Warren interview Part 3 | Nolan Wells Case

0:00 Tatum All right. So I want I want to be clear with this one thing–

0:03 Warren Mhmm.

0:03 Tatum –because I know you mentioned before. Is there any chance or any knowledge that you have that anybody deleted stuff from his phone?

0:13 Warren I mean Nolan was like a brother to me. Nolan lit up every room he walked in. Fourth of July everybody was out there. Nolan rode out on the Triton and then we had a Palm Beach 18 Palm Beach. There was four guys on that, rest of the group which was prob–Ranged from maybe 10 to 15 or 16 people on my buddy's Tideline.

0:31 Tatum Yeah. So y'all y'all pretty much having a good time and then you guys get ready to leave–

0:37 Warren Mhmm.

0:37 Tatum –prematurely.

0:38 Warren Right.

0:38 Tatum And like what–Explain that because you guys got there around 10:00.

0:41 Warren Yeah.

0:41 Tatum It's now 4:30.

0:43 Warren Right.

0:43 Tatum People are still out there partying–

0:45 Warren Of course.

0:45 Tatum –and they're having a good time but something happened to where it it it necessitated you guys–

0:51 Warren Yeah.

0:51 Tatum –to get the boat up and running. Can you explain that?

0:53 Warren Yeah. So um I looked over I had a girl come up to me and say hey your brother just got in a fight and obviously I have a younger brother and that's who she was talking about. And I was freaked out. So I walked over to the beach and I didn't walk over I ran over I made a B-line. I didn't talk to anybody. Put my drink down and walked over there. And my brother was kind of angry and you know there was a lot going on but someone was getting pulled away I don't know who it was and my brother was like oh I just got in a fight and this guy punched me in the face and I punched him right back and then went to the ground and my brother put him in an armbar and–

1:38 Tatum Was Nolan involved in any of this?

1:40 Warren Absolutely not. When I was over there it was a bunch of younger guys like my brother's age and and I mean Nolan I never saw Nolan over there. Absolutely not.

1:49 Tatum Okay.

1:50 Warren And uh, but, okay sorry I just lost my train of thought.

1:56 Tatum No no. So you get, so you, you, you get ready to go. There's a, there's an issue with the boat–

2:01 Warren Okay. Yeah yeah.

2:02 Tatum And this this is when–What.

2:03 Warren This led up to that that’s why I said that.

2:04 Tatum So the fight happened–

2:06 Warren Yeah.

2:06 Tatum –with your brother or a little scuffle.

2:07 Warren Uh-huh.

2:07 Tatum You know you–I'm assuming that it was cleared up.

2:10 Warren Right.

2:10 Tatum You got your brother out of that–

2:12 Warren Right.

2:12 Tatum –situation and then how did you find out that this boat is is sinking?

2:17 Warren Well I walk over I walk back over and like we're probably around each other for a little bit. I mean you know I wasn't just I wasn't thinking anything of it. I told my brother I pulled my brother off the beach and I was just like listen get in the water, hang out with us, calm down. I mean he was calm but I didn't want anything else to happen you know. And so once I got back over to the boat I got on the Triton and the Triton had probably about 6 inches of water up to the transom and I was freaked out cuz I'm good friends with Wyatt and that was his boat. And you know no water's coming out, no access waters coming out and you know it was a big issue cuz I think the reason was was because there were so many people getting on and off the boat and at some point the boat was very very crowded and there was just a lot of people on so that it drags water in and eventually I think over time we were out there for a couple hours, the boat just started filling up with water. So I I popped the the starboard side hatch of the battery, the battery was completely underwater–

3:27 Tatum Huh.

3:27 Warren –and so the motor wouldn't trim down. I mean my buddy would go to trim it down from the console and it trimmed down and then it come right back up. And so Wyatt's trying to throw a rear anchor so we're caught and he's you know yelling at people. Everybody's kind of freaking out and eventually I'm like yelling at other people trying to tell them you know calm down like you know we're, the boat could possibly sink you know and I'm not paying attention to everyone around me. I was paying attention to my buddy's boat and that's what all my other friends that were on that boat were doing trying to solve the problem.

4:01 Tatum So you're on the boat now. The water is getting up to the point where the boat may be disabled to where you couldn't get it out–

4:08 Warren Correct.

4:08 Tatum –from Horn–

4:09 Warren Correct.

4:09 Tatum Horn Island. So what what happens after that?

4:12 Warren Wyatt jumps in the water tries to throw a rear anchor and my buddy Burr–You're sitting looking trying to pull trash out the bilge. And the bilge is basically a pump that pulls your wa–The water, the excess water out the boat. So the bilge was failing to work so any excess water was just sitting in the boat. It wasn't getting pumped out. And I looked over the gunnel and I looked at the release hole for the bilge and it was even with the water.

