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The high-profile civil rights attorney representing Nolan Wells’ family has boosted a wild theory claiming he made it back to land before he died — as a pal claimed it is not the teen in a viral video of an altercation on Horn Island.
Wells, 18, was found dead in water near the uninhabited barrier island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast two days after vanishing during a Fourth of July boating trip he took with friends there.
Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter has said nothing “yet” that points to foul play, but the youngster’s family is conducting an independent investigation amid claims the circumstances around his death “don’t add up”.
Friends pictured with Wells on the day he disappeared have faced criticism after returning to the mainland without him.
The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, shared a post on Sunday suggesting that Nolan may have made it back from the island after all and later been pictured at a pool party.
“The streets are talking! Now listen, I don’t know if these are facts or rumors because no official statements have been confirmed,” read the post reposted by Crump from an account called Shannel Tarot TV.
“We sometimes have to follow all clues until the truth is found,” the post continued.
“Here is what was discovered on social media last night. Social media allegations claim a photo exists of Nolan at a land-based pool party in Jackson County before 1:00 AM on July 5th.”
The post featured a pic of a group of youngsters in the foreground smiling for the camera in a swimming pool, with a boy in the background whose face is not clearly visible and who has been circled in red. The post suggests the boy could be Wells.
The unverified theory would mean that Wells was taken back to the island and later discovered there on July 6 by a US Park Service ranger.
Meanwhile, police have been looking into a viral video which allegedly shows an altercation on Horn Island involving Wells shortly before he went missing.
Crump claimed Friday that the video shows Wells saying, “Give me my freaking phone, what are you freaking doing?”
However, a friend of Wells said Sunday that the video, in fact, shows him — and not Wells yelling.
Tracestin Shepherd told Rolling Stone that he got into a verbal altercation after an acquaintance from a nearby town got involved in a disagreement he was having with his girlfriend.
Shepherd said he had gotten on his boat to head home at his uncle’s behest, but then changed his mind and decided he wanted to go back.
At that point, someone on another boat had begun filming and captured Shepherd shouting.
“In that video, you hear somebody yelling — that is me,” Shepherd says. “It’s me yelling — my exact wording is, ‘Get me off this f–––– boat.’ I wanted to fight, and I’d felt like I hadn’t had my fair share.”
Shepherd’s girlfriend and uncle backed up his story, as did a family friend who appears in the video, Rolling Stone reported.
The owner of the viral video told TMZ on Friday that they had heard a verbal altercation took place on the island, but the footage did not show that fight.
Wells’ friend Jayvon Williams separately told the outlet that a fight did happen but did not involve Wells.
The Post has reached out to Ben Crump’s office for comment.
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