The United Cajun Navy is pushing back against claims made by attorney Ben Crump, saying the volunteer search group never told him Nolan Wells was found “fully clothed” and, in fact, has never spoken with him.
The dispute began after Crump, who represents Wells’ family, said during a July 22 press conference that the United Cajun Navy informed the family Nolan’s body had been discovered face down and fully clothed after he disappeared during a July 4 boat trip to Mississippi’s Horn Island.
According to the search organization, that account is inaccurate.
In a statement shared on social media, the United Cajun Navy said it has never communicated directly with Crump and never provided him or the Wells family with that information.
“We have never spoken with Crump, and we certainly didn’t tell the parents anything like that,” the organization wrote.
The group insisted that when Wells’ body was recovered on July 6, he was wearing only the same swim trunks seen in photos and videos taken before his disappearance.
Crump had argued that the clothing described to him could be an important clue in the investigation. He pointed to videos from July 4 showing the 18-year-old without a shirt and questioned when, or if, he had put one on before his death.
“That’s significant to us because the last time we saw him on the videos, he was without a shirt,” Crump said. “So at what point did he put on a shirt? Somebody saw something. Somebody knows something.”
The disagreement appears to stem from an earlier television interview. Two days before Crump’s press conference, United Cajun Navy founder Todd Terrell briefly appeared to agree when asked on The Nancy Grace Show whether Wells had been found “fully clothed.”
Terrell later clarified that he misunderstood the question and meant Wells was found wearing swim trunks, not fully dressed. The organization has since reiterated that position, saying the teen was not wearing additional clothing when his body was recovered.
“The bottom line is that Nolan was only wearing swim trunks when found,” the group said in its statement. “That’s a fact that can’t be refuted.”
The United Cajun Navy also argued that the controversy over Wells’ clothing has distracted from the broader investigation into what happened during his final hours.
Wells, an 18-year-old college football player from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, disappeared after a July 4 boat outing with friends to Horn Island. His body was found two days later after an extensive search that included assistance from the United Cajun Navy, whose pilot spotted him from the air.
Authorities have not announced a final cause or manner of death. While investigators initially said they found no immediate evidence of foul play, both the official investigation and an independent review requested by Wells’ family remain ongoing.