NAACP joins legal team seeking investigation into death of Black Mississippi teen Nolan Wells

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August 20, 2026

Isabella Luciani | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US

+Nolan Xavier Wells, 18, was last seen alive on July 4 while with friends on Horn Island in Mississippi. (Family photo via Facebook)

The US National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced on Monday that it joined the legal team involved with the family of Nolan Wells, an 18-year-old Black man whose body was found last month on a Mississippi barrier island while on a Fourth of July outing with some friends. The case has drawn widespread national attention regarding the adequacy of the official investigation.

The NAACP’s Office of General Counsel will work alongside civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Wells legal team to push for a thorough investigation and increased transparency from the authorities. “We’re taking up this fight to search for truth and to demand transparency concerning the tragic death of Nolan Wells,” stated the NAACP’s General Counsel Kristen Clarke. “Our investigation will be victim-focused, community-based and sensitive to the ongoing pain felt by Nolan Wells’ family and his community.”

Wells disappeared on July 4, 2026, on Horn Island, a barrier island located off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. His body was discovered on the island’s shoreline two days later. Investigators initially said there was no sign of foul play and believed that he had drowned. However, an independent autopsy arranged by the family and presented at the NAACP’s 117th National Convention in Chicago last month concluded that the cause of Wells’ death is still unknown.

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