By admin 
A federal judge in Mississippi has permanently revoked bond for one of two men accused of making death threats against a witness in the investigation into Nolan Xavier Wells’ death.
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U.S. District Judge Taylor McNeel issued the final ruling after a Sept. 9 emergency hearing, reversing an earlier decision by a federal judge in Illinois who had first granted bond to Edward James Porter.
McNeel heard testimony from an FBI special agent and arguments from federal prosecutors before ruling that Porter must remain jailed without bond pending trial because he is a flight risk, has a history of criminal charges dating to age 18 and poses a safety risk to the victims and the community.
The ruling came after prosecutors requested an emergency hearing in federal court in Gulfport to challenge the Illinois judge’s decision to grant Porter bond in his home state.
12 calls in three hours
FBI Task Force Agent Christopher Kloc testified about the alleged threats against Bart Edmiston Jr. and his father, Bart Edmiston Sr.
According to Kloc, Porter, 33, of Berwyn, near Chicago, used a program called Pinger to disguise his real phone number and make it appear that he was calling the Edmistons from Moss Point.
Porter placed 12 calls to the father and son over about three hours, ending around 10 a.m. July 31, Kloc testified.
During those calls, Porter threatened to kill Bart Edmiston Jr., who was in Wyoming at the time, and his family, including his father, according to testimony.
Edmiston Jr., 21, was a friend of Wells, of Ocean Springs. He is now a punter at the University of Wyoming.
The family started receiving death threats after Edmiston Jr.’s name appeared in an incident report from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources that identified him as the boater who helped tow a boat connected to the Wells’ case.
Wells goes missing, found dead
Wells, 18, of Ocean Springs, was reported missing July 4 after traveling with friends on one of three boats to Horn Island, about 10 miles off the Mississippi coast, to celebrate Independence Day.
Two days later, Wells’ body was found off the northwest tip of Horn Island.
His friends returned to the mainland without him, saying he stayed behind to talk to a girl. Wells had left his phone on the boat with his friends, something his parents had questioned because he was far from the mainland.
Both Edmiston and his father have received threatening phone calls or text messages from two different people: Porter and Brandon Ephriam Washington, of Jacksonville, Florida.
Federal prosecutors in Wyoming are handling the case against Washington because the alleged crime occurred there.
A lengthy criminal history and bond forfeitures
During Porter’s detention hearing, Kloc testified that Porter had Edmiston’s childhood address in Ocean Springs and sent it to him in a text message.
Edmiston Jr. then called his father to warn him about the threats.
Porter also called Edmiston Sr. while he was undergoing a “medical procedure,” according to the testimony. The agent said Porter threatened to kill Edmiston Sr., everyone in his home and any police officers who were present.
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Porter later threatened to cut up Edmiston Sr. and stuff his remains in a suitcase, according to the testimony.
Shortly afterward, Porter called Edmiston Jr. again and said he was outside the Edmiston family’s home in Ocean Springs and “was going to kill the family,” according to testimony.
McNeel noted that a pretrial report showed Porter had “numerous prior violent criminal charges,” including allegations of assault and battery, assault with a deadly weapon and other domestic violence-related offenses.
The report also showed that Porter had forfeited bond 13 times over the years and had a pending charge as a fugitive from justice.
McNeel determined that Porter posed a serious danger to the community and that pretrial detention was necessary because no condition or combination of conditions could reasonably assure the safety of the victims and the community or ensure his appearance in court for future proceedings in his federal case in Mississippi.
Jobless and living in a homeless shelter
Porter was living in a homeless shelter at the time of his arrest in Illinois. After his arrest, his sister said at a hearing that he could live with her, but she would be at work during the day and unable to monitor him.
Porter was unemployed at the time. His last permanent job, which lasted four years, ended in 2021. Since then, the report said, he had worked two other jobs, each for a month or less.
Meanwhile, the other man facing a federal charge for sending threatening messages to Bart Edmiston Jr. in Wyoming is out of jail on bond pending trial there.
In that case, Washington, 30, of Jacksonville, Florida, is accused of sending the threatening messages to Edmiston Jr. on July 28 at 6:57 a.m.
Washington, according to the criminal complaint, sent a message from his Instagram account, listed under the username of 904hustler_, to Edmiston and his teammates that said: “Y’all mite well shut the whole program down because the next game, we shooting every white people on that field,” including victim 1, identified as Edmiston Jr.
The message ended with, “the hitters from the 904 on the way right now.” The number 904 is the area code in area where Washington lives.
Porter and Washington are among a growing list of people arrested for making death threats in the aftermath of Wells’ death.
In addition to them, authorities have arrested a Sacramento, California, man, and a Cincinnati, Ohio, woman in separate federal cases. All are accused of making threats to injure or kill people connected to the Wells investigation.
Others threatened include Jackson County Chancery Judge Ashlee Cole, members of her family and others associated with the case. Cole’s stepson, Warren Hudson, was among a group of friends who spent July 4 with Wells before he disappeared.
This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 6:51 AM with the headline “Judge rules against man with long rap sheet over Nolan Wells-related threats.”
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