A body has been discovered in the search for Nolan Xavier Wells, an 18-year-old football player who vanished on the Fourth of July. Wells disappeared while on a boating trip with friends to Horn Island, a popular barrier island off the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The discovery was made Monday morning near the location where Wells was last seen, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. The body has not yet been officially identified.
Wells was last seen around 3 p.m. on Saturday on the north end of Horn Island, reportedly speaking with a girl. He had gone to the island with friends. It remains unclear if he made it back to the mainland.
His mother, Christine Wonsley, had posted desperate pleas for information on social media, sharing photos of her son and expressing her anguish. "His father, Elmore Wonsley and I are not ok," she wrote on Monday. "We have so many questions. Our hearts are breaking, we keep waiting for Nolan to walk through that door with his beautiful smile and a joke of course."
Wells, a wide receiver for Southwest Mississippi Community College, was described as 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. He was last seen wearing blue swim trunks, sunglasses, and no shirt. Photos circulating online show him smiling with friends on a boat before his disappearance.
The United Cajun Navy, along with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, initiated a search effort. The non-profit disaster relief organization deployed aerial reconnaissance and surface vessels to scour the waters between Horn Island and other nearby islands. The U.S. Coast Guard, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, and Harrison County Sheriff’s Department were also involved in the search operations.
Authorities are asking anyone who was on or near Horn Island, or traveling by boat in the area around the time of Wells' disappearance, to come forward with any information, stating that no detail is too small. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department at 228-769-3063.