A digital forensics expert who examined Nolan Wells’ phone for attorney Ben Crump’s legal team is clarifying his earlier comments about deleted Snapchat messages, saying they did not indicate that someone physically accessed the device.

Andrew Garrett, founder of Garrett Discovery, examined Wells’ phone for Crump’s legal team as part of the family’s investigation into the 18-year-old’s death. The Mississippi Free Press reported that Garrett has since clarified his comments, both before and after the September 24 news conference.

In a TikTok livestream published to YouTube the same day, Garrett explained that Snapchat allows one person in a conversation to remotely delete messages from another person’s side of the chat.

Garrett said that was what happened with some of the messages on Wells’ phone. Then, in a portion of the TikTok livestream that filmmaker Ashley Brant posted to Facebook on Sunday (September 27), Garrett said he never suggested that someone else had accessed Wells’ phone.

Garrett said Wells last unlocked his phone around 2:18 p.m. on July 4. The device remained locked until his parents received it around 3:14 a.m. the following morning, according to the Mississippi Free Press. The forensic examination did not show that someone physically accessed the phone during that period.

The clarification follows a dispute between Crump’s team and Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath over what the cellphone data showed.

BIN reported Friday (September 25) that McIlrath disputed Garrett’s initial characterization of the data, saying the activity he referenced came from other Snapchat users, not someone accessing Wells’ phone.

McIlrath also accused Crump of using the cellphone findings to suggest that someone had accessed Wells’ device when the data did not support that conclusion.

Wells’ body was found on Horn Island on July 6, two days after he went missing during a July 4 trip with friends. A Jackson County grand jury declined to bring criminal charges in his death on September 21.

Garrett’s clarification does not identify who deleted the Snapchat messages or explain why they were removed.

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