Weeks after a Mississippi football player's death, many questions loom | CNN

Nolan Wells’s death on Mississippi’s Horn Island has prompted ongoing investigations and renewed questions about what happened during a July 4 boat trip. Wells, 18 and a student-wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College, did not return with friends; his body was recovered two days later on July 6 by a National Park Service agent. Two concurrent autopsy efforts are underway: the Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on July 7 while awaiting toxicology results that can take weeks, and Jackson County Coroner Bruce Lynd said there were no immediate signs of foul play or trauma. Wells’s parents also commissioned an independent autopsy, with the body flown to Washington, DC. Some friends have faced death threats, and speculation about a potential racial motive has emerged amid photos suggesting white peers. The case matters as Horn Island is a federally protected area without facilities, where local officials say drowning victims have been reported in recent years.