Nolan Wells update: Friends launch GiveSendGo campaign to fight 'lies' and defamation lawsuits; 'This must stop'
Friends of Nolan Wells, the 18-year-old student-athlete who died after attending a Fourth of July party in Mississippi, have launched a GiveSendGo fundraiser stating they have faced “an unprecedented online campaign of accusations, harassment, threats, and defamation” since his death.
Friends launch fund to ‘fight back’
The fundraiser page states that since Wells’ death, Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo, and others “have been inundated with death threats, threats of violence, and defamation,” adding that they have been “falsely and wrongly blamed by individuals online and in the media of either directly or indirectly having a hand in Nolan’s death.” The post says “most of them could not even attend their own best friend’s funeral.”
The fundraiser states the friends have “cooperated with authorities, turned over all the information they had, and provided an overwhelming number of witnesses accounting for their whereabouts.” It adds, “there have been bomb threats, packages sent, and credible threats of which arrests have been made,” and says “parents have feared for their children’s safety.”
The page names attorney Ben Crump and activist Al Sharpton, accusing them of “continuing to invent and spread false narratives and lies with no accountability.” It also claims Crump’s “typical tactic” is to “come to communities like the Gulf Coast under the guise of seeking justice” and then leave “when the money is dried up,” comparing the situation to “the Karmelo Anthony trial.”
The fund states its two goals are to “raise money to defend these friends against incoming wrongful death actions filed by Attorney Ben Crump and his team,” and to “fund a robust legal team to sue for the litany of slander and libel being spread.” It adds the effort is meant to draw “a line against defamation, targeted harassment, threats of violence, doxxing, intimidation, and coordinated campaigns.”
“This must stop,” they wrote.
Also Read: Nolan Wells update: Chilling new video allegedly shows friends leaving Horn Island without him
What fueled the suspicion around the friends
Much of the online suspicion against Wells’ friends stemmed from inconsistencies in their accounts rather than any formal allegation. Hudson’s claim that Wells stayed behind on Horn Island with a young woman and that he left his phone on the boat to protect it from the ocean, was contested by Wells’ parents, who said it was “extremely out of character for their son to separate from his friend group or not have access to his phone,” per People.
Wonsley said she spoke with the young woman who was with Wells, telling TheGrio, “She did reach out to me initially, just saying basically like it was a ‘hey and bye’ type situation.” She added, “I was like – that’s not what I’m getting from other people,” calling it another example of the “inconsistencies” surrounding her son’s death.
An audio recording of the emergency towing call, made after the friends said their boat malfunctioned and they had to return to the mainland, also fueled further speculation online.
Also Read: Nolan Wells update: Why his phone will undergo ‘mutual inspection’ as family raises deleted Snapchat concerns
Questions were additionally raised about how close some of the friends speaking out, including Tracestin Shepherd, who described Wells as his “best friend” but Wells’ parents said their son didn’t know Shepherd, with his father remarking, “Just because you park your vehicle in someone’s yard doesn’t mean that they have to know you.”
Wells was found dead two days after attending a large Fourth of July party on Horn Island, an island near Mississippi reachable only by boat. Officials initially said they did not suspect foul play and that he may have drowned in waters known for rip tides, with Wells found face down in the water near the island’s west end. An independent autopsy commissioned by his family found his death “undetermined” but did not rule out foul play.