4:45 Tatum Hmm.

4:45 Warren So I mean we're all freaking out. All of our you know we're not focused on anything else other than the boat. Well then eventually my buddy Bart on the Tideline is like I'm going to pull y'all out to where we're out of all this you know all this chaos because we left at 4:30 and there was still just as many people there if not more than when we got there. I mean probably around the same amount. I mean it was crazy. Like there was a lot of people. And I mean eventually Bart pulls us out. You know we left at 4:30 but we really weren't pulled out away from everybody. We were probably about a quarter mile out and we had the towing strap pulled from you know Bart's port side cleat or starboard side cleat and he was on our starboard side bow and so he was rubbing on his power pole. So Bart turned around pulled up next to our boat and we were just trying to get it situated. So that's when Wyatt called Sea Tow and Wyatt was like you know calls him cuz the cell service isn't great at the island but once you I mean you can use your phone but stuff might not send and like I mean it's not it's not great. You know you got maybe one bar it don't it won't work that well. But once you get a little off the island you have cell cell coverage. And even on the island like I called my mom when we were on the island you know it was fine. Like we had we had you know enough cell coverage to make a phone call or shoot a text over but you're not you don't have enough cell coverage to like send a picture for example. So Wy–

6:20 Tatum So I want to, I want to go back.

6:22 Warren Yeah yeah.

6:23 Tatum So I want to, I want to touch on that real quick because the phone thing came up at some point.

6:28 Warren Uh-huh.

6:28 Tatum And so was it–When you guys got off the boat–

6:33 Warren Yeah.

6:33 Tatum I mean were people taking their phones off the boat? Or is that, is that not typical? Because I know that Nolan's phone was left on the boat–

6:44 Warren Rightz

6:44 Tatum –even though you know even after you guys had left. So can you explain that because I think people need to understand this a little clearer.

6:52 Warren Yes.

6:52 Tatum Was it typical for people to have their phones left on boats–

6:55 Warren Of course.

6:55 Tatum –or did they keep their phones in the water?

6:57 Warren I mean everybody kind of goes out to the island to get away from you know their phones and everything else. I know I got on the boat to get away from you know just the regular world. And no when you're waist deep in water no one's carrying their phone in their hand. Especially at Horn Island. The water was has–It has been very very murky because of the rain. And when you–It's, it's just very risky if you're going to have your phone in the water you know some people might for a couple minutes and like maybe taking some pictures of each other. You know I know a lot of girls like to take pictures in the water at Horn Island you know guys do too you know like people like to take pictures and but a lot of the pictures you see are on the boat for a reason. And so no I mean if someone is on their phone in the water they're using it real quick and then putting it right back on the boat. We were all waist deep in water. No one's sitting there scrolling on their phone. I never saw that once. And I've never seen that once and I've been out the island my whole life. I mean that's just not something people do. People aren't on their phones. And if and everybody has their phone yes but it's always on the boat. No one's getting off the boat with their phone.

8:10 Tatum And so you get you guys get ready to leave out of there–

8:12 Warren Mhmm.

8:13 Tatum –getting towed out.

8:13 Warren Yeah.

8:14 Tatum And then where is Nolan in this situation?

8:18 Warren Well Nolan was–The last time I saw Nolan was three o'clock. And Nolan was cradling a girl in his arms. Katie you know Katie. And Katie–Nolan was sitting there and the last time I saw him I looked at Nolan and Nolan was like shaking his head laughing and I was like dude you crazy. I was like just joking with him. And but anyway Nolan that was the last time I laid eyes on him. But when we were leaving obviously no one is getting left at the island that came with us unless they demanded to you know be there and asked you know. This is a very common thing at at Horn Island when you're out there. A lot of people ride out there with someone and in with somebody else all the time. I've done that a hundred times. You know it's a very common thing. But Nolan was sitting by the boat with that Katie girl and my buddy yelled at you know yelled for Nolan. Nolan get, get on the boat, we're leaving, the boat's about–The boat's having issues. And like no he didn't say that but he was panicking. Nolan get the F on the boat, get on the boat. And Nolan said no I'm staying out here, I'm going to ride in with somebody else. And it's not uncommon to hear but it's not like my buddy asked him one time. My buddy asked Nolan multiple times to get on the boat. Nolan get on the boat, get on the boat, we're leaving, if you're coming you’ve gotta come now. And Nolan made a decision to stay out on the island. And like he said you know–

9:52 Tatum How many people heard that? Were there just a few or–

9:56 Warren A least five to I mean everyone that was on our boat right there cuz the Palm Beach had already left. My buddy went ahead and went home on the Palm Beach and four, three guys on the way back and Nolan, no–Nolan wasn't the only person to ride out there with us and in with somebody else. I mean we had multiple people in our group that rode out with us and rode in on someone else's boat. And that like like I said that's not an uncommon thing to do you know I mean a lot of people do that. I can name probably 50 people out there that day that ran out with somebody and ran back in with somebody else. So I mean it's not like it's an uncommon thing but it's not like we just left him there–

10:33 Tatum Yeah.

