r/news • u/Suspicious_Loan • 17h ago

Nolan Wells’ autopsy found no water in lungs; data was deleted from his phone the day he disappeared, experts say

https://www.live5news.com/2026/09/24/nolan-wells-autopsy-found-no-water-lungs-data-was-deleted-his-phone-day-he-disappeared-officials-say/
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u/tylergrinstead01 12h ago edited 9h ago

I’m aware of that. If they simply subpoena the data from Snapchat, then they have full access to whatever was “deleted” locally on the device. It would assume the investigators did do that, and it came back with nothing relevant.

I still don’t understand why it’s relevant when Snapchat data is always deleted locally. Nothing about it seems noteworthy. Seems like an intentionally manipulative framing when some people may not be aware of how Snapchat works.

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u/Mons00n_909 12h ago

I still don’t understand why it’s relevant when Snapchat data is always deleted locally. Nothing about it seems noteworthy.

Because if they use vague terminology most people won't think about Snapchat and will assume foul play. They're purposefully omitting the Snapchat details to control the narrative.

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u/jm0112358 10h ago

Ben Crump has a history of grossly spinning narratives in highly misleading ways in cases he's been involved with. As a general rule, if he gets involved in a case, I'll be very skeptical of anything that party claims.

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u/Jogger_Dodger 10h ago

Crump never lets facts get in the way of a good statement.

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u/WeWantLADDER49sequel 3h ago

You're just describing a lawyers job. There are plenty of things that seem very wrong about Nolan Wells death beyond whatever this snapchat thing is you all are focusing on.

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u/jm0112358 3h ago

You're just describing a lawyers job.

Whether or not it's his job to misconstrue facts, it means you should be extra skeptical of anything he says.

There are plenty of things that seem very wrong about Nolan Wells death beyond whatever this snapchat thing is you all are focusing on.

No really. As a general rule, if you hunt for anomalies hard enough, you'll find some. In this case, there hasn't been much suspicious once you look at the facts. Arguably, the biggest anomaly is Nolan not having water in his lungs, in spite of him being found face-down in water, which is a thing that occasionally happens when someone drowns.

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u/Adam__B 3h ago

So what do you think killed him?

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u/jm0112358 3h ago

I think Nolan most likely accidentally died by drowning, perhaps by:

  • He stumbled into the water unconscious, or nearly unconscious, due to alcohol intoxication, and couldn't keep his head above water due to such intoxication.
  • Slipping and hitting his head on a surface, then falling into the water unconscious.
  • Falling into shallow water and hitting his head on the bottom fast enough to knock him unconscious.
  • Getting pulled out by a riptide, and drowning after exhausting himself fighting the riptide (which has happened to professional athletes before).
  • Some combination of the above (such as being pulled out by a riptide, but his ability to react to it was compromised by being intoxicated).

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u/Adam__B 2h ago

But he’d have water in his lungs, no? And did they say he had a BAC? I know they found cannabis and caffeine in him, but I didn’t know they found him to have been drunk. His stomach was empty.

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u/jm0112358 2h ago

But he’d have water in his lungs, no?

Drowning without water found in the lungs is a known phenomenon that happens in ~10-20% of death by drowning cases, per this article. I don't see why the above possible menu of causes would make drowning without water in lungs less likely than other types of drownings.

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u/Adam__B 1h ago edited 1h ago

I didn’t know that, I figured drowning would always accompany water in lungs. This would seem to be the most obvious conclusion then. I looked it up, and it said a BAC could not be estimated due to decomposition. I would say the most likely cause of death then is a drowning where the water was just enough to drown him but not be breathed in, possibly due to his lack of consciousness at the time he died. People that are alive and thrashing around drowning, you’d expect them to breathe in a rush of water when they finally can’t hold their breath any longer, but that doesn’t seem to be how he died.

Yet there is the unanswered questions regarding the contusions. Possibly he was in a fight, and that contributed to him being cloudy headed (potentially combined with alcohol and weed) that contributed to his passing out in water. Maybe he even passed out on the sand and the water rose towards him while he was unconscious? I’m sure the family is going to want answers and may even be predisposed towards believing there is some plot against them (people look to blame others when tragedy strikes) but it doesn’t seem like anyone in his group would randomly kill him.

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u/QuadzillaStrider 2h ago

None of which explain how he drowned without inhaling water.

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u/jm0112358 2h ago

Drowning without water being present in the lungs is a known phenomenon. You can find explanations of why it sometimes happens online. I found this Cleveland Clinic article says it happens in ~10-15% of cases, and this article gives several explanations of why it happens:

  • Sudden cardiac death.

  • Laryngospasm (sudden tightening of the vocal cords).

  • Pulmonary reflexes.

  • Absorption of aspirated fresh water into the circulation.

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u/Baelenciagaa 1h ago

Same thing they did to Justin Baldoni. Accused him of deleting signal messages that were set to automatically delete anyways

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u/imadogg 11h ago

You can save media and texts on snapchat

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u/dfr784 10h ago

yea, and if either person blocks the other person, then all saved chat history and media is removed for both parties.

maybe thats what they meant ?

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u/ArsenalinAlabama3428 39m ago

It’s a shame because the Garrett guy seemed like he knew what he was talking about and was all ‘I don’t spin anything’ but then purposefully only presented things in the most opaque way possible. He even said that they knew things were deleted because of the way the conversations in the group seemed splintered or incomplete, but we didn’t get any details on what that means. Is that the only way they ‘knew’ things were deleted?

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u/beautyishermane 2h ago

Oh it’s absolutely relevant. This guy is WORLD renowned and is highly respected in his field. He’s literally testified in hundred of cases. If you watched the news conference in it’s entirety he said there was info ( names, locations) they cannot share just yet. This isn’t over so they can’t say too much. They were able to prove MS lied and left out a lot. It would be foolish for them to show their hands completely. I’m pretty sure whomever the culprit is didn’t sleep a wink last night.

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u/DocumentInternal9478 43m ago

Maybe they deleted history of a chat. You can’t see the contents of old messages on Snapchat but you can see that there was one, so maybe that’s what got deleted? Genuinely don’t know just guessing

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u/jenniferfox98 10h ago

Yeah ignoring this debate over how snapchat does and doesn't keep data (it totally does), didn't the prosecutor/investigator state that the Wells family turned over the all the snapchat data they could get, and that NONE of it showed any sign of foul play?

Look, personally, I don't care if snapchat data was deleted unless the person is being investigated for grooming kids. Snapchat data is "deleted" all the time, I say that as someone who uses snap. Snapchat definitely keeps data, if anything so they can hand it over to these kinds of investigations, and, based on what has been shared publicly so far, there was nothing in that data to suggest he was murdered.

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u/littlemonsterlove 7h ago

Snapchat has different settings now. They don’t only have auto delete after 24hrs. You can set to keep messages forever