SerpApi.Org
New footage purportedly shows the final hours of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, whose mysterious death in Mississippi earlier this month sparked a series of conspiracy theories.
The video, which was recorded by a partygoer at a July 4th celebration on Horn Island, is said to show the college teen in a brief pan-over shot. It's unclear whether the male figure is actually Wells because his back is turned toward the camera, but he appears to be Black and is wearing the same blue swim trunks seen on the victim in the now eerie picture he took with his White peers before his disappearance.
The male in the video appears to be kneeling over near two people in a kayak while an older-looking White male speaks to another person on the small vessel. The footage was captured around 2:30 p.m., according to metadata.
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The new footage was obtained first by TMZ.
The attendee who shot the 33-second clip reportedly felt very confident that it would aid in the investigation, so they provided it to authorities at the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, the outlet reported.
GPS data revealed that the boat Wells' three peers were on left the island two hours after the clip at 4:30 p.m., returning to the Mississippi mainland without him. His companions claimed the victim chose to remain on the island, and they assumed he would return aboard someone else's boat, testimony that has largely been accepted by authorities investigating the death.
However, the teen's mother, Christine Wonsley, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump have cited troubling irregularities in the investigation and have called for a separate probe into Wells' disappearance and subsequent death.
One irregularity was reported on July 6 when the 18-year-old's body was found and identified by family members, according to WLOX. The outlet revealed that Jackson County authorities waited 12 hours after Wonsley called to report her son missing before contacting the Coast Guard to initiate a search.
His corpse was eventually found by a U.S. park Ranger.
Some have also questioned Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter's willingness to accept the word of the teen's peers. During an appearance on Good Morning America, Ledbetter said "no information that we have right now that would lead us to believe that a crime has occurred."
This came after new footage emerged purportedly showing the victim arguing with other people. It's unclear whether the video was taken before or after the latest footage.
“We are in Mississippi. These were three young white men. Nolan was the only young Black man. Had the roles been reversed, we know this investigation would be going differently. It would be like the first 48. They would be interrogating those young, Black boys," Crump said on Sunday.
