Best Friend Speaks Out: Nolan Wells’ closest...

Nolan Wells; Warren Hudson.Credit : GoFundMe; The Officer Tatum/YouTube

Nolan Wells was a college student and football player who was tragically found dead on July 6.

Before he disappeared, the 18-year-old student went out with some friends to Horn Island, located off the coast of southeastern Mississippi, for a Fourth of July celebration. He took a boat with friends to the bash, which others have described as having been attended by hundreds, if not thousands.

Warren Hudson, one of Wells’ friends with him that day, said he last saw Wells around 3 p.m. local time on July 4. He then said the group left around 4:30 p.m. because the boat was taking on water and having bilge pump issues.

Very few people who spent time with Wells that day, or were on the island at the same time, have spoken publicly, but those who have maintained that he chose to stay back because he met a young woman and wanted to hang out with her. However, Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, have expressed disbelief in that story and said their son would “not separate from the group.”

Two days after he was last seen, Wells’ body was found on July 6 in the water near the island. The investigation has sparked national attention because of the various accounts from that day and the questions that remain answered.

In the weeks that have followed, two autopsies were conducted — including an independent one commissioned by his family. Wells’ family said that the autopsy did not show severe injuries on his body, but the pathologist also couldn’t rule out that “non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death.” The results of the official medical examiner’s autopsy have not been released.

Here’s everything Nolan Wells’ friends have said about what happened at the Fourth of July party.

Fourth of July attendees described the Horn Island scene as hundreds if not thousands of people, many partying without cell phones

On July 4, Wells took a boat with friends to Horn Island off the coast of Mississippi, for a party.

“Everyone seemed to be having a good time,” Miller told the outlet.

She also pointed out that the water around the island is “choppy” and the area where she anchored her boat — which was also where Wells’ body was later found — is known for “rougher water.”

“We had to rope our floats that we float in. We had to tie it to the boat on the Fourth that day to keep us from getting sucked into the Gulf,” she said.

Miller added that it wouldn’t be unusual for people to take one boat with one group of friends to the island and leave with other friends on another boat. She went on to say that it was normal for people to leave their phones behind on the boat, because “when you jump out of the boat to go to the island, you jump into waist-deep water.”

An unidentified charter boat operator echoed Miller’s sentiments to NBC News, saying that the current around the island can be “awful,” even for strong swimmers, and “can change in a heartbeat.”

“I know people that have grown up out there that have died out there,” they told the outlet. “It’ll humble you very quick. I don’t care what kind of shape you’re in. Those currents can get you, and before you even realize you’re in trouble, you’re gone.”

Warren Hudson said that Wells wanted to stay on the island

Hudson, who described Wells as his “best friend,” was one of the last people to see him alive on the Fourth of July.

Hudson broke his silence about the “traumatic” day and his friend’s death during a several-part podcast appearance with conservative commentator Brandon Tatum, known as The Officer Tatum, who has been publishing parts of the interview on YouTube. During the interview, Hudson detailed the events of the day and shared his side of the story.

“My buddies and I had talked about this,” he said of spending the holiday on the island. “Everybody’s very, very excited for the Fourth of July down here. It’s a big thing, it’s a big deal.”

Hudson recalled being with Wells the night before heading out and meeting up with a larger group the following day. He said there were three boatloads of roughly two dozen friends who went to Horn Island on the morning of July 4, the “most popular day to be on the water,” and estimated there were thousands of people with “miles” of boats.

“I think there [were] boats all the way around the entire island,” he recalled, while saying their group “grew and grew” to around “50 other people around us” as the day went on.

While Hudson claimed that most of the people in the group, including Wells, were drinking alcohol, he said Wells seemed “completely fine.” However, Hudson — who said he only spoke to Wells “a couple of times” over the course of the party — remembered the water getting deeper and a “little rough” as the day went on.

In a second installment of the podcast, Hudson said that Wells — whom he described as a “best friend” and like a “brother” — made the decision to stay on the island after meeting a young woman. Hudson maintained that he wanted Wells to come back with them. (Wells’ parents have challenged this story and said it would have been out of character for their son to leave the group).

