United Cajun Navy Urges DOJ Probe of Civil-Rights Lawyer Ben Crump in Nolan Wells Case

Nolan Wells, a 17-year-old from Mississippi, disappeared during a Fourth of July outing on Horn Island. His body was recovered in water on July 6. A state autopsy found no water in his lungs, airways or stomach, while the family-hired pathologist reported injuries to the back of his head and back. A Mississippi grand jury previously declined to bring criminal charges, concluding the circumstances were consistent with drowning and that there was no evidence of criminal conduct.

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The nonprofit search-and-rescue group United Cajun Navy (UCN), which assisted in the initial search, has posted on X demanding that the Justice Department investigate civil-rights attorney Ben Crump for “inciting terrorism.” UCN argues that the evidence—including the lack of blunt-force trauma and the state medical examiner’s findings—supports an accidental drowning.

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Attorney Lisa Parks, representing Crump, said the family initially agreed to a joint examination of the phone but declined when the terms changed to require surrender of the device without family attendance. Parks stated, “The parents of Nolan Wells never kept the phone intentionally to keep away from DA or any law enforcement.” Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath contended that other Snapchat users could delete messages from their accounts without handling Wells’s phone, and that investigators found no evidence of the phone being accessed after its last use.

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UCN’s online responses have drawn criticism for hostile language, including a post calling a skeptic “the clinical definition of retarded.” Observers note that the group’s rhetoric may distract from substantive forensic debate.

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• “The parents of Nolan Wells never kept the phone intentionally to keep away from DA or any law enforcement,” — Lisa Parks, attorney

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