Family pleads for answers in death of young Black man in Mississippi

Body of Nolan Wells, 18, found after he traveled to Horn Island over Fourth of July weekend with three white friends A mother on Friday pleaded for anyone to come forward with information about what happened to ⁠her son, Nolan Wells, a young Black man whose body was found on an island off the coast of Mississippi after he traveled there over the Fourth of July weekend with three white friends. “We just want ⁠to know what happened and ⁠why our baby ​didn’t come home,” Christine Wonsley, choking back tears, said at a news conference about her son. The death of Wells has become a social media flashpoint, fueled by questions about race in the US. The body ⁠of Wells, 18, was found on 6 July on the north-western tip of Horn Island, a long, thin barrier island with a beach along Mississippi’s Gulf coast. He had visited the island and went missing on the ⁠Independence Day holiday of 4 July with a group of friends from his high school in nearby Ocean Springs, Mississippi. A lawyer for ​his family on Friday sought help in answering questions about ‌issues including why his phone was ‌not found with his body, but with one of the friends. Across social media, users have parsed timelines and ci