Nolan Wells independent autopsy doesn't point to foul play, former medical examiner says
Attorney Ben Crump revealed that the results of an independent autopsy into Nolan Wells' death are "inconclusive" as a former medical examiner said the findings aren't consistent with a "cover up" or any wrongdoing.
Crump announced the independent autopsy's results on Wednesday at the NAACP National Convention in Chicago, stating that an area of "red discoloration" was found on Wells' head. He said Dr. Roger Mitchell, who performed the autopsy, couldn't come to a conclusion "pending further investigation." The official autopsy hasn't yet been completed.
"Why is this dark red here in the back of his head?" Crump said. "This pathologist cannot rule out if any intervening non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death of Nolan Wells."
When asked by Fox News Digital about the case, forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden said the head injury doesn't point to foul play.
"So that could be from bumping into something in the water. There's a lot of debris in the water, for example. It depends how deep it is, but it's describing a really superficial impact that could have happened before death or after death," Baden said.
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"What he's describing is a minor injury that could be... totally innocent," Baden said.
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Baden said Mitchell was "reaching for straws" in the independent autopsy report, adding that the findings are consistent with accounts from local law enforcement that his death was accidental and no foul play was involved.
Wells, 18, initially disappeared July 4 after he went with friends on a boat trip to Horn Island, which is a barrier island off Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Officials and search crews searched for two days before a National Park Service ranger located his body on July 6 while on the island's northwestern tip.
Officials haven't released a cause of death as officials continue to investigate.