Nolan Wells’ parents break their silence and cast doubt on key part of his friends’ story about teen being left behind

THE parents of an 18-year-old rising college football star have broken their silence and questioned claims made by their son’s friends about his final moments.

Nolan Wells‘ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, dismissed the statements claiming their son voluntarily chose to stay on Horn Island, off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and split from his friends during their Fourth of July outing.

The parents said throughout his young life they taught Nolan to always stay with his group when he went out.

“I don’t know why he would,” Elmore Wonsley, Nolan’s father, told Good Morning America about the claims that his son decided to stay behind on Horn Island while his friends returned to the mainland.

“We always taught him that if you go with a group you stay with a group. Even when he was in college, he would say, ‘Dad we’re going to ride down to a party in another city.’

“I’d tell him, you go with five you come back with five. Do not separate from the group.

“I always say safety is in numbers, and he would say, ‘Yes, sir.’”

“I can’t fathom why he would,” Christine added.

The emotional mother said her son and his friends would occasionally travel to Horn Island, making several trips last year.

However, Christine said Nolan would always check in when he was back on the mainland.

“But this time there was no call or text from him. It was from his friend,” Christine said.

Christine said she was able to track her son’s phone using Life360, and eventually her friends were able to retrieve the device from Nolan’s friend Warren.

“It wasn’t like they said, we got Nolan’s friend. [The parents] went and tracked it,” Ben Crump, the family’s attorney, said.

When she was in possession of Nolan’s phone, Christine said she became suspicious after searching through her son’s Snapchat accounts and learned he did not have any pH๏τos or videos from the outing.

“Me and my sister went through the phone, we went in his Snapchat, he had two accounts, absolutely nothing,” Christine said.

“It wasn’t even 24 hours, which is how long pictures and videos stay in Snapchat. And I was like that can’t be.

“I’ve seen Nolan, whenever he Snaps, when he goes and he’s having fun, he does videos. There was absolutely nothing. No saved videos, and even my sister is like yeah that’s suspicious.”

Crump dismissed the “contradictory” statements made by Nolan’s friends, who allegedly said the 18-year-old decided to remain on the island with a girl he was talking with.

“The fact that they said Nolan was talking to a young woman and she said that he said, ‘I’m going back to get on the boat with the boys.’” Crump said.

“The boys said he was going to stay with her. That’s an obvious contradiction.”

Crump, a renowned civil rights attorney, released chilling new details about an apparent video where Nolan is heard arguing with someone.

“This video, you can hear an argument going where Nolan is saying, ‘Give me back my freaking phone. What are you freaking doing,’” the attorney claimed.

“And then his phone ends up missing. I don’t know any teenager, who says, if you believe that story, I’m going to stay behind. I’m going to leave my phone. I mean, no young person leaves their cell phone.”

Crump also questioned the date when the body, suspected to be Nolan’s, washed ashore.

“Why didn’t his body wash up with the tide on Sunday. Why would it come on Monday? It’s not adding up. That is the problem when you think about the history of Mississippi,” he added.

It’s unclear if the video Crump is referring to is the same footage Jackson County investigators are probing.

John Ledbetter, the Jackson County sheriff, said the department is aware of a video circulating online that was allegedly filmed on Horn Island on the day Nolan disappeared.

The individual who posted the video on Facebook claimed it was taken at 4:01pm on the north side of the west tip of Horn Island, the last location Nolan was seen.

“We were parked right next to the boat Nolan was allegedly on,” the person wrote.

“Hope this helps in any way. This was immediately after the big fight that broke out up on the shore.”

The poster said they were not sure whether Nolan appeared in the clip, but urged people who could slow down the footage to review it.

“I’m not sure if this is Nolan, but it could be,” they wrote.

In the footage, a crowd appears to be looking toward one direction as people gather near the shoreline.

Social media users have claimed the clip shows Nolan or captures a fight tied to his disappearance.

Authorities have not confirmed whether the video is authentic or connected to Nolan’s death.

A cause of death has not been established pending a full autopsy.

Preliminary evidence suggests Nolan drowned, according to investigators.