Mystery girl talking to Nolan Wells before he disappeared revealed — but her sister disputes his pals’ account of events: report
The mystery girl Nolan Wells had reportedly stayed behind to chat with on Horn Island before he vanished has been identified — but the revelation and new conflicting accounts have only led to more questions about his death.
Wells, 18, had boated to the island, located 10 miles off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, with a group of close friends on July 4 when his pals left without him, reportedly because the college football star stayed to talk to a girl — revealed to be Katie McCormack, 19, according to the Daily Mail.
But McCormack’s sister provided a different account of what happened during the fateful trip than what Wells’ friends have provided.
The tragic teen had spent five hours celebrating the Fourth of July with hundreds of other college students on Horn Island when late in the afternoon, his friends started to panic as their boat was taking on water and had to rush back to land before it sank.
According to his friends, Wells told them to make the trip back to the mainland without him as he was engrossed in conversation with McCormack, the outlet reported.
Ashlee Cole, mother of Wells’ best friend Warren Hudson who was on the island at the time, released a statement on July 7 saying that the group of friends returned to the mainland after their boat had a problem with its bilge pump — but Wells stayed back.
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However, McCormack’s 23-year-old sister Gracie disputes the claim that Wells remained on the island to talk to her.
According to Gracie, McCormack thought Wells would have boated back to the mainland with his friends.
“Katie had a conversation and assumed that Nolan was getting ready to get on the boat he came out on,” Gracie told the Daily Mail.
“Katie assumed the ‘friends’ telling him to get on the boat wouldn’t have left him,” she added.
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McCormack, who hails from a few towns east of Ocean Springs where Wells lived, was on the island with a different group of friends and was eventually taken home by her brother Tony and his fiancée Eva Criddle, Gracie said.
“We have given all the answers we can give to his mom and authorities,” the sister added.
There has been no suggestion of wrongdoing on McCormack’s part.
Although McCormack has not spoken publicly since Wells disappeared and was later found dead, she replied to a social media post defending her, the publication reported.
“What’s understood don’t have to be said. I love y’all. Just pray for his family and his friends,” McCormack wrote.
“I’m good, and all I can do is pray for healing over them. This is a terrible situation all in all.”
However, the conflicting accounts between people who were on the island interacting with Wells have sparked concern for the grieving family who hired top civil rights lawyer Ben Crump to investigate.
“She saying he went and got on the boat. They saying he didn’t get on the boat. So which is it?” Crump previously told reporters.
“The fact that you have the young lady who said that Nolan said he was going to get back on the boat with the boys, and then the boys said no, Nolan told them that he was going to stay with the girl.”
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“Somebody must not be telling the truth,” Crump added.
Wells’ body was discovered on July 6 in the water off the island.