The family of a friend who was on Horn Island on July 4 says he handed investigators a list of more than 20 potential witnesses in the Nolan Wells case, along with access to his phone, his photos and videos, his boat, and his GPS device. Every detail in that account comes from a statement released by the Edmiston family on Wednesday. It does not come from law enforcement, and no agency has confirmed it.
Bart Edmiston Jr has not been charged with anything. His family says he has never been identified as a suspect, and investigators have not publicly named him as one. They flatly deny that he killed Nolan, that he witnessed his death, or that he helped cover anything up.
What the statement describes is cooperation. The Edmistons say Bart sat for interviews, answered every question put to him, and gave his full recollection of that day. They say he let investigators look through his phone, handed over the photos and videos they asked for, and allowed them to inspect both his boat and his GPS device, and that he did all of it without an attorney present, without warrants, and without hesitation.
The witness list is the part drawing the most attention. According to the statement, Bart compiled the list himself, and it includes the passengers who were aboard his boat. His family believes more than 20 people spread across two vessels saw him assist another boat that was taking on water near Horn Island. Their account of what he did there is specific: they say he boarded the distressed vessel, removed its transom plug, and briefly towed it so the water that had collected inside could drain out.
That distinction matters for anyone following the Nolan Wells case closely. The Edmistons are not claiming those 20 people witnessed what happened to Nolan. They are describing people who they say can account for where Bart was and what he was doing. It is corroboration of his own movements, offered by his own family, which is a different thing from new evidence about how an 18 year old died.
Nolan Xavier Wells was a college football player from Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He was reported missing on July 4 after an all day gathering on Horn Island, a barrier island off the Mississippi coast, and his body was found two days later. His friends have said he chose to stay behind on the island when their boat headed back to the mainland after developing problems. A 911 call obtained by news outlets captures a friend reporting a boat taking on water near the island that day.
The investigation into his death sits with Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, who met with Nolan’s parents and told them the case will go before a grand jury once it is complete. His mother, Christine Wells Wonsley, has not waited. She has requested subpoenas seeking records from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and WhatsApp, asking not only for everything tied to Nolan’s accounts but for all current and former usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, and display names attached to them, plus the IP addresses behind the logins. That last request could show whether anyone reached his accounts from somewhere he was not known to be.
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Nolan’s parents alongside his father Elmore Wonsley, commissioned an independent autopsy and presented preliminary findings on July 22 at the NAACP National Convention in Chicago. At Nolan’s funeral two days earlier, Crump made a direct appeal to anyone who took a photo or shot video on the island to come forward, and put a $100,000 reward behind it. Rev Al Sharpton had already pledged $50,000. Tyler Perry, who covered the funeral costs, offered to match Sharpton’s pledge.
Running alongside all of that is a second track, and it is the one the Edmiston statement is really built around. His family says Bart has been doxxed, and that one person online posted photographs of their home, their street address, land records, and employment information. They say a cease and desist letter and an evidence preservation demand are going out to that individual. They also say they are working with the FBI, the Mississippi Attorney General, the US Attorney’s Office, and local authorities to determine whether cyberstalking laws were broken, and to address threats against Bart’s life. Bart has retained attorney Russell Latino as the accusations online have escalated.
Accounts from that day have already conflicted in public. A high school friend, Tracestin Shepherd, told ABC News that the voice heard demanding a phone back in a widely shared video from the island was his own, not Nolan’s, contradicting how the clip had been characterized. Warren Hudson, who described himself as Nolan’s best friend, has denied that anyone accessed or deleted anything from Nolan’s phone. The Daily Mail identified the young woman Nolan was reportedly speaking with before he disappeared as 19 year old Katie McCormack, and a relative said Katie assumed Nolan was about to board the boat he had arrived on.
None of it has been resolved. What exists right now is an open investigation, a set of accounts that do not line up, a family demanding answers, and another family issuing statements while their son is threatened. The grand jury is the next real checkpoint, and until it convenes, nearly everything circulating about the Nolan Wells case is somebody’s version rather than a finding.
