Nolan Wells vanished on a Mississippi island. His case joins a troubling list of suspicious Black deaths

A nationally covered search for a missing Mississippi Black teen ended in tragedy when authorities found the body of Nolan Wells near Horn Island. But amid broad speculation about how the college freshman ended up dead after a boating trip with white peers in the Deep South, activists are asking whether, in the eyes of American justice, Black lives still matter.Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter on Monday, July 6, confirmed Wells’s body had been found and identified by family, as reported by Mississippi news station WLOX. Horn Island, part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, sits several miles off the Mississippi coast near Pascagoula and Ocean Springs and is reachable only by boat. The news came two days after Wells’s mother called police to report he had not come home after traveling to Horn Island with a group of friends on a boat to celebrate Independence Day. The three other young men on the boat returned to port but had not come back with Wells.Ledbetter’s office quickly said there was no foul play. “There's no information that we have right now that would lead us to believe that a crime has occurred," he told Good Morning America.But that statement came after Ledbetter characterized Wells's failure to return from the island as a choice. “From what we understand, he chose to stay there," Ledbetter said.A timeline published by WLOX shows a press release about the missing teen did not go out until 12:31 p.m. on Sunday, more than 12 hours after family first reported him missing. That came minutes after the Sheriff’s Office's first request for assistance from the Coast Guard was received. Multiple agencies participated in a search before the body was ultimately found by a U.S. Park Ranger.Questions have also focused on the other young people who were with Wells before he disappeared. The Associated Press reported that Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating with investigators. Ledbetter told the outlet that, based on what investigators h