Mystery death of teen Nolan Wells had been drinking alcohol on the day he disappeared during a Fourth of July boat trip but seemed “completely fine,” a close friend who was with him has claimed.
Wells, 18, vanished during the visit with pals to Horn Island, 10 miles off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, and was found dead there two days later.
Questions have been raised about his friends following the promising college football player’s death — including why they left him behind, and why they were allegedly in possession of his phone and keys.
One of those out on the island with Wells was Warren Hudson, who exclusively told The Post Tuesday that he considered Wells his “best friend.”
In the first part of a new interview with conservative YouTuber Brandon Tatum released Wednesday, Hudson revealed new details about what happened on the day his buddy went missing.
Hudson said there may have been up to 4,000 people and “miles of boats” at the barrier island celebrating Independence Day, and, like most people in their group, Wells had been drinking.
“Everybody’s drinking, you know?” Hudson told former cop Tatum. “I mean, it’s Fourth of July, everyone’s just trying to enjoy themselves and, you know, it’s a big party, basically.”
“I talked to Nolan, and you know, Nolan was drinking. Everybody was drinking, most of everybody, and, I mean, Nolan seemed completely fine every time I talked to him.”
Hudson added that although he wasn’t “strictly” focused on talking with Wells that day because there were “hundreds of people” he knew at the island, they spoke several times and were having “just regular conversations.”
He also said that he didn’t know Wells’ parents, Christine and Elmore Wonsley, well, but that didn’t affect how “super tight” they had become since eighth grade.
“Nolan was not just a best friend of me but he was a brother,” Hudson added.
Here’s the latest on the disappearance and death of Mississippi teen Nolan Wells:
The youngster –– who said he grew up at elementary, middle and high school with Wells and spoke with him on the phone “all the time” during their freshman year in college –– is expected to address questions about how Wells became separated from his friend group in a second installment of the interview with Tatum.
Hudson’s mom, Ashlee Cole, previously said in a statement released July 7 that Wells’ pals returned to the mainland after their boat had a problem with its bilge pump.
“Nolan made a decision to stay on the island and return inland later with another group of friends,” she wrote.
Cole, a judge in Jackson County, also denied claims that her family had been trying to “hamper” the investigation and said her son had been interviewed by cops and “cooperated fully.”
The Post asked civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Wells’ family, for comment on Hudson’s claims.
