Nolan Wells (Law&Crime/YouTube).
Three people from different parts of the United States have been charged with making threats to judges and witnesses who are involved with the case of Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells.
Charges were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi against Edward James Porter of Illinois, Michelle Francine Edwards of Ohio, and Joseph Alfredo Vasquez Dumarce of California in connection with threats they allegedly made to a judge, the family of a witness, and law enforcement in Mississippi. All the alleged targets are involved in the death investigation of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, the high school athlete who went missing on July 4 after a boat trip with friends and was later found dead.
According to the criminal complaints reviewed by Law&Crime, the three suspects made the alleged threats over the phone and online, including bomb threats to the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, which has been investigating Wells' death.
Authorities said Porter made phone calls and sent text messages to a witness in the Wells investigation in which he threatened to "come and kill" the witness and their family, adding that he had their home address. Porter then allegedly texted the witness the address. According to the complaint, Porter made a similar threat to a second witness and told them he was planning to "cut up" the witness and put them "in a suitcase."
Porter allegedly told the first witness on July 31 that he was outside their house. Law enforcement said they tracked Porter's phone to his own home in Berwyn, Illinois, on that day.
A family attorney for 21-year-old Bart Edminston Jr., who was an acquaintance of Wells and helped when the boat he and his friends were aboard took on water, told The Associated Press that some of Porter's alleged threats were directed at Edminston.
Edwards allegedly called in a bomb threat to the George County Chancery Clerk's Office in Lucedale, Mississippi, on July 23 from a blocked phone number. According to the complaint, Edwards told the recipient of the call, "Do not go outside," "the clock is ticking," and "die."
The same day, Edwards allegedly called the Jackson County Sheriff's Office using *67 to block her phone number. According to the complaint, she told the person who answered the phone, "[Y]'all got a bomb outside, don't come outside, b—." She allegedly called back to ask, "[Y]'all still in there?"
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Dumarce allegedly contacted Jackson County Chancery Court Judge Ashlee Cole, who posted on Facebook about the threats and her connection with the Wells family. Her son was with Wells the day he went missing and was cooperating with the investigation. She said her son "loved Nolan dearly." Cole said she deactivated her Facebook account out of fear for her family's safety.
The complaint included screenshots of the messages Dumarce allegedly sent to Cole, which read, "There will be a package coming to your guys office [sic] in the next few days. It's gonna blow you away when you see it lol. [P]robably best to have the boys there to see it as well." Dumarce then allegedly added, "Blood… So much blood everywhere… Hard to clean… But yours will be quick I promise…"
Wells was found dead on July 6, two days after he was last seen with his friends on July 4 on Horn Island off the Mississippi coast. According to authorities, Nolan's friends returned from the island without him — but they did have his phone. Nolan's friends told police that he stayed behind to talk to a girl.
The investigation into Wells' death is ongoing.
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