**Third Arrest in Nolan Wells Case: Illinois Man Charged with Threatening Witnesses**

A third person has been charged in connection with threats linked to the investigation into the death of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells. Edward James Porter, of Berwyn, Illinois, is facing a federal criminal complaint accusing him of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce with the intent to kill or injure two witnesses in the ongoing state investigation. Authorities also connected Porter to a second address in nearby Maywood, Illinois, within a five-mile radius of his Berwyn residence. The charges mark another escalation in a series of federal cases targeting individuals accused of making violent threats against people connected to the Mississippi probe, separate from the still-unresolved questions surrounding Wells’ death itself.

According to an affidavit by Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Christopher Kloc, Porter made threats to two witnesses through phone calls and text messages on Friday, July 31, 2026. The complaint alleges that Porter told one witness he was going to “come kill” the witness and their family and claimed he possessed their home address. He then sent the witness a text message containing that address. Porter is further accused of calling a second witness and threatening to kill and injure that person. According to the complaint, he threatened to kill the witness, cut up the body, and stuff the remains into a suitcase. Investigators subpoenaed records from Boost Mobile and identified the phone number and IP address allegedly used to make the calls and send the messages. Additional digital tracing, including records from a TextFree or similar service, helped link the communications to Porter.

Porter is the third person from outside Mississippi to face federal charges for threats connected to the Wells investigation. A Sacramento, California, man, Joseph Alfredo Vasquez Dumarce, 27, was earlier charged with interstate transmission of a threatening communication after allegedly sending social-media messages to Jackson County Chancery Judge Ashlee Cole, whose son was among the friends who traveled to Horn Island with Wells. The messages allegedly included threats to kill Cole and her children and references to a package that would “blow you away.” A Cincinnati, Ohio, woman, Michelle Francine Edwards, faces similar federal charges for allegedly placing multiple bomb-threat calls to the George County Chancery Clerk’s Office and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office on July 23. Those calls, some made with caller ID blocked, prompted a lockdown and a full bomb sweep of the sheriff’s office; no explosive device was found.

The three cases illustrate the intensity of the public reaction that has surrounded the Wells investigation since the teenager’s body was recovered on July 6. Nolan Wells, a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College and a recent graduate of Ocean Springs High School, traveled by boat to Horn Island on July 4 with a group of friends. He did not return with them. His body was found on the northwestern shoreline two days later. An independent autopsy commissioned by the family classified both cause and manner of death as undetermined pending further investigation. The official state autopsy and toxicology results remain sealed and are expected to form part of the file presented to a grand jury once the Jackson County investigation is complete. No one has been charged with any crime related to Wells’ death itself.

The federal threat cases are being pursued under statutes that prohibit the interstate transmission of communications containing threats to injure or kill. Convictions can carry substantial prison time. Authorities have emphasized that the charges target only those who crossed the line from public commentary or speculation into concrete threats of violence. Mississippi Department of Public Safety officials and the FBI have previously confirmed that they are investigating a range of threatening communications directed at public officials, possible witnesses, people who were with Wells before he disappeared, and their families. Christine Wonsley, Nolan’s mother, has also reported receiving hate mail and other forms of harᴀssment.

The young men connected to the case and their relatives have described facing death threats, doxxing, and sustained online campaigns of accusation. Some have reported that the volume and severity of the threats forced them to alter daily routines or, in some instances, to go into temporary hiding. A GiveSendGo legal-defense fund launched on behalf of several of the friends has raised substantial sums intended both to defend against anticipated civil claims and to pursue potential defamation actions. Separate legal activity has also emerged on behalf of other individuals linked to the case through social-media speculation.

Law-enforcement officials have repeatedly stressed that the threat investigations are distinct from the death investigation. The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office continues to lead the inquiry into what happened on Horn Island, with ᴀssistance from state and federal partners as needed. GPS data from the boat, the Sea Tow distress-call audio, the recovered phone subject to mutual forensic inspection, original pH๏τographs and videos, and witness interviews remain under review. District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath has stated that the completed investigative file will be presented to a grand jury in accordance with standard procedure for non-natural deaths and that professional rules limit public disclosure while the inquiry is active.

The successive federal arrests for threats underscore how quickly an unresolved death can generate secondary criminal activity when intense public speculation collides with personal identification of individuals involved in the underlying events. Officials have urged the public to allow the investigation to proceed through established channels and have warned that threats of violence will be treated as serious federal crimes regardless of the opinions that motivate them. The three charged individuals—Porter in Illinois, Dumarce in California, and Edwards in Ohio—now face the federal court process on the threat allegations while the central questions about Nolan Wells’ final hours remain unanswered in the public record.

The investigation into Wells’ death continues. Until the state’s toxicology results, the full original autopsy materials, and the complete investigative file are available and tested through the appropriate legal process, definitive conclusions about the circumstances of his death remain beyond what is currently known. The federal threat cases stand as a separate demonstration that authorities are prepared to act when commentary crosses into concrete threats of harm. The loss of Nolan Wells is complete. The official work of determining what can be known about the circumstances of his death is still underway, even as parallel prosecutions address the violence that has been directed at those connected to the inquiry.