Jackson County Chancery Judge Ashlee Cole has broken her silence after she and her family became the target of violent threats following the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells.

Cole, whose son was one of the three teenagers who traveled with Wells to Horn Island on July 4, shared a lengthy Facebook statement along with screenshots and screen recordings showing abusive messages she said were sent to her through Instagram.

The post comes as public scrutiny surrounding Wells’ death continues to intensify. The Ocean Springs High graduate disappeared during the holiday weekend after a boating trip with friends. His body was found washed ashore near Horn Island on July 6, and investigators are still awaiting official autopsy results.

In the evidence she shared, Cole included screenshots of repeated threats from an Instagram account identified as @yaeyae962. The messages contained violent language and demands that her family provide answers about what happened to Wells.

Despite the growing backlash, Cole said her family has many of the same unanswered questions as Nolan’s loved ones.

“We also want to know what happened to Nolan,” she wrote. “We will do everything within our power to assist Nolan’s family in their quest for answers.”

Cole also explained that her family has chosen not to speak publicly through the media at this stage of the investigation.

“The media is not the appropriate forum to further elaborate on the facts of July 4, 2026,” she wrote, adding that public speculation has not stopped calls for violence against her family, including threats directed at her young children.

Instead, Cole said her family is willing to communicate directly with civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Wells-Wonsley family. According to her statement, they are prepared to share all information they have in hopes of helping Nolan’s family find answers and begin to grieve.

The Facebook statement was published one day before Nolan’s parents appeared at a press conference in Harlem alongside attorney Ben Crump and Rev. Al Sharpton, where they renewed calls for a full and transparent investigation into the teenager’s death.

Earlier in the week, Cole also posted that her family has been fully cooperating with investigators throughout the case.

During Friday’s press conference, Crump said his legal team had not yet spoken with the other young men who were on the boat with Nolan. However, he noted that because they are now represented by attorneys, his team plans to contact them soon.

Meanwhile, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter recently told ABC News that investigators currently believe Nolan may have drowned, although he emphasized that no official cause of death has been determined. The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office completed an autopsy earlier this week, but the findings have not yet been released.

The Wells family is also awaiting results from an independent autopsy conducted in Washington, D.C. Those findings were expected to be released Friday but have been delayed.

As the investigation continues, both Nolan Wells’ family and the family of one of the teens who was with him say they are searching for the same thing: clear answers about what happened on Horn Island.