A friend of Nolan Xavier Wells, the 18-year-old whose body was recovered days after he disappeared while celebrating the 4th of July on Mississippi’s Horn Island, has broken his silence about what happened.
Wells traveled to Horn Island with a group of friends on July 4. But while the rest of the group returned home, Wells did not. His mother Christine Wonsley reported him missing after the holiday, and posted a public plea for help that quickly spread across social media.
On Monday July 6, a body was found on the island. The following day, Wonsley confirmed on Facebook that it was her son. Witnesses said he was “talking to a girl” before his disappearance.
While the investigation continues, officials do not suspect foul play was involved at the moment. On July 8, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said detectives work to determine exactly what happened to the 18-year-old.
Nolan Wells’ disappearance
Authorities asked anyone who “observed or heard an argument, disturbance, or other unusual activity while on the island that day” to contact investigators.
Some online users have claimed a video circulating online shows Wells or is connected to his disappearance. Police have not confirmed any link between the footage and the case, but Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter confirmed to TMZ that investigators are aware of it.
One of his friends is now pushing back against claims about a viral “beach fight” video. While some claim they could hear Wells arguing in the video, pointing to a man wearing blue swim trunks similar to the pair Wells had been wearing that day, his friend says those theories are false.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Tracestin Shepherd said the voice many people have identified as Wells is actually his.
Friend says it’s not Nolan in the video
According to him, the confrontation in the video happened after he and his girlfriend got into an argument. An unknown man stepped into the dispute, causing the situation to escalate.
“I told him he needed to mind his own business,” Shepherd recalled.
The argument became physical, Shepherd said, prompting his uncle to order him back onto the family’s boat so they could leave.
Even after getting on the boat, Shepherd admitted he still wanted to keep up the fight while some of his friends remained on the beach.
“At that point, another adult on a nearby boat started filming,” he said.
“In that video, you hear somebody yelling – that is me.”
He added: “It’s me yelling – my exact wording is, ‘Get me off this f****** boat.’ I wanted to fight, and I’d felt like I hadn’t had my fair share.”
According to Rolling Stone, Shepherd’s version of events was backed by his girlfriend, his uncle and a family friend who witnessed the incident.
“I was trying to calm him down”
One unnamed family friend told the outlet: “He want[ed] to get off the boat and go fight the dude who he got into it with.”
The friend said: “Nobody knows what Tracestin was saying better than me because he was screaming it in my face.”
Shepherd also disputed another theory that spread online after the footage surfaced. Some viewers believed the person standing on the shoreline was Wells, because of the blue swim trunks. Shepherd rejected that claim, arguing the individual in the video was too short to be his 6-foot-2 friend. He maintained Wells was outside the camera’s frame when the footage was recorded.
Shepherd said he has since given investigators a full statement about what happened and has also spoken with Wells’ family.
The viral clip has also been referenced by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Wells’ family.
The investigation continues
After posting the footage online, Crump said during a press conference: “This video, you can hear an argument going where Nolan is saying, ‘Give me my freaking phone, what are you freaking doing?’”
However, another of Wells’ friends, Jayvon Williams, challenged that interpretation during an interview with TMZ.
“That altercation, it sounds just like my other friend who got into another altercation on the boat,” Williams said.
He added: “As he was in that altercation, I was trying to calm him down, they were trying to get him out, off the island, trying to get him back to land because he was just losing it. The parents on that boat were trying to get him out.”
Shepherd later confirmed Williams was referring to him.
“Those were not Nolan’s words, they were mine,” Shepherd said.
He added: “I get that everybody wants justice for Nolan. Everybody wants to know exactly what happened. Will we ever know?”
The investigation is ongoing. Meanwhile, Crump has called for an independent investigation and has commissioned a separate autopsy, according to VT.
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