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Amy Robach
This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human
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Amy Robach
Amazon Health AI presents painful thoughts I
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Amy Robach
There's no question too embarrassing for Amazon Health AI. Chat your symptoms and get virtual care 24. 7 Healthcare just got less Painful hey there folks. It is Wednesday, July 22nd and we have a breaking news update. Autopsy results for Nolan Wells were just announced. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Forbes. I say breaking news update, but we got news but not necessarily answers.
TJ Forbes
Yeah, I think we have more questions now than answers. And it's even more confusing as to what happened to 18 year old Nolan Wells on that 4th of July weekend. The family obviously wanted to have an independent forensic pathologists take a look at their son's body, independent of Mississippi State officials. Specifically so that they could feel good about the results. They had someone who they trusted to look and see what perhaps the cause of death was. Because the rush to judgment, the rudge, the rush to assume that it was an accident, that he drowned, just didn't sit well with them. And that makes a ton of sense because there are a lot of gaping holes into what happened to Nolan. Who saw him last, if he drowned, how did he get into the water? How did he go from in the pictures we see him with no shirt on and some swim trunks to being fully clothed, face down two days later in the water off the island where he was last seen? There are a lot of serious questions.
Amy Robach
So the family and their attorney let us know yesterday that this announcement would be coming. They set it for 9 o' clock in Chicago. Actually the NCAA, NAACP, excuse me, much different convention happening there now. So they had an event there to make this announcement of autopsy results. Now we should have known, Robes maybe that we weren't going to get that much given that if this would have been explosive, we would have heard about it immediately. You would, you would gather. But yes, the event did take place. The autopsy results were announced in robes. They had the, the sheets up there, they had the official report, physical report paper that you could go through point by point. And bottom line is Robes, we didn't know how he died before these autopsies. We still don't know how he died.
TJ Forbes
Yes, it is inconclusive. Basically that was the determination by a very well known and highly respected forensic pathologist. But there are some reasons why this was the second autopsy. The first autops having been done by the state medical examiner. Those results are I believe with the coroner's office right now. They have not been made public yet. But this second autopsy that was done, this pathologist was at a disadvantage because a lot of organs and a lot of tissue had already been removed in the first autopsy.
Amy Robach
Okay, well, you say a lot rhobs the vital organs for answering a very much burning question. Did he drown? Now, I didn't realize this, maybe I should have known. But they are saying nothing untoward was being done by the medical examiner and the folks down in Mississippi. But they removed so much of his vital organs for further examination in parts of his body. They said that is common. That is what's done. It's not improper. But what that means, Robes, is that the second autopsy didn't get a lot of what was needed to be tested to find out how he died.
TJ Forbes
Yeah, babe, I was confused because I thought, well, can't they determine right away if he had drowned based on his lungs and his breathing and his brain. Like, can't you tell that that is what caused death? Lack of oxygen to the brain based on water in the lungs, something like that? Obviously, I don't have a medical degree, but I'm going to go ahead and safely assume that that's pretty easy to determine. But we find out now that Nolan's body was given to this medical examiner, it traveled 800 plus miles to Washington, D.C. with no brain, no lungs, no vital organs. So what the pathologist was left to look at was were there any blunt force trauma, fractures, deep tissue injuries that he could see or point to? And the answer to all of that was no. The only thing that really stood out there was a red. How do they describe it?
Amy Robach
Discoloration.
TJ Forbes
Right, discoloration in the back of his head. But it wasn't accompanied by any fractures or any internal injuries that would make someone believe this was blunt force trauma or something like that.
Amy Robach
But Robes, so I'm scratching my head if the. If they. How quickly could this be determined? If there were there was water in his lungs, I assume something like that could have been determined quickly. If the pathologist, the medical examiner down in Mississippi had his body, has his lungs. If they knew of that determination, wouldn't they run to the first available camera, Wouldn't they run to Ben Crump when they run to his parents and say, look, guys, he drowned?
TJ Forbes
I would think so. And look, I think, look, we know that's all the family wants. They just want definitive answers. They're not saying for. For sure foul play was involved. They're not pointing the fingers at Nolan Wells's friends and saying, you must have done something. They're just saying, hey, you can't just quickly jump to this conclusion and tell everybody it was an accidental drowning without showing us that that's what happened to our son? So, yeah, that's their big question. So if Mississippi state officials have the answer, if they can already say, hey, clearly he drowned, and here's why, that would put an end to. To all of this speculation. So that's a big question. Why haven't they done that if they were able to show it through the autopsy?
Amy Robach
And that's the thing then, Robes, that leads so much to. Leads to so much speculation and guessing when there's a lack of. Excuse me, I'm not accusing anybody in Mississippi for a lack of transparency. I don't think the family necessarily is either. They've been cooperative with. With the D.A. there, but robes. Maybe they don't know either. And if that's the case, if two autopsies cannot determine how this young man died. Oh, Lord have mercy. Robes. He died somehow, some way. 18 year old kids just don't die. They just don't. Robes. And if he drowned, wouldn't that not be the first thing? I must be missing something. And apologies to the medical folks out there who are. Maybe this takes a while.
