Nolan Wells’ family vows to ‘never stop’ seeking the truth after grand jury report

A grand jury has cleared everyone involved in the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, and if this is what passes for justice, it's hard not to feel sick about it. District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath announced the "no true bill" decision Monday, flatly declaring "there is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations that Nolan's disappearance and death were racially motivated." She went further, taking aim at the family's own attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, accusing his team of knowing better but not doing better.

Meanwhile, a young man is dead, and nobody can explain why. Wells was last seen July 4 on Horn Island, his body found two days later. The grand jury concluded his death was "consistent with drowning," yet even Mississippi's own chief medical examiner and the family's forensic pathologist agreed the cause and manner of death remain undetermined, drowning being merely "a diagnosis of exclusion." An independent autopsy found unexplained bruises and blunt force injuries to the back of his head and back. Crump didn't mince words: "To this day, not one person has explained how they got there... We don't know how Nolan died, and neither does the State of Mississippi. Mississippi must keep investigating."

Twenty-three grand jurors, 132 subpoenas, 43 witnesses: an enormous machine of process that still landed on a shrug. The system did what it apparently does best: close the book without answering the question that matters most. A grieving mother is left with no accountability, no clarity, just a DA's press conference calling her lawyers reckless.

Above all, our hearts go out to Nolan's family, especially his mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, who at his funeral in July said, "Your absence has left an emptiness that can never truly be filled. In a world that can often feel dark, be like Nolan, be the light that brightens the lives of those around you." No grand jury finding can restore what was taken from that family, and no institutional statement can substitute for the truth they still deserve. If the state truly has "no evidence," a case this unresolved shouldn't be closed.

Link: NBC News