"She shared with the family that there will be a grand jury that she will turn this case over to, once they have collected all the information and finished their investigation," Crump told reporters in Pascagoula on Wednesday. "We also agreed that we will have a mutual inspection of the cell phone with our experts and their experts."
Wells left his phone on the boat and his parents tracked it back to a friend's house after they returned from a trip to Mississippi's Barrier Islands.
Wells' parents are still looking for answers, though, over a week after their son's body was found on Horn Island. He traveled there with friends for an Independence Day trip and was the only one who did not return. Law enforcement recovered his body on July 6.
His parents have raised concerns that social media messages on Wells phone may have been deleted. That concern, along with Wells seemingly the only Black friend in his group to make the trip that day, has garnered attention and demands for transparency in the investigation on social media, from the community and from Wells' parents.
"The hope is that when this is presented to the grand jury, all relevant witnesses and evidence will be presented to them so that we can have a fair and impartial investigation into the death of Nolan," Crump told the press in Pascagoula. "Our lived experiences tell us that we must question everything, everybody's role, law enforcement's role. That is the lived experience of us as Black people in America."
New information has been slow to come out from officials, with details like boat problems on July 4 and its location being released this week from NBC and CBS, respectively.
Autopsy results from both the state and Crump's team are still pending. Crump didn't offer an explanation at the press conference in Pascagoula as to why they still don't have results. State officials say they're waiting on a toxicology report from the medical examiner.
And, parents are still waiting to receive an incident report from law enforcement, telling reporters that communication with law enforcement has been scarce in the days following the recovery of Wells' body.
"The DA's office wanted to take over that communications because they do have a victim advocate," said Wells' mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley. "The last time we actually spoke to someone with the sheriff's department was last Tuesday; that was via text message that I initiated, just asking for an update."
In the meantime, Wells-Wonsley, announced that services for her son will be on July 20 at Center Pointe Church in Ocean Springs with a repass at the Jackson County Fair Grounds.
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is helping pay for the autopsy, while filmmaker Tyler Perry is assisting with funeral expenses.
