Attorneys J. Tyler Cox and Edward Andrew Paltzik sent a pre-suit demand to Asuncion Cummings Hostin, also known as Sunny Hostin, on behalf of Warren Hudson, Jax Pitilo, and Morgan Seymour. The demand challenged statements the attorneys alleged Hostin made concerning the three young men while discussing Nolan Wells’ disappearance and death.
The September 16 document is a pre-suit demand letter. It is not a court ruling and, by itself, does not establish that defamation occurred. The factual and legal claims contained in that portion of this article are allegations and assertions made by attorneys for Warren, Jax, and Morgan.
The attorneys specifically challenged comments attributed to Hostin during a July 13, 2026 episode of Behind the Table and a July 14, 2026 segment of The View. According to the demand, Hostin repeatedly referred to “three boys” while discussing Wells’ friends, his cellphone, their cooperation with investigators, and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.
The attorneys maintained that the references were understood to concern Warren, Jax, and Morgan and alleged that the comments falsely implicated them in criminal conduct. The letter specifically referenced allegations involving murder, hindering prosecution, tampering with physical evidence, and conspiracy.
According to the demand letter, Warren, Jax, Morgan, Nolan, and a much larger group of friends traveled to Horn Island on July 4, 2026. The group used three boats identified as the Triton, Palm Beach, and Tideline.
The attorneys stated that Nolan was alive when Warren, Jax, and Morgan left Horn Island during the afternoon. According to their account, Nolan chose to remain on the island with other people after the three boats departed.
The letter stated that Warren last saw Nolan alive at approximately 3:00 p.m., socializing in the water with a young woman. Warren, Jax, and Morgan left the island at approximately 4:28 p.m., according to the attorneys.
The demand letter documented mechanical trouble involving the Triton during the return trip. At approximately 4:48 p.m., a member of the group called Sea Tow. According to the attorneys, the Triton was taking on water because of a bilge-pump problem and was eventually assisted by the Tideline.
The attorneys included photographs, location information, and a Sea Tow call record in support of their account.
According to the demand letter, by later that evening members of the group became concerned that Nolan had not returned.
At approximately 10:00 p.m., Warren called Nolan’s mother, Christine Wells, to determine whether Nolan had returned home. The attorneys stated that Warren told her Nolan had remained on Horn Island and that Nolan’s cellphone had returned to the mainland with the group.
At approximately 11:13 p.m., Warren contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and reported Nolan missing. The demand states that the call lasted more than 20 minutes and that Warren provided information concerning Nolan’s description, clothing, and last known location.
During the early morning hours of July 5, 2026, additional communications occurred with Nolan’s family and authorities. Later that morning, members of the group returned to Horn Island to search for Nolan.
Nolan’s cellphone became a major point of public speculation. The attorneys stated that Warren, Jax, and Morgan did not possess, access, alter, conceal, or delete information from Nolan’s phone.
According to the demand, the phone had remained with the group when Nolan stayed on Horn Island and was later retrieved from a vehicle by a female friend and provided to a member of Nolan’s family.
The attorneys further maintained that Warren, Jax, and Morgan provided their own phones and other information to investigators and cooperated with law enforcement.
The demand also raised Hostin’s publicly acknowledged relationship with attorney Ben Crump, whose legal team was representing the Wells family. The attorneys cited Hostin’s statements that she and Crump had known each other for more than 30 years and that her daughter was interning with Crump’s law firm during the summer.
Warren, Jax, and Morgan’s attorneys argued that the relationship created a conflict that should have been disclosed when Hostin discussed the case. That contention is the position of the attorneys who authored the demand letter.
The September 16 letter demanded that Hostin:
- Publicly apologize for the statements challenged in the letter.
- Cease publication and republication of statements the attorneys characterized as false.
- Acknowledge that the identified statements were false and defamatory.
- State that allegations of murder, hindering prosecution, and tampering with physical evidence had no evidentiary basis.
- Retract or delete publications asserting or implying that Warren, Jax, or Morgan committed a crime.
- Publish corrections through substantially the same media used for the original statements.
- Preserve documents, recordings, communications, electronic data, research, analytics, and other potential evidence in anticipation of possible litigation.
Two days after the pre-suit demand was dated, the Jackson County Grand Jury filed its report concerning the death investigation of Nolan Xavier Wells in the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Mississippi, 19th Circuit Court District.
The Grand Jury had originally been impaneled on April 20, 2026, reconvened on September 14, 2026, and adjourned on September 18, 2026.
The Grand Jury reported that after what it described as a thorough and complete investigation into Nolan Wells’ death, it unanimously returned a No True Bill with respect to the death investigation.
Twenty-five grand jurors were originally selected. Two were excused for unavoidable and urgent reasons, leaving 23 grand jurors who heard the Nolan Wells matter.
According to the report, the Grand Jury issued 132 subpoenas and heard from 43 witnesses. Seven individuals were invited to testify. Portions of the report identifying witnesses and other individuals were redacted.
The Grand Jury reported having full access to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office investigative file, including material from other law-enforcement agencies that assisted with the investigation. Evidence reviewed included:
- Witness testimony
- Physical evidence
- Digital evidence
- Investigative reports
- Interviews and recorded statements
- Images and video recordings
- Maps
- GPS and location data
- Cellphone extractions
- Responses to subpoenas
The Grand Jury reported that the District Attorney’s Office made written requests to Nolan’s family and their legal team for evidence collected through their independent investigation.