10:33 Warren –or my friends just left him there. Nolan made a decision to stay on the island after my friends asked him multiple times and told him to get on the boat and he decided to stay.

10:42 Tatum And I heard the girl that he was with Katie–

10:45 Warren Uh-huh.

10:46 Tatum –had text somebody.

10:47 Warren Yeah.

10:48 Tatum –that she heard people yelling–

10:52 Warren Correct.

10:52 Tatum –for Nolan to get on. Is that true?

10:54 Warren Yeah yeah. And I have a picture of that. She texted my buddy and the next day everybody was panicking and everybody's texting Katie you know because she was obviously seen with Nolan the whole day at the island. Katie sent a message to my buddy the next day and said you know this is the last time I saw him you know he's really sweet but she also mentioned that the last time she saw Nolan was when my buddy was yelling at him to get on the boat and she was right there to see that Nolan decided not to.

11:23 Tatum Yeah. So you guys get in the boat you start to get towed in–

11:29 Warren Mhmm.

11:29 Tatum –and you make it back. Now explain how did you get to the point where you concern–You were concerned about Nolan because obviously you said hey Nolan y'all need to or somebody not you–

11:41 Warren When did I get to that point?

11:41 Tatum You you guys had made mentioned Nolan need to get on a boat.

11:43 Warren Yeah.

11:43 Tatum He didn't.

11:44 Warren Yeah.

11:44 Tatum You guys get back to wherever you're going.

11:46 Warren Right.

11:49 Tatum Explain that. Did you guys go back to somebody's house like–

11:50 Warren Right.

11:51 Tatum –or you guys like, like what happened there? And then when did you feel like wait a minute where's Nolan?

11:58 Warren Right. Okay. Well running in was very chaotic. I mean Nolan chose to stay on the island so my focus wasn't on any anything else other than the boat you know cuz if if the boat doesn't get in then no one gets in you know I I don't want to sink out there on my buddy's boat and no one does. But my buddy Wyatt jumped out and pulled the plug on the boat once we kind of got out there cuz he got the motor to trim down and the motor trimmed down. My buddy Wyatt pulled the plug and we planed off. We moved all the weight to the front of the boat so we could plane off and um eventually we planed off and the boat was running. So when you're when you're planed off and you have water in the boat and you're hauling you know you're going we're going pretty fast. We're going probably 40 42 mph and so all that excess water that was built up in the boat is coming out of the boat. So I mean that's what we had to do. So we ran into Fort Bayou and we didn't just run straight to my buddy's grandparents house. We ran into Fort Bayou. A couple of us jumped in the water and Wyatt like the whole reason for the stop was to so Wyatt could hop in and put the put the plug back in the boat. So then after that we went and docked it and I went back to my buddy's house and we ate and you know napped for a little bit. It was a long day at the island so you know we were all tired and eventually we go over to a you know a girlfriend of mine. She, she was having people over for Fourth of July. We were doing like fireworks and stuff. So we all went over there to swim and you know hang out. And I was—

13:32 Tatum This infamous picture–

13:34 Warren Mhmm.

13:34 Tatum –that I've seen online of Nolan in the water in the swimming pool.

13:37 Warren Yeah.

13:39 Tatum Where is this picture associated with? Cuz you you said you guys went back to swim amd Nolan wasn't with you–

13:44 Warren Yeah.

13:44 Tatum –so where is this picture at?

13:46 Warren Right right.

13:46 Tatum Like what is what's the context around the picture that's been floating–

13:47 Warren Right.

13:47 Tatum –around.

13:48 Warren That picture is taken on June 27th a week before the 4th of July. We all went to a friend of ours in Pass Christian. We have a lot of friends from Bay St. Louis Pass Christian. We all went over there to hang out and you know and–

14:01 Tatum Nolan was in that picture.

14:02 Warren Nolan was in that picture and if you look in the picture my arm is around Nolan in that picture you know and I mean that was a week before the 4th of July. So that that picture is not associated within even the same I mean that was like a week before. So yeah.

14:19 Tatum So you guys are now at at swimming and having a good time at your–

14:25 Warren Mhmm.

