FULL VIDEO: Press conference on updates in the Nolan Wells case (7/20/26)

[0:00] Let me say that be mindful of the fact that these two parents have just funeralized their son [0:09] and we would hope you respect that. They've just got off the phone with Tyler Perry thanking him [0:17] again for paying for the funeral and now matching me and putting up now a $100,000 reward for anyone [0:26] that gives information that directly leads to the arrest and prosecution and conviction of someone [0:33] if a crime was committed. We are committed in Nash Action Network and other organizations to stand [0:42] for this family. It does not end with the funeral. We intend to be vigilant on this local investigation [0:52] and we intend to push as hard as we can to find out what happened, what was this cause of this tragedy. [1:03] Clearly, the inconsistencies and unanswered questions leaves a serious cloud. We are not making direct [1:15] accusations and we don't appreciate those that are making them against Nolan. We want the truth [1:22] and sometimes the truth hurts and sometimes the truth is also something that is required. [1:31] So we'll take your questions, Attorney Ben Crump and I, and if you have something that you want to ask the family. [1:41] Again, if you go beyond the boundaries of what is appropriate, I will stop the question, not the family, [1:49] because they're not here to be ridiculed. They are here because they're mourning and they had enough [1:56] heart to say they would come with us to the press conference. [2:00] Just very briefly, I want to thank Reverend Al Sharpton and National Action Network and Mr. Tyler Perry [2:12] because we're in a ferocious search for the truth and we know there were hundreds of people on Horn Island. [2:23] Many of them have contacted us saying that they believe that they need to tell the family their truths directly. [2:35] For whatever reasons, they said we may call the law enforcement agencies, but we want to tell you all the truth [2:46] of what we saw or what we videotaped or photographs we took. [2:52] And we believe that everybody should want the same thing, the truth, and it is imperative. [3:04] As soon as possible, do not let time continue. [3:08] It's been two weeks now almost. [3:11] Let's intensify, and that's why I'm grateful for the reward. [3:16] Let's intensify this search for the truth because they have a tendency to sweep things under the rug as time goes by. [3:26] We don't want too much time to go by when memories get foggy, when people start to feel pressure. [3:37] They heard a law enforcement person say no fireplace, and they don't feel like if they say anything, it's going to be attacked. [3:45] No, no, no. Tell us. We want to evaluate every aspect to be able to give Christine and Elmore answers as to why Nolan Wells is dead and not with us. [4:02] And so with that, we will take your questions if you have any. [4:06] Please identify your outlet and say your name. [4:11] Tristan Smith from Dayline NBC. [4:14] First, thank you for allowing us here today. [4:16] I'm praying for your family, and I hope you get answers to your questions soon. [4:21] I just wanted to know with the community turnout, the football players and the state reps, everybody who came out today, what does that mean to you and your family? [4:31] That means a lot. [4:32] Again, that is a testament to who Nolan is and was as a person, how many people he touched. [4:41] It's also a testament to those who have questioned our parenting, you know, what type of parents we are to all of our children. [4:52] And we just cannot thank our community enough for rallying around us during this time. [4:59] Also, again, to Colin Kaepernick, Tyler Perry, Byron Allen, like just so much love from places we could have never imagined. [5:09] And we're just, we're grateful. Thank you. [5:15] Well, it's WJTV out of Jackson. [5:18] Again, my condolences as well to you all. [5:21] What would transparency look like to you all? [5:25] I know he spoke about transparency during the eulogy. [5:27] What are you hoping and wanting from investigators? [5:30] The truth. [5:31] I think that we need to hear exactly by what evidence of what they say happened. [5:40] I think that part of what embellished the concerns we had was for someone in law enforcement here to say we see no foul play. [5:52] So they're really going to have to show us one way or another where they go from here. [5:59] The fact is that you cannot convince many of us, given the unanswered questions, cell phones, stuff taken off the cell phone, keys, all of which was at first denied. [6:15] And no one turned, they did not come to the family. [6:20] The family started missing him and searching for him. [6:24] All of that does not add up. [6:26] So what we would want to see is something that adds up to the same truth, not adds up to just some loosely connected stories. [6:38] The only thing I would add to Reverend Al's answer to your question, what is transparency to us? [6:45] It is truly having a fair and impartial investigation as if, Nolan, the facts were reversed. [6:58] It's inescapable. [7:00] You know, people often talk about, you know, where you all keep interjecting race. [7:06] Well, y'all know in every situation that is a identifier when you're talking