A Mississippi grand jury found no evidence of criminal conduct in the death of 18-year-old , concluding that the college football players body was found under circumstances “consistent with drowning” after his disappearance during a Fourth of July boating trip.
The 23-member Jackson County grand jury found no criminal charges were warranted after hearing from 43 witnesses and reviewing physical and digital evidence, police reports, interviews, videos, images and maps, according to the grand jury report released by Angel Myers McIlrath on Monday.
Wells disappeared July 4 after traveling with friends to Horn Island, a barrier island off Mississippis Gulf Coast. His body was recovered in the waters off the island two days later after a multi-agency search.
The report said the “position of, condition of, time of discovery, and location” of Wells body were consistent with drowning and that there was “no credible evidence” anyone traveling to or from the island committed a crime related to his death.
The grand jury also found that bruising on the back of Wells head was “not a fatal injury.” The report said there was no evidence of a fatal injury or organic disease, though investigators could not determine how Wells suffered the bruise.
One witness testified that Wells was seen slipping “awkwardly off the side of a boat” around the time he was last seen. The witness could not say whether Wells struck his head during the fall and said Wells continued socializing afterward and did not appear injured.
The report also said Wells was not involved in a physical altercation or argument that day.
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A private autopsy commissioned by Wells family had previously listed his cause and manner of death as “undetermined pending investigation.”
During a July 22 news conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the examination found an area of “red discoloration” on the back of Wells head, but pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell could not determine a cause or manner of death.
Questions had also been raised about Wells alcohol consumption.
A July 5 Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Marine Patrol email previously obtained by Fox News Digital listed Wells alcohol intake as “heavy” while authorities searched for him. The email did not identify the source of that information.
The grand jury found that Wells bought alcohol using a fake ID and that no adults of legal drinking age provided him with alcohol on the island.
The report said toxicology testing was “not particularly informative” because decomposition fluid is an unreliable source for determining substance levels in a body. It also said there was no cocaine in Wells system and no evidence he had ever used the drug.
The report also shed light on Wells cellphone, which was taken back to the mainland without him.
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