Attorneys for the family of a Black teenager who went missing during a July Fourth boat trip to an island off the Mississippi coast said they will work with a local prosecutor's office to inspect the contents of his cellphone as the investigation into his death continues.
The family of Nolan Wells had previously alleged that messages seemed to have been erased from his phone before they got it back, just one of a series of concerns they've raised about the circumstances and investigation surrounding his death.
They met with District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath on Wednesday, largely to discuss the inquiry process. But attorney Ben Crump said McIlrath also committed to presenting the investigation to a grand jury once it was completed.
Messages seeking comment from McIlrath’s office were not returned.
“The hope is when this is presented to the grand jury, all relevant witnesses and evidence will be presented to them, so we can have a fair and impartial investigation into the death of Nolan Wells,” Crump said. “Our lived experiences tell us that we must question everything, everybody’s role, law enforcement’s role. That is the lived experience as Black people in America.”
Most felony cases go to a grand jury in Mississippi, said Ronald Rychlak, a law professor at the University of Mississippi. A grand jury is typically comprised of 15 to 25 citizens who listen to the prosecutor’s evidence and decide whether there is enough evidence for an indictment, Rychlak said.
Wells had traveled to the island with friends, but failed to return with them when they left around 3 p.m. Conflicting accounts have been given as to whether he planned to remain on Horn Island, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) offshore, to talk to a girl — or to return with those friends.
The roughly 11-mile-long (17-kilometer-long) spit of land is near the Alabama state line. The island is uninhabited and accessible only by boat and is popular for parties and gatherings, officials said.
Wells' mother reported him missing shortly after midnight on July 5. The next day, boat and rescue crews launched searches and Wells’ body was recovered in waters near the island afterward.
Speculation and suspicion about the teen’s death have been rampant online, as people grapple with the state’s history of racial tension and what it means to be a Black person in a majority-white space. Family and attorneys have said from photos and videos of the Fourth of July celebration on the island, where nearly 200 people had gathered, that Wells was one of very few Black people present.
The Congressional Black Caucus also weighed in Wednesday, adding to calls for an independent investigation into the death.
Authorities with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies were quick to say they did not suspect foul play in his death. Results of an official autopsy are still pending, and the investigation is continuing, officials said.
Both the family’s attorneys and Jackson County Sheriff’s Department investigators have asked witnesses or anyone with video from the island to come forward as they seek answers about the moments before Wells’ disappearance and death.
Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, attended Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he played wide receiver on the football team. His family has urged a deeper investigation, saying he could swim. They also questioned why his friends would leave him behind but take his keys and phone.
Family members retrieved his phone from the home of one of Wells' friends the evening of July 4 after using a locator app to find it. His family said their son was an avid Snapchat user, but there were no posts or messages from the 24 hours or so before they retrieved it.
Crump previously said he planned to hire an expert to determine whether data could be recovered from the phone or social media. Wednesday, he said that process will move forward in cooperation with investigators in the prosecutor's office.
Rychlak, the law professor, said mutual inspection of evidence between the police and victim’s family is not typical.
“Evidence is secured and not usually shared,” Rychlak said, adding that cooperation between the family and police could speed the investigation.
Wells’ death has galvanized the Black community. Actor and producer Tyler Perry is helping pay for Wells’ funeral. Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is helping pay for his independent autopsy, and filmmaker Spike Lee attended a news conference last week in support of Wells’ family.
Wells’ mother Christine Wonsley said Wednesday that they want Monday's funeral to be a celebration of their son's life.
Lauer reported from Philadelphia and Turbay reported from Little Rock, Arkansas.
A person holds a picture of Nolan Xavier Wells during a news conference at National Action Network headquarters, Friday, July 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Christine and Elmore Wonsley, parents of Nolan Xavier Wells, react during a news conference at National Action Network headquarters, Friday, July 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — U.S. Coast Guard crews combed cold, choppy waters in and around San Francisco Bay on Wednesday for three people missing nearly a day after a boat capsized with 20 family members and friends aboard to scatter the ashes of a loved one.
Ralph Boisa said his extended family and a few close friends were on his younger brother's boat Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the life of his daughter who died at age 33 in 2016 and loved to surf.
His older brother, Clifford, died shortly after being pulled out of the water. Sixteen others were rescued as the cabin cruiser took on water, listed heavily to one side and rolled over before sinking. Clifford's dog also died.
The three people missing are his sister Carol, Clifford's wife Jackie, and his daughter's friend, he said.