about matters. [7:13] You know, we hear black on black crime. [7:16] It's inescapable. [7:17] And so we want to really be able to say to this family, but to America, it was a fair investigation. [7:27] Everything they did had the roads been reversed racially, where they had three young black men and a white man died after being on the boat. [7:38] You have a cell phone. [7:40] Those are the things that we're searching for. [7:42] Did you search their phones? [7:44] You know, you be talking about Nolan's phone. [7:46] Those are the questions that transparency, the autopsy, you know, we're waiting for it. [7:53] It shouldn't take that long. [7:55] We want those answers. [7:57] And so transparency has given complete equity to this family, a fair and thorough, impartial investigation where we know that due process was respected every step of the way. [8:15] And many have questions. [8:18] And so we are trying to be respectful and collaborative as much as we can. [8:25] And we will hope that they will give the same to us. [8:29] Attorney Crump, we talked before about just wondering, does it bother you a little bit that we don't have that news where officials have given a timeline, where they map things out for what they know, where they share as much information as they have with the public? [8:47] Because obviously people are paying attention. [8:48] You know, Ryan, it's always troublesome to all of us when these investigations just take forever. [8:59] I mean, six months to get a toxicology report back, to get an autopsy done, as if, you know, the longer we let it go, the more people forget other things happen. [9:13] It gets swept under the rug. [9:15] And so that's what's important to have a timeline. [9:18] And when you don't have that timeline, you start to say, oh, what, yeah, what, what, Nolan Wells, what happened? [9:27] I mean, I remember that case, but we got no answers. [9:30] And so that's the trouble without having a timeline. [9:33] And so that's why the people who are calling us, I mean, there, we have people presenting videos. [9:39] And it's so helpful as we try to put this puzzle together. [9:45] People are talking about their boats. [9:48] And when they were out there and when they were in earshot of Nolan and people on the boat, we need all of that information because we want to make sure what goes to the grand jury is accurate. [10:02] We know when it goes to the grand jury, we never will know what happened in that grand jury. [10:09] That's why we're collecting the affidavits. [10:11] Did this get presented to the grand jury? [10:14] It is never lost on me. [10:17] It's never lost on me. [10:19] You can get an indictment on a ham sandwich in a grand jury if you want to. [10:25] The question is, are you trying to get to the truth or are you trying to help keep the truth hidden from us? [10:34] And that's what we're fighting for. [10:35] The last thing I would say is this, and it's important. [10:40] You know, there are people who are presenting videos, photographs that may show Nolan was on the boat with the person, Katie. [10:50] We got the full event that I respect so much what my mentor, Reverend Al, said up there. [10:56] We're going to go wherever the truth leads us. [11:00] We want the truth no matter who it implicates or exonerates. [11:06] We want justice no matter who it acquits or convicts. [11:10] So we know they're telling two different stories. [11:13] You know, the boys telling one story, Katie telling one story. [11:17] What is the truth? [11:18] The question, just obviously mom and dad, thank you for doing this conference with us. [11:25] But so many people in the community, both black and white, showed up today. [11:29] Coaches said that they would love to have your son be their son. [11:33] You hear men and teammates reflect on your son's life and the way they have. [11:39] Can you explain to us what that sounds like in your hearts? [11:48] To me, that sounds like me and my wife did an excellent job at raising a fine young man. [11:55] Nolan was loved by many, both young and old. [12:01] He helped a lot of people. [12:05] No matter if you were a regular or a handicap, people still loved Nolan. [12:11] He would help special needs. [12:14] He would help special needs kids all the time. [12:17] Basketball, teach me how to play basketball. [12:18] I mentioned in my speech about getting phone calls and emails. [12:26] There was a father who asked Nolan to help his special needs son train for basketball and Nolan didn't with him. [12:31] And that made that kid's day. [12:33] And he couldn't, he seen me out one day and he couldn't stop thanking me and praising me enough for the son that I raised. [12:39] And how much that meant to his son. [12:41] And so, as far as I'm concerned, we did a great job. [12:45] Yes, you did. [12:46] Yes, you did. [12:47] One more question. [12:48] One more question. [12:50] Tell them, who did you have 4.5? [12:52] We were asking, did you guys ever get the incident report back? [12:55] We know it was an issue getting it. [12:56] No, we brought that up in our meeting. [12:59] So, hopefully, we will address that. [13:02] Won't be today, but we will address that. [13:05] Okay. [13:06] This is Ken. [13:07] I'm from DFW Night Shift Crime in Dallas, Texas. [13:11] I