Nolan Wells update: Why new subpoenas were issued to several social media companies and a location-tracking app
New subpoenas have been issued to several social media companies and a location-tracking app in connection with pending litigation related to Nolan Wells’ death. Mississippi-based attorney Gary Bufkin on Tuesday, July 28, filed subpoenas to obtain information from accounts associated with Wells on Snapchat, WhatsApp, TikTok, Meta Platforms, and the location-tracking app Life360, according to the records reviewed by the Sun Herald.
Bufkin is a Ridgeland-based attorney from the law firm of Carroll Bufkin PLLC. He is assisting Ben Crump in the independent investigation into Wells’ death.
The records subpoenaed include all subscriber information, all current and previous usernames, email addresses, phone numbers and display names associated with each account; and other account-related information, including the following:
- The account creation date and IP address used to create the account
- All IP addresses connected to action on the accounts, including logins, password resets, two factor enrollment
- All IP addresses tied to friend’s events on the account
- All communication configured as public and all related data and metadata
- All non-content information connected to the account
- All information that identifies or may be used to identify anyone sending messages in conversations on the account
- All communications, chats, posts, stories, and other information, and more
The subpoenas are going out after the Mississippi attorney sent intent-to-sue letters to Wells’ friends, their families, local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, the coroner and state medical examiner’s offices, and others connected to the investigation into the teen’s sudden death.
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Those who were put on notice of a potential suit have been asked to preserve all evidence in their possession, custody or control in its original, unaltered form. The recipients have also been directed to suspend any automatic deletion or overwrite functions that could destroy evidence.
The Ocean Springs, Mississippi, teen was found dead in the water on the northwest end of Horn Island on Monday morning, July 6. Wells went missing on July 4 after taking a boat to the island with friends. The search for the teen was called off after a body was found by a park ranger on Monday, July 6.
Nolan Wells’ mom laying legal groundwork to potentially sue over son’s death
Wells’ mother, Christine Wonsley, is reportedly laying the legal groundwork to potentially sue over her son’s death. She has asked a Mississippi court to put her in charge of his estate, TMZ reported.
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New legal docs obtained by the outlet showed that Wonsley filed a petition Monday to open her son’s estate and appoint her as its administrator, stating that the estate’s assets would consist “solely of claims for damages resulting from the circumstances surrounding his death.” The appointment would give Wonsley the authority to file a lawsuit on behalf of her son’s estate if anyone is eventually legally found for his death.
Wonsley signed the petition in Jackson County Chancery Court on the day of Wells’ funeral. According to the filing, the teen did not have a will, was never married and did not have children, which leaves his mother as his sole heir.