Nolan Wells Toxicology Report Circulating Online Is Fake, Authorities Say, Calling Out ‘Fraudsters’ and AI

David ChiuMon, August 3, 2026 at 4:28 PM UTC

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Nolan Wells -

Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell said in an Aug. 1 social media post that a toxicology report about Nolan Wells is fake

Authorities earlier said Wells’ state autopsy report was completed, but the results have not been publicly released

Wells’ family had previously commissioned their own independent autopsy of their loved one

A Mississippi official said that a fake toxicology report about Nolan Wells — the 18-year-old student-athlete whose body was recovered two days after he went missing on the Fourth of July — has been circulating on the internet, and cautioned the public not to believe its contents.

“The purported toxicology report from Nolan Wells circulating through social media on various outlets is fraudulent,” Mississippi Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell wrote in a Saturday, Aug. 1, social media post. “Nolan’s family, friends, and most importantly, Nolan himself, deserve better.”

“Fraudsters, AI, and social media are a recipe for disaster,” Tindell continued. “All they want you to do is click and share, don’t!”

The commissioner’s warning comes after officials announced on Thursday, July 30, that state authorities completed Wells’ official autopsy report, NBC News reported.

The Mississippi State Medical Examiner performed the autopsy on July 7, and the report was submitted to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. However, the report’s results have not been publicly released, and Wells’ family has not seen the results yet, attorney Ben Crump told the outlet.

Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said a grand jury will review Wells’ death once the investigation is completed, as is standard practice in the county for deaths that are not from natural causes. The grand jury will then determine whether an indictment is warranted.

Wells’ family has also commissioned an independent autopsy, which did not find severe injuries on his body but also could not determine his cause of death.

At a July 22 press conference, Crump released the preliminary findings conducted by Dr. Roger Mitchell.

According to Mitchell, Wells’ manner and cause of death could not yet be determined without further investigation. The doctor also said he could not rule out foul play but did not find any fractures or deep tissue injuries on the body.

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Mitchell’s report acknowledged several caveats to the preliminary results — mainly lack of access to Wells’ body in the immediate aftermath of his death; the lack of access to some parts of Wells’ body, which remain with law enforcement; and a lack of answers about how Wells may have drowned and whether he was conscious at the time.

Mitchell also noted that Wells’ body was so decomposed by the time of his second autopsy that he might have overlooked signs of bruising or abrasions.

But he found “red discoloration in the soft tissue of the back of [Wells’] head,” behind his ears, according to Crump, who called the finding “significant.”

Mitchell said the cause of this discoloration — which he described as quite large — was unknown. The doctor did not conduct Wells’ toxicology.

Wells, whose case has since drawn national attention, was reported missing on July 4. He was at a party on Mississippi’s Horn Island, but never returned home. On July 6, his body was recovered in the water on the northwest end of the barrier island.

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Authorities earlier said there were no apparent indications of foul play and that Wells might have drowned. But his parents Christine and Elmore Wonsley have challenged that assumption, calling it a rush to judgment and citing the state’s fraught racial history.

PEOPLE contacted Tindell’s office on Monday, Aug. 3, but did not receive an immediate reply.

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