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New subpoenas have been issued to various social media companies and a location-tracking app in connection with pending litigation related to the death of Nolan Xavier Wells.
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On Tuesday, Mississippi-based attorney Gary Bufkin filed subpoenas to obtain information from accounts associated with the 18-year-old student athlete on Snapchat, WhatsApp, TikTok, Meta Platforms, and the location-tracking app Life360, according to the records reviewed by the Sun Herald.
Bufkin, a Ridgeland-based attorney from the law firm of Carroll Bufkin PLLC, is assisting prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump in the independent investigation into the death of Wells after he failed to return home from a Fourth of July trip to Horn Island with friends.
Wells, who was Black, boated to Horn Island with at least three white friends. His friends returned to shore with his phone and told authorities that Wells stayed behind to talk to a girl and other friends. Two days later, his body was found off the northwest tip of the island.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is heading up the investigation into Wells’ death with assistance from Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The FBI is also assisting in the investigation into alleged threats made against the Wonsleys, law enforcement, and friends and family of those associated with Wells the day he went missing.
Wells’ mother, Christine Wells-Wonsley, is the administrator of her son’s estate. She and her husband, Elmore Wonsley, hired Crump in the aftermath of their son’s death.
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Christine Wonsley said she and her husband simply want to know what happened to their son.
Among the records subpoenaed are all subscriber information, all current and previous usernames, email addresses, phone numbers and display names associated with each account; and other account-related information, including the following:
- The account creation date and IP address used to create the account
- All IP addresses connected to action on the accounts, including logins, password resets, two factor enrollment
- All IP addresses tied to friend’s events on the account
- All communication configured as public and all related data and metadata
- All non-content information connected to the account
- All information that identifies or may be used to identify anyone sending messages in conversations on the account
- All communications, chats, posts, stories, and other information, and more
The subpoenas are going out in the aftermath of the Mississippi attorney sending intent-to-sue letters to Wells’ friends, their families, local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors, the coroner and state medical examiner’s offices, and others connected to the investigation into Wells’ death.
Those who were put on notice of a potential suit have been instructed to preserve all evidence in their possession, custody or control in its original, unaltered form.
In the addition, they direct the recipients to suspend any automatic deletion or overwrite functions that could destroy evidence.
This story was originally published July 28, 2026 at 3:51 PM with the headline “New subpoenas target Nolan Wells’ social media, location-tracking accounts.”
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