The Roundtable Talk Show, Episode 78: They Cleared Everybody. Who Explains the Body?
Imagine your child goes out on the Fourth of July. Eighteen years old. College ahead of him. Football. Friends. Life. The people he left with come back. His phone comes back. He doesn't. Two days later, his body is found.
That is where Episode 78 of The Roundtable Talk Show started. On Tuesday, October 6, the table took on the death of Nolan Xavier Wells and the grand jury decision that followed.
What the grand jury decided
Nolan Wells was an 18-year-old from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, who disappeared during a July 4 trip with friends to Horn Island, off the Mississippi Gulf Coast. His body was found on July 6.
On September 21, Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath announced that a grand jury had unanimously returned a "no true bill," meaning it did not find enough evidence to indict anyone (NBC News). According to the grand jury's report, investigators issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses, along with GPS, cellphone and other evidence (CNN).
The grand jury found no credible evidence of criminal conduct by anyone who rode to or from the island on the three boats named in the report, and the district attorney said there was no evidence the death was racially motivated (NPR).
Somebody might hear that and say the case is over. The Roundtable's answer: hold up.
Two different questions on the same table
Both the Mississippi state medical examiner and the independent pathologist hired by the Wells family concluded that Nolan's cause and manner of death are undetermined. Both called drowning a "diagnosis of exclusion," meaning other causes were ruled out but drowning was not proven (NPR). The grand jury said the position, condition and location of his body were "consistent with drowning" (NOLA.com).
So the episode separated two questions that often get blended together:
Did investigators develop enough evidence to criminally charge someone? The grand jury says no.
How did Nolan Wells die? Officially, nobody can say.
"They cleared everybody" answers the first question. It does not answer the second. That gap is what the episode's title asks about: if no one is responsible and the cause is undetermined, who explains the body?
Why it matters here
Southeast Texas is a Gulf Coast community too. Many families here know the water, the islands and holiday weekends like the one Nolan's friends planned. Many also know what it feels like to wait on answers from a system and get a ruling instead of an explanation.
Nolan's family and their attorney, Ben Crump, have said they will keep seeking answers (NBC News). The grand jury report also said it would review any new credible evidence of a non-accidental death in the future (The Lens).
The Roundtable's approach is the same as always: put the facts on the table, separate what is known from what is not, and talk about it honestly. Everybody brings a dish, but don't nobody bring a lie.
Watch and join the conversation
The Roundtable Talk Show with Chris Jones streams live on KIP TV. Watch Episode 78 and past episodes on YouTube, or watch KIP TV free on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Google TV, and online at knowledgeispowernetwork.com.
What do you think: is "no charges" the same as "no answers"? Tell us in the comments on the episode.