Rumors have swirled online about the circumstances that led to the death of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells. Now, a judge with a family history with Wells has issued a statement regarding her son, who was with Wells the day he disappeared, to “dispel some rumors with facts.”
Ashlee Cole, a Chancery Judge for District 16-2 in Mississippi, admitted she had temporarily deactivated her Facebook account due to the nature of social media, but also said that more attention needed to be paid to the Wells family than anything else. Her public profile is not listed on the Jackson County website.
“Our family, along with the community, grieves the loss of Nolan Wells,” her post began. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Nolan’s family. Our son, Warren, loved Nolan dearly.”
Cole stated she graduated from the same high school as Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, and both women are from the same community. She then gave a timeline of events, stating neither she nor her husband was at Horn Island on July 4th, that none of her family members were impeding the investigation, and that her son, Warren, was cooperating with police.
“[Warren] saw Nolan last at around 3 pm on July 4th,” she wrote. “They left around 4:30 pm when the boat was taking on water and they had an issue with the bilge pump. Nolan made a decision to stay on the island and return inland later with another group of friends.”
Cole addressed her role as a judge and defended her decision to delete her Facebook account temporarily.
“Yes, I am a judge,” Cole wrote. “I also value transparency. I apologize if anyone was offended that I deleted my social media. There were no nefarious motivations in my deleting my social media. Social media has a lot of positives, but a whole lot of negatives. We live in a world of click-baiting. Sad, but true.”
The Mississippi teen’s body was discovered on the northwest tip of Horn Island, Mississippi, on Monday after being reported missing Saturday. Since then, an outpouring of tributes has occurred on social media. A GoFundMe for his family to assist with funeral and celebration-of-life costs has exceeded $230,000 since its launch.
Authorities have called on anyone who has original videos, photos, or documentation from that day to contact investigators so they can authenticate what intel they can use to determine what happened to Wells. The late teen’s family has retained noted civil rights and personal injury lawyer Ben Crump to represent them and push for a full investigation into his death, despite investigators believing the teen drowned.
