Link: https://www.live5news.com/2026/09/24/nolan-wells-autopsy-found-no-water-lungs-data-was-deleted-his-phone-day-he-disappeared-officials-say/

New details were revealed during a press conference sharing the results of the state’s autopsy and findings from Nolan Wells’ cellphone.

Wells went to Horn Island in Mississippi with friends to celebrate the July 4 holiday but never came home. His body was found two days later on the shore of the island.

At the press conference, Andrew Garrett, a forensic expert with Garrett Discovery, detailed information extracted from Nolan’s phone, including when the phone was accessed.

He said data show Nolan’s phone stayed on the boat the whole time and that Nolan last accessed the phone around 2:18 p.m.

“One of the things we do know is there was interactions with the phone before and after his death, up until the time that his family retrieved the phone from the other young men that were with him that day,” Garrett said.

Garrett also said some data was deleted from the phone but did not give details about what kind of content was deleted.

“There were things that were deleted from the phone,” Garrett said. “I can’t talk to intent; unfortunately, that’s not my field of expertise, psychology.”

...

Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath previously said in a 15-minute video posted to Facebook Monday night after the grand jury returned a no true bill once the state autopsy report was finished, she reached out to Nolan’s mother directly.

McIlrath said when she did not receive a response, she spoke with one of her Mississippi attorneys and shared Nolan’s autopsy and toxicology results.

However, Crump said in Thursday’s press conference that they were “told they could get the autopsy when the DA released the grand jury report, and that was news to us.”

Crump and his team said they ultimately did not receive the autopsy report from the DA’s office until 6:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 23, after back-and-forth communication with the office.

Crump read letters between the DA and a Mississippi-based attorney working with Nolan’s family, detailing the confusion about what was needed in order to request and obtain the report.

Both the state and independent autopsies listed Nolan’s cause and manner of death as undetermined. The grand jury report noted that accidental drowning is consistent with the evidence and that the evidence does not rule it out.

Liza Park, an attorney on Crump’s team, said the state autopsy found two 2-inch contusions — or bruises — on the back of Nolan’s head. This is consistent with what Dr. Roger Mitchell found when he conducted the independent autopsy.

Park emphasized that Dr. Mitchell found no white blood cells, meaning the injury to Nolan’s head happened within a short period of time before he died.

Park noted that the state autopsy report says the larynx and hyoid bone are without hemorrhages and fractures, and the interior spine was “unremarkable.”

The report says there were no other external or internal injuries, and that there were “no internal organ abnormalities contributing to death.”

The toxicology results included in the report say chest decomposition fluid included 270 mg/dL of ethanol. Cannabinoids, nicotine, cotinine and caffeine were all “presumptive positive,” but it says confirmatory testing did not reveal cannabinoids in the decomposition fluid.

Park said there was no fluid or debris in his airways, his GI tract was “unremarkable,” and his stomach was empty.

“What this means is that there’s no water in the stomach. There’s no water in the lungs. There’s no water in the throat,” Park said.