| Nolan Xavier Wells |
Publicly named
18-year-old Ocean Springs resident and Southwest Mississippi Community College football player whose death is under investigation. |
Christine Wonsley
Elmore Wonsley |
Publicly named
Wells’ mother and father. Their statements about July 3, the late-night calls, the phone, keys, search and their son’s habits are attributed accounts. [15] |
| Warren Hudson |
Publicly named
One of the three young men reported to have traveled with Wells. Christine Wonsley identified Warren as the person who called her at about 11:07 p.m.; Hudson later said he also contacted the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard confirmed a friend called around 11 p.m. but did not itself name the caller. [1] [16] |
| Ashlee Cole |
Publicly named
Publicly identified Warren Hudson as her son and issued an attributed account of when he last saw Wells and why the group left the island. [2] |
| Tracestin Shepherd |
Publicly named
Was on Horn Island and said the yelling voice in a widely shared video was his, not Wells’. Wells’ parents later disputed descriptions of Shepherd as a “best” or childhood friend; this report calls him a publicly identified acquaintance/friend who was present. [1] |
Jayvon Williams
Tashema Hands |
Publicly named
Williams was publicly identified as Wells’ friend and said he saw Wells on Horn Island while traveling on a different boat. Hands, Williams’ mother and Christine Wonsley’s friend, said she located and retrieved Wells’ phone for the family. [14] |
| Jalen |
Partially identified
Christine Wonsley and Tashema Hands publicly referred to Hands’ other son as “Jalen”; the reviewed transcript marks the spelling phonetic and does not confirm his surname. This report does not infer one. [14] [15] |
John Ledbetter
Bruce Lynd
Angel Myers McIlrath
Sean Tindell |
Publicly named officials
Jackson County sheriff, Jackson County coroner, district attorney, and Mississippi public safety commissioner, respectively. Tindell said he could not confirm the reported completion of the state autopsy, while saying that completion by then would fit the normal timeline. [32] |
Ben Crump
Dr. Roger Mitchell |
Publicly named
Family attorney and family-retained forensic pathologist, respectively. Their statements and findings are identified as independent/family-side work, not official state conclusions. Mitchell was reported to be seeking retained throat tissue for further examination. [18] |
| Brandon Tatum |
Publicly named non-official interviewer
Former Tucson police officer and host of The Officer Tatum Show. Tatum recorded interviews with Warren Hudson and Tracestin Shepherd, visited Horn Island, retraced the reported route and said he reviewed private call logs, messages, photos, video, GPS and Life360 material. None of that makes him an investigator acting for JCSO, MDMR, the FBI, the medical examiner or the district attorney. [20] [29] |
Gary Bufkin
Eric Hertz |
Publicly named
Bufkin represents Wells’ estate and sent evidence-preservation notices and social-media subpoenas. Hertz leads the family’s independent investigative team and described discussions about a joint phone review. These are civil or family-side investigative steps, not official findings about the death. [18] [19] |
| Joseph Dumarce |
Publicly named in a separate arrest
California man arrested and accused of making an online threat toward Chancery Court Judge Ashlee Cole. No conviction was reported, and the arrest is collateral to—not evidence about—the cause or circumstances of Wells’ death. [18] |
| Preservation-letter recipients |
Not publicly named in the reviewed report
The July 30 report says multiple recipients received notices to preserve communications, media, metadata and location records, but it does not identify them by name. [19] |
| July 3 overnight host |
Not publicly named in the reviewed official/reputable record
Wonsley said Wells stayed with members of the boat group at the same separate home where his car and keys were later recovered. Neither WLOX, the redacted JCSO report coverage, AP, nor the family’s July 10 press conference identifies the host or homeowner. A separately compiled web timeline labels it Warren Hudson’s house, but the reviewed reliable record does not verify that claim. [1] [2] [15] |
| Two other outbound companions |
Not publicly named in the reviewed official/reputable record
Public reporting identifies Warren Hudson but not the other two young men described as traveling with Wells on the relevant boat trip. [2] |
| “Katie” — young woman on Horn Island |
First name used by Tatum; surname and identity not officially verified
Brandon Tatum referred to the woman as Katie, said he had seen messages attributed to her and initially declined to publish them because he had not interviewed her. The reviewed official/reputable sources do not establish her full identity. The report uses “Katie” only inside the Tatum layer and does not infer a surname. [14] [23] [26] |
“Wyatt”
“Carter” |
First names spoken in Tatum interviews; surnames not verified
Tracestin Shepherd referred to Wyatt in connection with a boat and Carter in connection with the unrelated July 4 fight. The reviewed official/reputable record does not confirm their surnames or establish either person’s investigative status. [24] |
| Phone-house occupants / parent |
Not reliably identified
Tashema Hands is the named person who retrieved the phone. The residence, its parent or owner, and the person who possessed the phone before it was handed over are not reliably identified in the reviewed record. [14] [15] |
| Sea Tow caller / vessel owner |
Not named in the released records used here
The public audio and MDMR/CBS account identify a teenage caller and a vessel owner by role, not by verified name. [1] [9] |
| National Park Service ranger |
Not publicly named in the reviewed reports
The agency and discovery time are public; the individual ranger’s name is not. [3] |