Grand Jury Declines to Indict in Death of Black Mississippi Teen Found Dead Off Coast

A Mississippi grand jury has decided there is not enough evidence to bring charges in the death of Nolan Wells, a Black teenager found dead off the Mississippi coast in early July. The decision has drawn sharp criticism from civil rights leaders, attorneys, and the teen's family, who say the lack of an indictment is not the same as the absence of an answer.

Wells, 18, left for an outing with friends and never came home. His body was found in the waters off the Mississippi coast. During a press conference Tuesday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump — who is representing Wells' family — highlighted a detail from the medical examiner's report: bruising on the back of Wells' head, which the report said was not a fatal injury.

"Nolan Wells' parents deserve answers," said Crump. "What really happened to Nolan Wells? What caused the blunt force trauma to his head? That is the crux of the matter."

Rev. Al Sharpton, who led Wells' eulogy, wrote in a statement: "The fact that the grand jury didn't find enough evidence to charge someone with a crime is not an answer to how 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells left for an outing with friends and never came home. We will not confuse the absence of an indictment with the presence of an answer."

Following Crump's release of an independent autopsy report, the NAACP is pushing the district attorney's office to release its own report to the public. "Nolan's family deserves nothing less than a full, fair, and independent investigation that is exhaustive and leaves no stone unturned," wrote Kristen Clarke, NAACP general counsel.

Activists have organized rallies calling for the case to remain open, noting that the investigation's handling raises questions about whether the teenager's race factored into the initial response.

Reporting by NPR. Read the original report: Questions remain after grand jury declines indictment in Nolan Wells' death.