“We’ve gone through a lot of tragedy over the years,” said Boisa, who lost his other daughter in 1995. He lives in Washington and couldn't make it for the excursion.
U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jared S. Toczko said rescuers have cumulatively scoured 950 square nautical miles (3,260 square kilometers) and will continue searching until sundown Wednesday before ending rescue efforts.
Toczko would not dismiss the possibility that those missing could still be alive, though he also said some could have been trapped inside the three-deck, 49-foot (15-meter) cabin cruiser.
“We do know individuals were in the main deck and potentially below deck," he said. Witnesses described seeing people pounding on glass windows, trapped as the boat sank.
Crews have identified the location the boat sank but have yet to determine how deep it sank, Toczko said.
Once the boat is located, officials will send either divers or an underwater drone to determine if it's feasible to salvage it, said San Francisco Police Commander Brien Hoo. If the boat is under 120 feet (37 meters) of water, it would be difficult for divers to get to it, he said.
Witnesses reported “rough seas,” San Francisco Fire Department Chief Dean Crispen said, and rescuers said swells reached up to 5 feet (1.5 meters). Marine weather conditions, however, didn't warrant a small craft advisory from the National Weather Service.
Fire department spokesperson Lt. Mariano Elias said the vessel, named Volare, was registered out of Stockton, California, which sits at the eastern edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
According to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder, the boat departed a San Francisco marina, passed under the Golden Gate Bridge twice and visited Angel Island State Park, the largest natural island in the bay. It was on its way back to San Francisco when it sank near Alcatraz, the famous maximum-security federal prison which closed more than 60 years ago.
Kirk Miller, an experienced local sailor with a master mariner license, said an uneven distribution of passengers could have caused the Volare to tip.
“As it rocks in the waves, it leans over a little bit,” Miller said. “And as it leans over, the stability would decrease. If you had weight down below it acts as ballast. There was nothing in the conditions that were extreme in any regard. There was no massive gust of wind, no huge wave.”
Two men who jumped into action while fishing for halibut said the boat that sank was more than capable of being out in the bay. Justin Marceline and Michael Montoya said they saw what they thought was smoke and arrived to find the vessel halfway submerged.
“We just started yanking people out,” Marceline told The Associated Press. At least two people bobbed in the water without life jackets, while others clung to a windsurfer’s board.
Marceline could see people trapped inside the rapidly sinking boat through its windows. He threw lead fishing weights to survivors in the water, hoping they could smash the glass, but they were too weak.
“It was like Titanic in real life,” he said. “There was stuff everywhere. People were banging on the glass.”
Montoya estimated they pulled eight or nine people aboard, including the captain, before first responders arrived.
Initial callers reported what appeared to be smoke coming from the boat, but San Francisco police officers who first reached the vessel said it was steam.
Toczko said there were life jackets onboard the boat and that some people were rescued wearing them.
Sudden immersion in water under 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) can lead to cold water shock, a condition where people lose dexterity in minutes. That can be dangerous or deadly when trying to escape a sinking watercraft.
The owners of the boat are John Boisa and Miriam Boisa of Stockton, Coast Guard records show. They did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
“All of us are grieving during this time,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ralph Boisa said John is a “very capable and experienced boatsman” who served in the U.S. Navy. He frequently took family members out on the boat to the San Francisco Bay, Boisa said.
His older brother who died, Clifford Boisa, lived on a small prune orchard in Sutter County in the Sacramento Valley and was a volunteer sheriff's deputy for more than a decade. Ralph Boisa had planned to visit him for his 80th birthday party next month.
“He was a happy guy, jovial,” Boisa said. “We're pretty broken up here.”
Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Ed White in Detroit; and photographer Noah Berger in San Francisco contributed to this story.
First responders stand near a body after a boat accident near Alcatraz Island off San Francisco, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A police boat passes Alcatraz Island as search and rescue operations continue for victims of a Tuesday boat sinking on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
People cover themselves with American Red Cross blankets at Fort Mason, where the Red Cross has set up an assistance center for people impacted by a boat incident in the waters off San Francisco Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
A body is covered with a tarp on a dock near the site of boat accident on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A U.S. Coast Guard crew goes past Alcatraz Island near the site of a pontoon boat accident on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A San Francisco Fire Department vessel passes the city skyline while searching for missing victims after a boat accident near Alcatraz Island off San Francisco, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A body is covered with a tarp on a dock near the site of boat accident on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A helicopter flies past the Golden Gate Bridge while searching for missing victims after a boat accident near Alcatraz Island off San Francisco, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