TJ Forbes
Maybe it's hard to determine drowning. I'm not sure.
Amy Robach
It's hard to determine water in lungs.
TJ Forbes
You know, I don't know the answer to that. And so this is. And so it is confusing.
Amy Robach
I.
TJ Forbes
Look, they're able to. I guess they're able to rule some things out with this independent autopsy, but they haven't been able to rule anything in. And that's the problem. So look, we've got some of the language used just to give you an idea of what this independent autopsy read. And it says this forensic pathologist identified several limitations that during the second autopsy that create barriers to establishing a definitive cause and manner of death. The second autopsy performed revealed marked decompositional changes. Marked decomposition can obscure the presence or absence of bruising on the skin surface, especially during a second autopsy examination. So there were already limitations just for the time that had passed.
Amy Robach
Yeah, but because of what they just mentioned there, that some bruising and things wouldn't be available. They said they took it a step further than the first autopsy did because they then looked for possible fractures, possible other injuries and blunt force to his body. Robes. Nothing. Yes, they found nothing.
TJ Forbes
It says there were no fractures or deep tissue injuries identified, but there's.
Amy Robach
They go through the actual autopsy in a list where they list different parts. The posterior head dissection, no fractures. Posterior neck, no fractures, no evidence of deep tissue injury. The ribs, no fracture, no evidence of deep tissue injury. Pelvic dissection, no fracture, no ev. It goes through every single body part and it says the same thing. No fracture, no evidence of deep tissue injury. There is physically nothing wrong with him from the outside. Nothing struck him. He didn't run into something, didn't hit his head on a rock. He wasn't shot, he wasn't stabbed. He was. What?
TJ Forbes
We know that much. However, and this is the thing that's a little interesting. It's a lot interesting. The autopsy says that the dissection of the back of Nolan's head revealed a 12 by 8. I'm trying to get my head around that. A 12 by 8 inch focal area of red discoloration in the Deep soft tissues overlying the occipital bone. They said the finding is unclear, but there are no lacerations of the overlying skin nor fractures of the underlying skull. But this finding, they say, however, is significant enough to be highlighted in this preliminary report for further investigation.
Amy Robach
Have no idea what that could possibly mean. They want to look into it further. Who. If he doesn't. If the pathologist doesn't do so, I don't know what the next step or what the next thing is. Robes, it sounds like the first autopsy is critical to get the results of.
TJ Forbes
Absolutely. And the other thing that's really glaring about what we learned. And again, this will point back to the first autopsy. We need to know they didn't get the neck. It says that the posterior neck dissection performed without review of the anterior neck structure is incomplete. So basically, this pathologist could not rule out injury to the neck as a contributor or cause of death. And when you can't rule something out, you can't say how someone died.
Amy Robach
So you can't also rule out drowning. You can't rule out heart disease. You can't rule out a brain aneurysm. I mean, Robes, all these things were gone. So I didn't know this going in. And I'm pretty sure. Robes. This wasn't talked about. No. A lot that. Okay, we're going to have this second autopsy, but just want you to know they're going to be some limitations because of blank, blank, blank. I thought they were going to be able to do the exact same work that the medical examiner was able to do. They weren't at all.
TJ Forbes
So did I. It specifically says this is the wording. The most significant of the limitations was the inability to directly observe the airway and lungs for water and directly observe the stomach for gastric contents. In addition, original toxicology results have not been received at the time of this report. So, yeah, they could not determine what we thought they were going to be able to determine.
Amy Robach
I don't know what the procedure is. On something like this is the family. The family's attorney not simply allowed to ask. Right. Is a medical examiner. And I know there are different rules in different places about what medical examiners are able to release publicly. I just. This is a weird one here right now. Robes, for why we don't have that answer when it seems like this question is answerable. Was there water in his lungs?
TJ Forbes
Yes. And the pathologist put this note in the autopsy that that information is especially important for deaths of persons who can swim, as is the case with Nolan Wells, he was described as a strong swimmer, an elite athlete. And so they said because they don't know the condition he was in, conscious, unconscious, forced or unforced before entering the water. So all of these things that they would need to answer so many questions, they weren't actually provided with. They didn't have the ability to dissect, to learn from. They just weren't there. When you have missing organs, you can't do an autopsy.
Amy Robach
And Robes, I just. The lungs. The lungs. Maybe they don't know Robes. Maybe Mississippi doesn't know how he died. Maybe they haven't figured it out yet. Maybe they need the toxicology or do they just not release? Do they have a rule that they don't release until we get all the information, including toxicology? Maybe that's possible. They're just following law or following rules down there.
