint examination did not take place. In a letter to Ben Crump, he said both sides initially discussed conducting a simultaneous examination. He said the conditions later proposed by authorities would have limited attendance to law enforcement personnel at a government facility.

“A law-enforcement-only examination at a government facility is not a mutual examination,” Garrett wrote.

WAPT reported that Garrett said his team began acquiring data from the phone at the family’s home after the previously planned examination did not proceed.

He said the family later supplied the resulting reports and forensic material to prosecutors.

McIlrath, meanwhile, has said the grand jury did receive cellphone information obtained by the family’s team. Her office said the grand jury considered a selection of the material provided by the Crump team.

The disagreement over the examination process does not itself demonstrate that investigators mishandled evidence or that anyone tampered with the cellphone. It shows that the two sides disagree about how the joint examination was supposed to occur.

What did the Mississippi grand jury conclude?

The cellphone findings emerged immediately after the release of the Mississippi grand jury’s report.

The Jackson County grand jury met from Sept. 14 through Sept. 18. According to the report, it issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses while reviewing physical and digital evidence, witness testimony and investigative material.

The panel did not return an indictment and found insufficient evidence of criminal wrongdoing connected to Wells’ death.

The grand jury stated that the:

“position of, the condition of, time of discovery, and location of Mr. Wells’ body is consistent with drowning.”

The panel also addressed concerns surrounding Wells remaining on Horn Island after his friends left and his cellphone returning to the mainland without him.

According to the grand jury, leaving the island by different boats was not unusual during crowded days. It also found that phones being left on boats and returned to the mainland was not itself evidence of wrongdoing.

The grand jury further rejected public allegations involving the friends who had accompanied Wells to the island.

Yet the panel’s conclusion existed alongside the unresolved medical findings.

Why Wells’ undetermined cause of death remains important

Wells’ body was discovered in the water near Horn Island on July 6, two days after the July 4 gathering.

The independent autopsy commissioned by his family concluded that the cause and manner of death were undetermined and said further investigation was necessary.

The independent examination also documented blunt-force injuries involving the back of Wells’ head and additional areas of his back.

The grand jury reviewed the available medical evidence but determined that it did not establish criminal wrongdoing.

A witness told the grand jury that Wells appeared to slip awkwardly from the side of a boat at around 3:30 p.m. on July 4. The report said Wells continued socializing afterward and did not appear to have suffered a serious injury at that time.

The panel said it could not determine whether that fall caused the bruising later observed on Wells’ body.

This has become one of the central areas of disagreement for Wells’ family. They have questioned how the grand jury could describe the circumstances as consistent with drowning while the medical examiner and independent pathologist formally left the cause of death undetermined.

Wells’ family is asking for a federal review

Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, and their legal team continue to call for the investigation to remain open.

At a news conference Tuesday, Christine Wonsley criticized the investigation and called for federal authorities to examine the case.

“What we have learned is that we still have no answers,” Wonsley said. “And the report reinforced the fact that Nolan was not given a thorough, transparent and honest investigation.”

The family has requested the release of the state medical examiner’s full autopsy report and additional investigative materials.

They have also asked for an independent review by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Crump’s office said the family continues to seek transparency around Wells’ death and believes the cellphone evidence should be considered alongside the medical and investigative record.

What the Nolan Wells cellphone report does and does not establish

The latest forensic presentation adds several concrete details to the timeline.

It documents activity on Wells’ cellphone before and after his last recorded use, traces the device’s movement away from Horn Island and identifies deleted Snapchat data, along with deleted or unsent messages.

But the findings should not be treated as proof that Wells was murdered or that someone responsible for his death manipulated the phone.

Garrett himself repeatedly distinguished the digital evidence from conclusions about intent. A cellphone can show activity, movement and changes to stored data, but determining why a particular action occurred requires evidence beyond the digital record.

The same limitation applies to the GPS trail. The information establishes the movement of the device, according to the family’s forensic team, but does not independently establish who was carrying it or what happened to Wells.

The grand jury’s decision remains the current legal status of the criminal investigation: no one has been charged in connection with Wells’ death.

For Wells’ family, the case remains unresolved. They continue to argue that unanswered questions involving the cellphone, medical findings and circumstances on Horn Island warrant additional investigation.

Previous Update: A Mississippi grand jury’s decision not to indict anyone marked a major turning point before the cellphone evidence surfaced. For more, read our report on the Nolan Wells Grand Jury No-Indictment Decision

Conclusion

The cellphone examination has added a substantial new digital record to the Nolan Wells investigation, including more than 1 million artifacts, a detailed GPS trail and evidence that Snapchat data was deleted. It also provides a timeline showing Wells’ final recorded phone use at approximately 2:17 p.m., followed by the device’s movement away from Horn Island and eventually to a residence.

At the same time, those findings do not independently determine what happened to Wells, who handled the cellphone after his final use or why data was deleted.

The Mississippi grand jury declined to return an indictment after reviewing physical and digital evidence, witness testimony and investigative material. Its conclusion that the circumstances surrounding the discovery of Wells’ body were consistent with drowning stands alongside the state medical examiner’s and independent pathologist’s undetermined classifications of the cause and manner of death.

For now, the cellphone evidence has provided more information about the device’s movements and digital history, but it has not supplied the definitive explanation Wells’ family continues to seek.

Disclaimer

This article has been prepared based on thorough research of the sources provided with the verified material, including reporting and statements from the Associated Press, Ben Crump Law, WAPT, Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Mississippi Today, investigators, officials, attorneys and Wells’ family. The article reflects the information available from those sources and preserves distinctions between documented findings, attributed statements, disputed accounts and conclusions that have not been established. The independent cellphone examination was commissioned by Wells’ family and should be distinguished from official findings. The available information does not establish that any particular person caused Wells’ death.

Sources

• Associated Press: Nolan Wells’ family plans release of cellphone report
• Ben Crump Law: Digital forensic findings announcement
• WAPT: Forensic expert disputes account of Nolan Wells cellphone examination
• Mississippi Public Broadcasting: Grand jury rules on Nolan Wells’ death
• Mississippi Today: Grand jury issues no indictments in Nolan Wells death
• AP: Independent autopsy of Nolan Wells finds undetermined cause of death

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