**🚨 “THIRD ARREST: New Witness Threat Charges Add Another Twist to the Nolan Wells Case”
Nolan Wells.
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A third person has been arrested for allegedly threatening witnesses in the investigation of Nolan Wells’ death
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Wells was found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ two days after going to Horn Island, Miss. on July 4 to celebrate with his friends
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The case has drawn national attention and heightened racial tensions as Wells was the only Black person in his group
- A third person has been arrested for allegedly threatening witnesses in Nolan Wells’ case, one month after his disappearance and death drew intense attention to the friends who were last seen with him.
Wells disappeared on Horn Island in Mississippi after celebrating July 4 with his friends, and was found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ on the northwest end of the island on July 6.
The case has fueled intense attention on Wells’ friends and their actions surrounding his disappearance, while his family has also faced online abuse.
No one has been charged in connection with Wells’ disappearance or death.
In the latest update, Edward James Porter, 40, was arrested on charges of transmitting threatening communications in interstate commerce, the Sun Herald and WXXV 25 reported on Tuesday, Aug. 4, citing court records.
According to court documents obtained by the Sun Herald and WXXV 25, Porter allegedly told a witness he would “come kill” them and their family, then sent the witness their home address to show that he knew where they lived.
Porter is the third person arrested on similar charges connected to the case.
On Thursday, July 30, Joseph Alfredo Vasquez Dumarce, a 27-year-old Sacramento, Calif., resident, was arrested on a charge of interstate transmission of threatening communication for allegedly threatening judge Judge Ashlee Cole, the stepmother of Wells’ friend Warren Hudson, who was on Horn Island with him.
Dumarce is accused of messaging Cole on Facebook, claiming he had sent her a package that “would blow you away,” investigators said, according to a USA Today report.
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Michelle Francine Edwards of Cincinnati, Ohio, has also been arrested on the same charge after allegedly calling the George County clerk’s office several times in July and making bomb threats, including saying “the clock is ticking,” according to a criminal complaint previously cited by the Sun Herald. It wasn’t immediately clear if any of them have entered pleas or retained attorneys to speak on their behalf.
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Wells’ death has drawn national scrutiny and become a flashpoint in discussions about race, as Wells was the only Black person in the group at the time of his disappearance.
Wells’ family grew concerned after learning that he had left his phone with friends and remained on the island while the rest of the group departed by boat.
Hudson previously said the phone was later returned to them.
Wells’ family members, who are represented by civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, has garnered support from prominent figures including Tyler Perry, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the Rev.
Al Sharpton.
As witnesses in the case allegedly face threats, Crump recently told NewsNation that Wells’ mother, a nurse, has also been subjected to online abuse abuse.
“Christine has been a nurse for years, and she hasn’t ever gotten negative reviews,” he told NewsNation, adding that “sick people have been going on her company’s website giving her negative reviews” since she began demanding answers about Wells.
“They are just sick, evil people who would attack this mother and this father for simply saying, ‘We want to know what happened to our child.’
Don’t worry, Christine, we are standing with you.”
No charges have been filed in connection with Wells’ death.
The official state autopsy has been completed, but its findings have not been made public or shared with his family, according to their attorney.