14:25 Tatum –at a a lady friend's house–

14:27 Warren Right. I I never got to the pool. I talked to her dad for a while–

14:32 Tatum Okay.

14:32 Warren –and I mean all my friends were downstairs. I went upstairs, talked to her dad. We're talking about boats and stuff and you know I wasn't I mean I've been with my friends all day. I was just talking to everybody but–

14:41 Tatum So you talked to the young lady's dad–

14:43 Warren Mhmm.

14:43 Tatum –and then then how long was it before you realized or you guys realized that where's Nolan at?

14:50 Warren I mean we were–When went back downstairs and all my friends were just hanging out and I I my buddy Wyatt had addressed you know, you know talking about Nolan and I was like well where is Nolan have y'all heard from him? And he was like no we haven't. And I was like okay well you know it's a little concerning like I mean I'm not, I'm not freaking out or anything but like I'm trying to find out where Nolan is. So I texted Jayvon and I was like hey and and also a couple other buddies that I had at the island. I was like hey did he–Have y'all seen Nolan, did he ride in with y'all? And all the boys were like no. I texted Jayvon and I was like hey can you send me Miss Christine's number because I haven't heard from Nolan and if she hasn't heard from Nolan then I'm calling the Coast Guard. And so eventually Jayvon sends me her number.

15:40 Tatum Who is her? That’s–

15:41 Warren Miss Christine.

15:43 Tatum Miss Christine is–

15:44 Warren Nolan's mom.

15:44 Tatum Nolan's mom.

15:45 Warren Yeah. And I walked down to the dock cuz I mean there was a lot of people at a not a lot but you know there was probably 15 of our friends there. And I was just like walked down to the dock with a couple of my buddies and I got on the phone with–I called Miss Christine. Called her the first time she didn't answer. I called her a second time and I got on the phone with her and she–I asked her if she had heard from Nolan and she said no. And I said all right well don't freak out, I'm going to call the Coast Guard. And this was at about 11:00 o’clock.

16:17 Tatum So what's your intent in calling the Coast Guard right cuz right now Nolan could be with a chick, he could be with somebody else–

16:25 Warren Right.

16:25 Tatum –he could have gone back with somebody else. What, what, what made you concerned enough that you felt like you couldn't wait it out anymore, you had to call the Coast Guard?

16:35 Warren Well I mean like I said my friends and I have been on the water our whole life. Stuff happens. People die all the time. I know people that have died out there. And you know it's a fun place to be but it's also a very very dangerous place to be if you're not handling it right and Nolan–So I hadn't heard from him and obviously I'm thinking I'd way rather be safe than sorry. I mean I would rather call the Coast Guard 100 times and lose my mind over it and my buddy be okay than you know not and you know me not know where he is and him not be okay. And so I called the Coast Guard and I talked to them on the phone for like 20 minutes, gave them a description what Nolan was wearing, the last place we were at the last time I saw him, who were we with what boat we were on, the conditions of the water, just you know just a summary. And I called Miss Christine back after and I talked to her and I said I got in contact with the Coast Guard. I'm not sure who she called or you know, you know what, what she did but I think she said she was going to make a couple phone calls to either DMR or Jackson County Sheriff's Office. And I mean yeah that's–I I was thinking worst case scenario like I mean you know I would way rather be safe than sorry about this you know.

17:52 Tatum Yeah. So you you called–So it seems like you called mom immediately.

17:57 Warren Right.

17:57 Tatum Probably the first phone call that she got from anybody.

17:59 Warren That's the first phone call like at least I made and I would assume that's the first phone call she got from anybody because Jayvon hadn't called her and you know there's nothing wrong with that but Jayvon hadn't called her and I mean I was just worried about my friend you know stuff happens out there, boat problems, it could be anything but I mean there's a, there's a lot of stuff that happens out there and I was just worried about my friend.

18:22 Tatum Amd sk you you guys made that call. Nothing, nothing that night and I'm assuming you wake up the next day and then what happens?