During the third part of the interview, Hudson shed more light on the alleged timeline and said that the last time he saw Wells was around 3 p.m. local time when he was “cradling” a woman. The two friends allegedly joked and laughed about the situation.

Around 4:30 p.m. that day, Hudson noticed the issues with the boat and started to panic. He knew they needed to leave, so he told Wells, who was allegedly with the woman, “‘Nolan, get the eff on the boat. Get on the boat.’ ”

“And Nolan said, ‘No, I’m staying out here. I’m going to ride in with somebody else,’ ” Hudson claimed, adding that their friend asked Wells “multiple times” to get on the boat.

Hudson continued, “Nolan chose to stay on the island, so my focus wasn’t on any anything else other than the boat, you know, ‘cuz if the boat doesn’t get in, then no one gets in, you know. I don’t want to sink out there on my buddy’s boat, and no one does.”

“We were in emergency. The boat, we’re trying to save the boat. It’s not like we didn’t ask Nolan or we just left Nolan,” he said. “Nolan decided to stay on the island with the girl that he was with. And the girl is a witness to that too.”

Hudson and a few friends returned to the mainland, but later that night, they noticed that nobody had heard from Wells, which they found “a little concerning.” He texted a few friends, and when no one knew where Wells was, he called his mother, Christine, who hadn’t heard from her son, either.

Hudson then proceeded to call the Coast Guard because he knew the water can be “a very, very dangerous place” where “people die all the time.”

“I’m thinking I’d way rather be safe than sorry. I mean, I would rather call the Coast Guard 100 times and lose my mind over it and my buddy be okay than, you know, not and you know, me not know where he is and him not be okay,” Hudson said.

The following day, Hudson and his family went to the island to look for Wells, and he was alerted on July 6 that Wells had been found dead.

Tracestin Shepherd and Hudson claimed that a lot of people left their phones on the boats to avoid contact with the water

Tracestin Shepherd, another one of Wells’ friends who was present for the Fourth of July party, spoke with Good Morning America on July 13.

“They met that day and it’s kind of one of those things,” Shepherd said on GMA of the young woman Wells was allegedly talking to. “He did come off that day that he really did like her, but that was the only time they ever hung out was at Horn Island on July 4.”

Both Shepherd and Hudson claimed that nearly everyone left their phones on the boats, so they wouldn’t come in contact with the water.

“All our friends are out there. Who are we communicating with? And we’re in salt water. We’re not in fresh water,” he said. “When Nolan got in the water, he put his phone on the [boat] dash also with probably 15 other phones.”

Shepherd further addressed a viral video that the Wells family attorney released claiming that it shows Wells getting into a confrontation before his disappearance. However, Shepherd was adamant Wells was not in the video and told GMA, “That’s me yelling.” He also shut down rumors about a viral photo showing Wells at a pool party, clarifying that it was not taken on July 4.

“We did no wrong here and we don’t understand how we’re getting so much hate behind us,” he said. “We all cared and loved Nolan, and nobody wanted to see Nolan die. Nobody wanted to see his life be taken so short.”

Jayvon Williams didn’t think his friend would’ve stayed back with a girl

Jayvon Williams, who was also with Wells on Horn Island, said that while he did see his friend chatting with a girl, it wasn’t like him to leave the group.

“I don’t think that Nolan would say, ‘Bro, I’m staying with this girl on the island. Y’all go ahead and go back,’ ” Williams told CNN on July 15. “I’ve never known Nolan to stay back, watch friends leave. He’s always been a guy where, if he rode with you, he’s gonna come back with you.”

Williams claimed that he last saw Wells a little after 4 p.m. on July 4.

“As soon as we got out there, (Wells) told me that he loved me,” Williams told the Sun Herald on July 6.

Wells’ mom said she has spoken with the woman who spent time with him on the island before his death

In the three weeks since Wells’ death, the young woman who was allegedly spending time with him has not spoken out or identified herself.

However, Wells’ mom, Christine, said that she had spoken with her.

“She did reach out to me initially, just saying basically like it was a ‘hey and bye’ type situation,” Christine said in an interview with TheGrio on July 14. “I was like — that’s not what I’m getting from other people.”

The family’s attorney, Ben Crump, further told TheGrio that he was planning on speaking with the woman and addressing some of the “inconsistencies.”