Nolan Wells audio is once again driving conversation after audio engineer Jeanetta Brantley released a new video challenging critics who claim she used artificial intelligence or synthetic voices while cleaning the widely shared recording. In her latest response, Brantley questioned how she could have manufactured recognizable voices belonging to people she says she had never met or heard.
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“If I supposedly used magic, AI, or some other Hollywood-level audio trickery on a publicly available recording, I got a couple of questions. First, where exactly did I get everyone’s voices from if I’ve never met or heard any of those young adults before?”The recording at the center of the dispute was not a 911 call. It was a July 4 distress call placed to Sea Tow, a private marine towing company, from a boat that had transported Wells and his friends to Horn Island. The caller reported that the boat’s bilge pump had stopped working and that the vessel was taking on water. The caller estimated about seven people were aboard and said nobody was older than 21. The towing company later received word that the group may have resolved the problem and no longer needed assistance.
Brantley publicly identifies herself as an audio engineer, music composer, sound expert and filmmaker. In her original explanation of the Nolan Wells audio, she said she had experience with dialogue editing, dialogue cleanup, sound design and post production. Brantley has consistently described her project as an independent examination of a publicly available version of the call.
In a transcript of Brantley’s original breakdown, she said she used subtractive equalization, compression, gain adjustments, noise reduction and frequency isolation. She also separated the dispatcher’s voice from audio originating aboard the boat so she could focus on quieter background sounds. Brantley said she avoided AI tools because aggressive voice separation can introduce artifacts, distort speech or create uncertainty about sounds that were present in the original file.
Brantley also acknowledged that her written dialogue represented her own interpretation.
“I’m pretty much providing it as a listening reference, not as a declaration that my interpretation is the only possible interpretation,” she explained.
Outside forensic audio analyst Jennifer Owen offered a separate warning about enhanced versions of the call. In an interview with People, Owen said a reliable examination should begin with the closest available version of the original file, along with a complete digital audit trail showing where it came from and whether it had been compressed or converted. She also said every processing step should be documented so another examiner can reproduce the results. Filtering can create audio artifacts, while captions and repeated listening can influence what the brain believes it hears.
“Be very careful and don’t jump on the bandwagon of, ‘Oh I hear that,’” Owen said. Her warning does not prove Brantley’s analysis is false. It explains why a viral enhancement cannot establish a fact by itself.
Nolan Wells traveled to Horn Island with friends on July 4 but did not return to the mainland with them. His body was found off the island’s coast two days later. Witnesses told authorities that Wells was not aboard the boat when it left, while his family has challenged accounts suggesting he voluntarily stayed behind. An independent autopsy could not determine his cause or manner of death. The state autopsy has been completed, but its findings have not been released publicly and are expected to be presented to a grand jury.
Crump has said the family’s retained experts will examine the Nolan Wells audio as part of its broader search for answers. That review is especially important because the intense online speculation surrounding the case has already produced unsupported accusations, doxxing and threats.
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