Who is Michelle Edwards? Ohio woman accused of making bomb threats to Mississippi govt offices after Nolan Wells' death
An Ohio woman is facing a federal charge after she allegedly made several bomb threat calls to Mississippi government offices last month after Nolan Wells’ death. On Thursday, July 30, Michelle Francine Edwards was charged in United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, Southern Division, with one count of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce.
Who is Michelle Edwards?
Not much has been revealed about Edwards but the complaint alleged that she made two sets of calls on July 23 using a blocked number, according to KKTV. The George County Chancery Clerk’s Office received as many as 21 calls from a blocked number between 1:34 p.m. and 1:42 p.m. that day, according to authorities. The caller allegedly stated phrases like “do not go outside,” “the clock is ticking,” and “die.”
According to investigators, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office dispatch also received eight calls between 2:06 p.m. and 2:24 p.m. The calls were placed using *67 to mask the caller’s identity.
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The caller said, “y’all got a bomb outside, don’t come outside b**ch,” and later, “y’all still in there?”
The threats prompted a building lockdown and a bomb sweep with K-9 units.
Investigators submitted an emergency disclosure request to C-Spire and Verizon, which then identified the phone number used. Open-source searches on Cash App found that the number was linked to the name Michelle Edwards, and she was also listed by Cincinnati Police Department records as the owner of the number.
According to authorities, cell tower data from the night of the calls indicated that the device associated with the number had “bedded down” near Edwards’ known addresses in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Edwards could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years’ supervised release.
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Wells, an 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.
An independent autopsy commissioned by Wells’ family was inconclusive, attorney Ben Crump previously announced. The autopsy found the teen’s cause and manner of death to be “undetermined” pending further investigation.