OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – Three friends of Nolan Xavier Wells have filed a defamation lawsuit in Mississippi against a TikTok creator they accuse of repeatedly claiming they murdered the 18-year-old and covered it up. Hypefresh previously reported on the discovery of Wells’ body on Horn Island and the search that followed.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour sued Sandra L. Butler on Tuesday. Butler runs the TikTok account “gods_bestgirl” and identifies herself as “Royalty.” The three men, all under 21, had their fathers file the case on their behalf under Mississippi law, according to BallerAlert.
The complaint alleges Butler told her followers the three men killed Wells aboard a boat on July 4, 2026, fled the scene, tampered with his phone and lied to conceal the crime. One post cited in the lawsuit stated, “They are guilty. They did something.” Another claimed one of the men picked Wells up and slammed him onto the boat. Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour deny any involvement. They describe Wells as a close friend they had known since middle school. The three men are seeking damages and an injunction that would bar Butler from posting about them, contacting them or disclosing their private information.
Wells, a wide receiver at Southwest Mississippi Community College and lifelong Ocean Springs resident, traveled by boat with a group of friends to Horn Island, a barrier island about 10 miles off the Mississippi Gulf Coast, on the Fourth of July. He was last seen on the island that afternoon. His body was recovered two days later, on July 6, near the island’s northwest tip by a National Park Service ranger.
A Jackson County grand jury returned a “no true bill” in September 2026 after reviewing the case. District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath announced the decision on Sept. 21. The panel issued 132 subpoenas and heard testimony from 43 witnesses. It examined physical and digital evidence, GPS records, cellphone data, videos and other materials. The grand jury found the position, condition, time of discovery and location of Wells’ body consistent with drowning, according to Sun Herald and InsideHint. It reported no credible evidence of criminal conduct by anyone who traveled to or from the island that day on the boats Triton, Palm Beach or Tideline, and no evidence the death was racially motivated.
“In addition to bringing prosecutions against the guilty, the grand jury must also exonerate those who have been falsely accused,” McIlrath said.
Mississippi’s chief medical examiner and an independent pathologist hired by the family both listed the cause and manner of death as undetermined. The grand jury noted bruising on the back of Wells’ head that was not a fatal injury and found no evidence of any fatal injury or organic disease, and no drugs ; including cocaine; in his system.
McIlrath explicitly rejected the narrative that “three white boys and a Black boy went to an island and only three white friends returned,” calling it false and stating there was “absolutely no evidence” the death was racially motivated. The grand jury report described the public allegations against the boat occupants as “not based in truth, and are solely the result of public clamor and private malice.”
The lawsuit states Butler continued posting about the three men after the grand jury’s decision, describing their account as “a story to cover their tracks” and alleging someone accessed and deleted information from Wells’ phone. The plaintiffs maintain they never possessed, accessed or altered the phone and fully cooperated with investigators.
Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour have said they and their families received thousands of death threats, face-to-face harassment and other intimidation since the death, according to BallerAlert and The Guardian. Their attorneys, Mississippi lawyer Tyler Cox and media-law attorney Edward Andrew Paltzik, have previously sent pre-suit demand letters to other public figures over similar statements and have filed a separate federal defamation suit against former NFL player Terrell Owens in Gulfport federal court on Monday.
Wells’ parents, Christine Wells-Wonsley and Elmore Wonsley, have continued to seek additional answers and have worked with civil-rights attorney Ben Crump. The grand jury report noted that the family’s own independent investigation turned up no witnesses or evidence of criminal activity.
The civil complaint against Butler remains pending. No response from Butler was immediately available.
