By Brandon Caldwell
In an exclusive interview with TheGrio, Christine Wonsley and Ben Crump address a friend’s claim about Nolan’s last known whereabouts amid their calls for an end to misinformation about his disappearance.
One week after Nolan Wells’ body was discovered on Horn Island in Mississippi, his parents are refuting one of the significant statements made regarding his disappearance.
Tracestin Shepherd, who considered himself one of Wells’ friends, told ABC News that he was the one yelling in a viral video showing Wells in a confrontation. Shepherd also told the outlet that Wells stayed behind to hang out with a girl. Nolan’s parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, refuted the idea, acknowledging that while they were thankful for Shepherd’s condolences for their son, they’d never seen him at their home before.
“We don’t know Tracestin,” Christine Wonsley told theGrio. “We’ve never met him. So to say, you know, best friend, childhood friend … that’s a bit of a stretch.”
She added, “He’s never been to our home. Now, if you were to say that about Jaylen or Jayvon [Williams], I would say absolutely, you could say that those are childhood friends, those are his best friends. We know their family. We’re close to their mother but [Tracestin] … maybe high school they started hanging out and being around each other. But again, we don’t know him and not to discount anything he has said, we’re still trying to rule those things out.”
Shepherd’s account is one of many that investigators are sorting through regarding Wells’ disappearance. The mention that he did not leave Horn Island with his original group and instead stayed behind because of a girl has been among several discrepancies that Nolan’s parents and Crump have noted, including Nolan’s description to police, the location of his cell phone and his Snapchat history as his case continues to develop.
“Some of his friends, they reject this notion about he said, ‘Oh, he would just volunteer to stay,” Crump told theGrio. “They’re saying Nolan would never do that. So his friends are saying he doesn’t really know Nolan if he’s saying that Nolan volunteered to stay there.”
He continued, “We’ve had so many people now calling our call center, saying, ‘Well, there was this argument and then 10 minutes later, there was another argument.’ But those people have called and said, ‘No, Nolan was in an argument.’ We have to continue to investigate, to try and figure out everything that happened. We absolutely do not accept that he volunteered to stay behind and he volunteered not to have his cell phone with him.”
Shepherd told ABC News that he and those who were with Nolan that July 4 weekend are receiving threats online.
“We did no wrong here, and we don’t understand how we’re getting so much hate behind it,” Shepherd said. “We all cared about and loved Nolan, and nobody wanted to see him die.”
What is also making the investigation difficult is that individuals and online sleuths are submitting AI-generated images or outright misleading photos. Over the weekend, a photo of Nolan at a pool party surfaced as it was posted on July 5. However, according to metadata obtained by Rolling Stone, the photo was taken on June 27, one week before Nolan’s disappearance.
Christine Wonsley addressed the AI-generated photos on Facebook, writing, “The internet is unhinged. To my family, friends, and to Nolan’s friends please do not engage and take care of your mental.”
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and coroner have yet to release the findings of an autopsy or toxicology report for Wells, and continue to urge for accurate information to be turned in to assist with their investigation.
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