According to the report, the family’s legal team advised that its investigation had revealed no witnesses or evidence that the legal team reasonably believed contained information concerning potential criminal activity warranting referral to the District Attorney’s Office.
The Grand Jury nevertheless received material from the family’s forensic examination of Nolan’s cellphone, including a 14-page preliminary mobile-device report, a 21-page final mobile-device examination report, and a 261-page Snapchat conversation report. The Grand Jury stated that it considered those materials during its investigation.
The Grand Jury heard sworn testimony from the forensic pathologist retained by the Wells family to conduct an independent autopsy. The pathologist’s name is redacted in the publicly filed report.
According to the report, the independent pathologist received access to investigative material, visited Horn Island with law enforcement and District Attorney staff, met with Mississippi’s Chief Medical Examiner, and was allowed to examine Nolan’s retained internal neck structures and obtain additional slides for histological study.
The report states that the independent pathologist confirmed that retention of the internal neck structures was appropriate forensic practice and dispelled rumors that other organs, including Nolan’s lungs and stomach, had been retained.
The Grand Jury also found that Nolan did not have cocaine in his system at the time of his death and found no evidence suggesting that he had ever used cocaine.
Both Mississippi’s Chief Medical Examiner and the independent forensic pathologist retained by the Wells family concluded that the cause and manner of Nolan’s death were undetermined. The report states that drowning remained a diagnosis of exclusion.
There was bruising on the back of Nolan’s head, but the Grand Jury found that the injury was not fatal. The report states that there was no evidence of a fatal injury or organic disease.
A witness testified under oath that Nolan slipped awkwardly from the side of a boat at approximately 3:30 p.m. on July 4, 2026. The witness could not say whether Nolan struck his head during the fall and testified that Nolan continued socializing afterward and did not appear injured.
The Grand Jury noted that neither forensic expert had ruled out accidental drowning. It also stated that the position and condition of Nolan’s body, the time it was discovered, and its location were consistent with drowning.
The Grand Jury found that Nolan traveled with friends to Horn Island on July 4, 2026. The group traveled using three boats, the Triton, Palm Beach, and Tideline.
The Grand Jury found that Nolan chose to remain on Horn Island during the afternoon after the Triton, Palm Beach, and Tideline departed. Other individuals also remained on the island to socialize.
The Grand Jury found no credible evidence that anyone who traveled to or from Horn Island aboard the Triton, Palm Beach, or Tideline engaged in criminal conduct related to Nolan Wells’ death.
The report went further, finding that public allegations against occupants of the three boats were not based in truth and were the result of public clamor and private malice. The Grand Jury characterized public attacks against the occupants, their families, and their friends as false and unsupported by fact or evidence.
The Grand Jury obtained the original Sea Tow call made by occupants of the Triton. It found that versions and interpretations of that call circulating on the internet and social media were not accurate.
The Grand Jury independently found that the Triton experienced a bilge-pump and motor malfunction on July 4 and was actively taking on water and sinking. The Tideline towed the Triton for a short distance while water drained from the boat and a passenger manually held the motor-trim button.
The Grand Jury addressed the public speculation surrounding Nolan’s cellphone. It found that people visiting Horn Island commonly socialized between boats and that it was not unusual for personal belongings and phones to be placed aboard other boats.
Significantly, the Grand Jury found that Nolan’s phone was not the only cellphone that returned to the mainland without its owner.
The Grand Jury found that photographs from a pool party widely circulated on social media were not taken on the night of July 4. Nolan had attended a pool party on July 3, 2026, as well as one approximately a week earlier. The Grand Jury found the circulated pool-party images had no evidentiary value to the death investigation.
The Grand Jury found that Nolan purchased alcohol using a fake identification card and that no person over the age of 21 provided alcohol to Nolan or his friends on July 4.
The report also addressed claims that Nolan was the only African American person on Horn Island that day. The Grand Jury found that Nolan was not the only African American on Horn Island on July 4, 2026 and stated that contrary claims contributed to misidentification, speculation, and rumors.
The Grand Jury found that GPS data and security footage confirmed the accounts of passengers aboard the Triton, Palm Beach, and Tideline.
It also found that Nolan was not involved in a physical altercation or argument on July 4.
According to the report, the individuals who traveled to or from Horn Island aboard the three boats cooperated fully with the investigation, including providing marine GPS devices, surveillance footage, cellphones, and statements to law-enforcement officers and Nolan’s family.
The Grand Jury found that Horn Island was thoroughly searched on July 5, 2026, before Nolan’s body was discovered. The Grand Jury stated that it was confident that if Nolan’s body had been on the island during that search, it would have been discovered.
The Grand Jury described its inquiry as comprehensive and stated that it was confident in the extensive investigation conducted by federal and state law-enforcement agencies.
Although the Grand Jury unanimously returned a No True Bill, it expressly noted that Mississippi has no statute of limitations for homicide. The report states that if credible evidence emerges in the future suggesting Nolan’s death was not accidental, the matter should be presented to a Jackson County Grand Jury for further consideration.
The September 18 report did not determine a definitive cause of Nolan Wells’ death. The cause and manner remained undetermined. The Grand Jury’s disposition means that, based on the evidence presented during this investigation, it unanimously declined to issue an indictment in connection with Nolan’s death.
The complete September 18, 2026 Jackson County Grand Jury report is embedded below.
Source Documents
Jackson County Grand Jury Report, Death Investigation of Nolan Xavier Wells