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Source article Tier B

Sheriff Investigating Nolan Wells Case Asks for Evidence to Move Forward

ABC News, two separate articles: "Body found believed to be missing Mississippi 18-year-old: 'Absolutely devastated,'" July 2026 (story?id=134544120); and "Nolan Wells' family has 'respectful' meeting with DA," July 2026 (story?id=134732890).

Custody docket

Record
abc-news-nolan-wells-sheriff-statements-2026
Type
article
Trust tier
B
Status
published

Sources are graded A (primary) / B (secondary academic) / C (secondary journalism) / D (tertiary or contested). See the manifesto’s Evidence Standard for full criteria.

Source for two SEPARATE Sheriff John Ledbetter statements, from two separate ABC News articles — do not splice into one quote: (1) “There’s no information that we have right now that would lead us to believe that a crime has occurred” (story?id=134544120, ~July 6-7), and (2), on a different occasion, “Nolan Wells’ family deserves a thorough and factual investigation, and that’s exactly what they’re going to get” (story?id=134732890, July 15). Also source (second article) for Ben Crump’s on-record statement that the family’s phone came back with messages deleted — ABC’s own reported speech, not a direct Crump quotation; do not render in quotation marks as his exact words.

Corrected 2026-07-28 (approval-brief): this record previously carried only the second URL. Both are needed since each backs a distinct verbatim quotation.

Provenance

Creator
ABC News
Published
2026
Accessed
2026-07-28

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