Nationwide — The attorneys for Nolan Wells’ friends say they plan to sue attorney Ben Crump over claims that messages were deleted from Wells’ phone after his disappearance. The lawyers represent Jax Pitalo, Warren Hudson and Morgan Seymour, who have denied having anything to do with the alleged deletion. They say the three friends never had access to Wells’ phone after he went missing.
Attorney Tyler Cox said the phone was among several devices left on the boat after Wells disappeared. Cox said a woman from the group collected the phones and placed them in Wyatt’s truck. Wells’ phone reportedly stayed there until a friend of his family came to pick it up at about 1:30 a.m. Cox said the same woman later retrieved the phone from the truck and handed it to the family friend.
The attorneys’ statements came after forensic examiner Andrew Garrett reportedly found that data had been deleted from Wells’ phone. Garrett is part of an independent investigation arranged by Wells’ family and said the deletion occurred between the last time Wells used the phone and the time his family received it. Cox disputed the implication that Wells’ friends were responsible and said a grand jury did not find evidence that anyone on the boat erased information.
The lawyers have also questioned how the phone was handled after it was recovered. According to TMZ, Edward Andrew Paltzik said Crump did not give Wells’ physical phone directly to law enforcement. Crump has disputed that account, saying the phone’s data was provided to the district attorney. He has also raised questions about a group chat involving Wells, saying messages continued after Wells disappeared and included discussions about people who had been at Horn Island and whether some were racist.
Paltzik pushed back against those claims and questioned which friends Crump was referring to when discussing the conversations. He described the allegations as unclear and said his legal team intends to pursue a defamation lawsuit against Crump. The dispute between the attorneys adds another layer to the investigation into Wells’ death, which has involved different accounts about his phone and what happened after he disappeared.
A grand jury previously declined to bring criminal charges in the case. Meanwhile, an independent autopsy arranged by Wells’ family found blunt-force trauma to the back of his head, along with additional injuries to his back. The competing findings and statements have left questions about Wells’ final hours and the handling of his phone still under dispute.