Nolan Xavier Wells’ mom challenges his mourners to be like her son, ‘the light that brightens the lives of those around you’

OCEAN SPRINGS – Before his name spread across social media, before his parents pleaded for answers about why and how he died and before people lined up to say their goodbyes at his casket, the family of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells had been looking ahead to milestones and wondered what kind of man he would become.

Football games. Graduation. Someday a family of his own.

The future they pictured for their son went dark July 6, when his parents learned two days after he was last seen on Horn Island that his body was found in the waters off the Gulf Coast barrier island he visited on Independence Day.

Christine Wonsley, mother of Nolan Xavier Wells, center, is comforted by attorney Ben Crump, from left, and her husband, Elmore Wonsley, and the Rev. Al Sharpton during her son’s funeral at Center Pointe Church in Ocean Springs on Monday, July 20, 2026.

Two weeks later, his mother and father, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, cried and held each other Monday during Wells’ funeral service, tortured by the unanswered questions about his disappearance and death.

Their voices shook as they spoke quietly and through tears about how proud they were of Wells and the young man he became. They talked about how Wells will be missed: as a role model for his younger siblings, for the jokes he told and how he made people feel welcomed. He trained and built character on and off the field. How he valued family and faith.

“In a world that can often feel dark, be like Nolan,” his mother said. “Be the light that brightens the lives of those around you. Be the warmth for those who may be feeling the coldness of the world. Love deeply, protect fiercely and welcome others with kindness and remain faithful knowing that God is always with you.”

Christine Wonsley said her son wanted to have three daughters and already picked out names for them: Sophia, Charlotte and Olivia.

Family, classmates, teammates and community members gathered at Center Pointe Church wearing light blue for the visitation and service. In the afternoon, some planned to attend a private repast celebrating Wells’ life at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in Pascagoula.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the investigation, has provided limited information. Results from a state and independent autopsy have been released, but the family’s attorney said preliminary findings are expected to be shared after Wells’ burial.

What the family knows is that Wells celebrated the H๏τ Fourth of July by traveling with others 8 miles offshore to Horn Island, one of the largest barrier islands in the Gulf Coast – a known sanctuary for young adults to dock a boat, wade in the water and walk along the shore and white sand.

He did not return to Ocean Springs with the friend group he arrived with, and he was last seen around the island that afternoon.

Sheriff John Ledbetter said last week that he suspects the teen drowned, which the family’s legal team has pushed back against. Wells’ family has said he knew how to swim. Volunteer rescuers from the United Cajun Navy have said there was a strong rip current on July 4 and the National Park Service often cautions visitors to check the current status before visiting the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

On Monday, Wells’ parents stood with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who traveled from New York to deliver a prayer and eulogy, and civil rights attorney Ben Crump.

They have asked if foul play occurred and whether race was a factor. Wells was Black and arrived on the island with a mostly white group of friends. During the service, demands for a thorough investigation, pursuit of the truth and transparency were met with applause and standing cheers.

Sharpton said race can’t be discounted because there are too many unanswered questions and because of Mississippi’s history, which led to the deaths of Black boys and men such as Emmett Till and Medgar Evers. He said Wells’ death offers a chance, in this state, for people to come together and act differently than others did in the past.

The reverend said America’s story harkens to the Bible’s story of brothers Cain and Abel and the question “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sharpton said some have been led to hurt others, and the victims’ blood cries from the ground, just as it does for Wells.

“Am I my brother’s keeper or am I the keeper of some kind of secret that you could give and won’t stand up?” Sharpton said. “But the blood’s going to haunt you.”

Sharpton said, with the family’s legal team, they hope to shine light and flush out anyone who knows something, just as turning on the light in the apartment he had grown up in sent cockroaches scattering.

Crump led the crowd on cheers of “Justice for Nolan Wells” and “Nolan Wells’ life mattered.”

Sharpton announced a $50,000 reward paid by his organization, the National Action Network, to anyone who could offer information that could lead to an arrest and conviction in Wells’ case. By the end of the eulogy, filmmaker Tyler Perry, who paid for Wells’ service, offered to match the reward, bringing it up to $100,0000.

“We want the truth no matter who is implicated or exonerated. We want justice no matter who it acquits or convicts,” Crump said during a news conference following the funeral service.

Wells’ parents met last week with Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath, who plans to present evidence from the sheriff’s completed investigation to a grand jury, which will decide if anyone will be indicted for criminal charges stemming from the teen’s death.

In a Wednesday statement, the FBI Jackson said it has helped Jackson County investigators, including addressing interstate threats against people connected to the case. The agency did not identify the people who were threatened, but at least two people – a friend who saw Wells before he went missing and a stepparent of another friend who was with Wells near the island  – have said they received death threats.

During Monday’s service, flowers with hues of blue and white accompanied pH๏τos of Wells that welcomed guests at the door and they adorned his closed casket and framed it in blooming planters in the sanctuary.

On large screens, pH๏τos of Wells playing football, basketball and baseball throughout his childhood and teenage years were shown with family pictures, group pH๏τos with friends and a few selfies. His 2025 Ocean Springs High School graduation pictures flashed among them.

His memorial honored his journey as a three-sport athlete, displaying framed jerseys. The last jersey Wells wore, No. 16 for the Southwest Mississippi Community College Bears, was featured next to his pH๏τo by his casket. The rising sophomore attended the college on a scholarship, according to his obituary.

Among the mourners were classmates, including Black and white young men who played football with Wells in Ocean Springs. Some offered each other hugs and handshakes.

After the service, Christine and Elmore Wonsley took some questions from reporters. They said they appreciated the community support and saw the kind words and memories they have shared as a testament to the good job they did raising him.

They plan to start a foundation in their son’s name to define his legacy.

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