TJ Forbes
Perhaps that's what they're doing. Because, yes, obviously this autopsy took place after the original autopsy and we already have the results from the independent one. So, yeah, from that perspective, why wouldn't we have the results from the original autopsy?
Amy Robach
Maybe it's toxicology, babe, but this is one of those things, just transparency. Just put out what you got. This is just an extraordinary case. And I can't believe Robes, they know he drowned. They wouldn't run out and tell the public immediately and show the findings. Here is the pathologist. Listen to him. But as all of this is going on, we also got word a short time ago that the reward for information about his death has gone up. Stay here.
TJ Forbes
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TJ Forbes
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Amy Robach
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TJ Forbes
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Amy Robach
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TJ Forbes
If you're looking for your next listen, this is a great place to start.
Amy Robach
Listen to Hearsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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TJ Forbes
Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ where we are just getting word about the results from that independent autopsy conducted on 18 year old Nolan Wells. And unfortunately, there are not a lot of answers. There's just more questions. And right now the attorney for Nolan Wells family is saying that they are hopeful that the folks down in Mississippi who conducted that original autopsy will actually provide their forensic pathologist with photos of the organs they removed. Because without the lungs, the stomach, the brain, areas of the throat, this forensic pathologist couldn't determine cause of death, couldn't rule out a lot of other possibilities. And so, yes, the results are inconclusive, namely because they didn't have Nolan's entire body to work with.
Amy Robach
Just tell me about the lungs. Can you please tell us about the lungs? Robeson, as all this is going on, you mentioned a short time ago and it's not. The family hasn't come out. The mom and the dad, we heard them plenty, Robe. They just wanted answers and it was just too quick to say, ah, he just drowned initially. And we understand. And this case has become, and the story has become what it was, what it is nationally, we still don't know. But robes, a reward is being offered. $125,000. Now, 50 of that came from Al Sharpton's national action network. Another 50 was matched immediately by Tyler Perry and Now Terrell Owens, NFL hall of Famer. Let's put up another 25,000. But robes, what they're. They're saying that money is for something in particular that even no matter how much we can say, and that the family saying, we are not pointing fingers and saying there is a criminal out there. We're not saying that. We just want answers. The family is saying that Rose, the language and what they're asking for with the reward puts a message out there that there was a crime and we're looking for the criminals.
TJ Forbes
That's right, because this one hunt now, $125,000 reward is for anyone who provides a tip that leads to an arrest and a conviction in this case, which as you just pointed out, would imply that a crime has been committed. And look, I think it's important to note based on what we didn't get or just the inconclusive result of this independent autopsy. Ben Crump put it like this. They can't rule out foul play. Their independent forensic pathologist, who is a renowned pathologist, bottom line, could not rule out foul play. And so that is what the family needs to hear. Was this an accident or did someone cause Nolan Wells death? And that is the answer we still don't have. And so yes, more information from folks who were there. I mean there were up to 200 people partying on that island, I believe police have said. And the FBI is involved in this as well because it involves a national park. This barrier island that they were on, Horn island off the coast of Mississippi is a, isn't is federal land, basically. So the FBI is involved in this investigation as well. I believe they say They've interviewed about 40 people so far. But you have just dozens and dozens and dozens of folks who may have seen, may have heard. And the fact that we don't have a definitive answer as to where he last was seen and how he entered the water, that's curious and suspicious. Yes, there are, there's just a. Either a vacuum of information or we're just not being told the information that investigators have been able to put together.
Amy Robach
Answers pending results. Pending. But we don't know. We don't have any expectation really. They've been given no timeline of when we might get the results from Mississippi, the official medical examiner with the autopsy results. But that is going to be oh so closely watched. Yes, we are waiting to see. We always appreciate you. We just wanted to hop on here and give you that update just as it came down just minutes ago of this recording, but inconclusive. The autopsy results for Nolan Wells. Wells, appreciate you spending some time with us. I'm tj. On behalf of my dear Amy Robach. We'll talk to you all soon.
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TJ Forbes
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Podcast: Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Episode: BREAKING: Nolan Wells’ Independent Autopsy Released, Raising Even More Questions
Date: July 22, 2026
Hosts: Amy Robach and T.J. Forbes
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts
This episode is an urgent update centered on the breaking news: the independent autopsy results for 18-year-old Nolan Wells have been released. Nolan’s mysterious death over the July 4th weekend on a Mississippi barrier island has garnered national attention. Despite hopes that the second, independent autopsy would provide clarity, it has instead created more confusion, leaving the cause of death inconclusive and raising further questions about transparency, procedure, and possible foul play.
Limitations:
Key Medical Findings:
Crucially, the autopsy could not determine:
Despite the hopes pinned on the independent autopsy, the mystery of Nolan Wells’ death deepens: critical organs were missing, no major injuries found, and neither drowning nor foul play can be ruled in or out. With the investigation ongoing, public speculation mounting, and a significant reward on the table, the case remains open and unresolved, much to the distress of Nolan’s family and community.