PARTY TURNED NIGHTMARE: Body of missing teen Nolan Wells, 18, found on island after vanishing during July 4 celebrations
A BODY has been found during the desperate search for missing college football player Nolan Wells, who vanished over the Fourth of July weekend.
The remains were discovered on Monday morning as crews scoured the island where the teen was last seen.
Officials said the body was found on the northwest end of Horn Island, Mississippi, around 8:45 am.
Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said a park ranger made the discovery, WLOX reported.
The idenтιтy of the body has not yet been confirmed.
Authorities had been searching the island for 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells.
Wells was last seen on Saturday, July 4, at around 3 pm on the island.
A major search operation was launched after he disappeared.
Multiple agencies have been involved in the effort to find the teen.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department has been ᴀssisting in the search.
The Department of Marine Resources and Gulf Islands National Seashore have also been involved.
The US Coast Guard and United Cajun Navy joined the search as well.
First responders set up a command post at the Lake Mars Boat Launch.
The launch is located at 1200 Lake Mars Avenue in Ocean Springs.
The grim discovery came after the teen’s mom shared smiling recent pictures of her son and begged the public for any video from the island.
He is understood to have been celebrating the holiday weekend with friends before he vanished.
His mom, Christine Wonsley, had shared new pictures showing Nolan, also known as Nono, smiling on a boat with pals before the search began.
Christine said she and Nolan’s father, Elmore Wonsley, were desperate for answers.
“His father, Elmore Wonsley and I are not ok,” she wrote on Facebook.
“We have so many questions. Our hearts are breaking, we keep waiting for Nolan to walk through that door with his beautiful smile and a joke of course.
“We just pray our son is alive & safe.”
Christine asked anyone with pictures or video from the area after 4:30 pm to come forward.
“Please only PM me if you have information,” she added, ending the post with the hashtag #BringHomeNolan.
In an earlier post, the exhausted mom said she and her husband had been awake for nearly two days.
Christine described her son as “one of the sweetest and kindest souls you could ever meet.”
“This is our Nolan Wells aka Nono,” she wrote.
Nolan was last seen wearing blue swim trunks, sunglᴀsses, and no shirt.
He is described as 6-foot-1 and weighing around 180 pounds.
Christine has said her son was separated from his phone, which is now back with his family in Mississippi.
Cajun Navy Incident Commander Josh Gill told Nola.com that Nolan was last seen “hanging out with a girl.”
Well played football at Ocean Springs High School.
He is also a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College.
Officials have not released any further details about the body.
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A BODY has been found during the desperate search for missing college football player Nolan Wells, who vanished over the Fourth of July weekend. The remains were…