just want to offer my condolences to you. [13:13] I wanted to ask you, what does honoring Nolan's legacy look like for your family moving forward? [13:19] Are there any foundations, scholarships, community initiatives, or causes you hope people will support in his memory? [13:26] Absolutely. [13:27] This is actually something my cousin, Kesey, and I have briefly discussed. [13:32] But, of course, with everything that's going on, we want things to kind of cool down a little bit. [13:38] My husband and I, honestly, we have not fully processed this. [13:44] We have not fully grieved Nolan. [13:48] But that is the plan, is to come up with some foundation, just to honor him, but also to unite at Cajun Navy. [13:57] Big help boots on the ground almost immediately after I spoke with Josh Gill. [14:04] So, you know, we have to remember those types of organizations in our communities and utilize them, but also give back to them. [14:13] So, that is our hope that we'll be able to give as much as we've been given during this time. [14:19] Yes. [14:21] Steven Smith with the Associated Press. [14:23] Is there any update to independent autopsy that you guys have heard about? [14:27] Sure. [14:27] And just on that last question, a very good question. [14:31] Christine and Elmore and Cliff Jones and Lisa Parker at office, they talk frequently, [14:36] and that's one of the things she stressed at the funeral service. [14:40] She wanted to celebrate his life and define what his legacy will be. [14:47] So, we look forward to working to define his legacy. [14:51] Nobody else is going to define his legacy but the people who knew him best. [14:55] That's right. [14:55] Yeah. [14:56] As it relates to the independent autopsy, we are looking to have findings sooner rather than later. [15:05] Obviously, you want stuff from the first autopsy because they had the body closer to time. [15:15] We got the body almost six days later, Dr. Roger Mitchell. [15:21] So, there are limitations as to what he could do. [15:25] So, you know, you do the best you can but there are unanswered questions. [15:29] So, he's getting his report together. [15:32] I believe it will be coming very soon. [15:36] Yeah. [15:36] I'll take, let me take one, I'm going to take three more. [15:41] One, two, and we'll come back to you. [15:45] You didn't have to. [15:53] You just had two small questions both related to cell phones. [15:59] One, one of the things that came out of your meeting with the local DA was that you agreed [16:03] you would both analyze Nolan's phone. [16:06] I wanted to know when that might take place. [16:09] And the other was that at the end of the last press conference, you said that, Ben, you said [16:15] you wanted everybody's cell phones looked at. [16:17] So, to me, that meant the other young men that were with Nolan that day. [16:23] Did you communicate that to the DA and what did she say? [16:26] If so, have they analyzed their phones? [16:28] Do they plan to? [16:29] I did communicate that to the district attorney, whether they're going to do that, that's [16:36] the question that you have to ask them. [16:38] But we thought that it's only fair if we're going to look at Nolan's phone, we should look [16:42] at the other people who were with Nolan that day. [16:47] Because, again, we just want equal justice. [16:51] We think that if Nolan was on that boat, roads were reversed, they would look at his phone. [16:57] And so, that is going to be important. [16:59] We have not established a time yet of when we're going to do the mutual inspection of [17:05] the cell phone. [17:07] We have to do some technical things. [17:09] We're getting our experts together, working with phone companies and so forth. [17:13] But we hope to do that sooner rather than later. [17:16] This was a big first step for the family getting through the day. [17:20] So, now we can get laser focused on all those things to finish this investigation. [17:25] Will Folsom with WLOX. [17:29] Ben, you had mentioned that it had been a couple of days, I think you said six days, [17:34] since after the state's autopsy was done before you were able to get access to the body. [17:38] I know whenever it first came out, it was being flown to D.C. and then autopsy planned for that Friday. [17:43] Can you confirm when that autopsy was done? [17:45] They had weather issues, so I do think they got the body Friday night or Saturday morning around that time. [17:55] Is that the same day that the autopsy was done? [17:57] I can't confirm that. [17:58] I know they received the body and I think they immediately went to it. [18:01] It would be in the report the date they did the autopsy. [18:04] Yes, Ms. Salina, you guys are supposed to be having a rally on the 26th, is that still going on track? [18:13] Well, I think that was the community, people who are activists who we are very grateful, [18:19] standing up, demanding a fair and impartial investigation. [18:22] And we want to say thank you to all the community leaders and activists standing up saying, [18:28] no, no, we want a timeline, we want transparency, we want them to check cell phones, [18:33] we want everything that you would have done had it been your child. [18:37] So that's what they're going to be talking about on the 26th. [18:40] Thank you.