18:31 Warren I wake up the next day at about 7:30 and I had–My dad had texted me because obviously Nolan's photo was at was all over Facebook and you know I I just saw it everywhere and I was freaked out cuz I was like oh my gosh like that you know I assumed you know Nolan's just you know we had been drinking all day and like you know that he's just sleeping somewhere and you know that he's okay. But I didn't want to believe that if we didn't know for sure. So I mean next day I woke up and my stepdad walked in my room and he said hey like have they heard anything about Nolan, like what's going on? Cuz I hadn't spoke to him. And he was like–I was like yeah no like I don't know I had just gotten up and he was like all right well we're going and getting on the boat and looking for him. And I was like okay yeah. So I I got my buddy Ricky, I got my buddy Brooks, I got my buddy Jax, my mom came on the boat with my stepdad and I and we all went out there and looked. When I got out there there was dozens of DMR boats, helicopters, planes flying over Horn Island. And this wasn't just Horn Island. There was also Ship Island they were looking at I'm sure and Chandelier Island, Petty Boy. I mean there wasn't–It wasn't just Horn Island specifically but where I was at Horn there were boats everywhere. And not just like random boats but like you know marine resource boats and you know cops and you know the whole nine. Like it wasn't like there was just a couple boats looking for Nolan. There was planes and helicopters and you know every–Everybody.

20:13 Tatum And then after this you know obviously they didn't find Nolan that day.

20:17 Warren Right.

20:18 Tatum And so what was your reaction like when you heard the news? Or how did you hear the news they found Nolan's body?

20:24 Warren Well the next day–Well it got to be about 1:00 o’clock on July 5th and I was like my mind started to turn. I was like man you know if he's not awake yet like where is he like you know like I I got very very worried and you know I I was with my buddy Brooks the next day and we're driving and my buddies were texting my group chat. They were like hey listen. And then I got a phone call from my buddy Tracestin, he was like hey man they just found his body.

21:01 Tatum Hmm.

21:01 Warren And I was like I just I wanted to have hope but it was really really hard to have hope when they haven't found your buddy in the last two days. And but there's still a little bit of hope there you know like maybe you know it's he's not gone and maybe you know he's okay. But my reaction was just–I was with my buddy Brooks and I broke down. I mean I haven't experienced death a lot but especially with someone I'm as close with as Nolan. And I mean I broke down and I I I sat there on my buddy Brooks's shoulder and I cried. And I was upset. I made a couple phone calls to my buddies and checked up on my buddies cuz you know I I care about my buddies too. I mean like we're all experienced this like we all realized at the same time. We all heard the news at the same time like you know he's gone. And so it was really really hard on me. I mean I've never experienced something like this. And it was, it was traumatic. I mean all I could tell you where and when I was there when I got that phone call you know where I was. And I just remember like it was insane. Like I just I can't even put into words how upset I was you know and how upset my friends were.

22:15 Tatum And then comes the stories–

22:19 Warren Mhmm.

22:19 Tatum –and the backlash–

22:21 Warren Right.

22:21 Tatum –and and the, and the, and the craziness.

22:23 Warren Mhmm.

22:23 Tatum You guys are now hearing that you're responsible for it. You did it. You killed Nolan. So what was the next step? Did you guys ever engage with police or?

22:34 Warren Yeah. So the first time I talked to the police was July 7th. I talked to the lead investigator and I told him my whole story top to bottom dotted every i crossed every t. I told them everything I knew every little detail. I mean everything I could you know tell them to try to figure something out you know.

22:53 Tatum Were you the only one that talked to the cops–

22:56 Warren No. Of course not.

22:53 Tatum –or were there some other guys that–

22:57 Warren You know every every person that was included especially you know the guys that you see on social media everybody cooperated with the police fully. You know we–Nolan was with us on the way out and he rode out on the boats with us. So I mean we were the first people to get questioned. I mean we, we cooperated with the police the first time they called us and you know we talked to them you know as soon as they needed and we were fully cooperative.

23:21 Tatum And we see Benjamin Crump coming in town–

23:23 Warren Mhmm.

23:23 Tatum –made it about race

23:28 Warren Right.

23:28 Tatum What's your feeling about that? Do do you think that any of this has anything to do with race or cuz I mean obviously something happened to Nolan. It appears that you guys may not have been involved at all. I say may not. It's no evidence that you were involved at all.

23:41 Warren Right.

23:41 Tatum You guys had left.

23:42 Warren Right.

23:43 Tatum But do you think that there's a racial component to any of this?

23:45 Warren Of course not. I mean I think if Nolan ever felt the most little bit uncomfortable around us which we never gave him a reason to but if he did he wouldn't hang hang out around us. But if you go look on you know like my friends have had Nolan posted all over our social medias you know since freshman year in high school like if Nolan ever felt uncomfortable with us why would he be hanging out with us all the time. I mean every time every day we're back from college we hang out and we're around each other all the time. So absolutely not. I'm–I would never look at Nolan any other way than I would any of my other friends. I mean he was like a brother to me.

24:18 Tatum You guys had been interviewed by law enforcement.

24:21 Warren Mhmm.

24:21 Tatum All of you guys have given statements. But then then I think that there's a part associated with this that's being rumored out in the public and that is the situation with the cell phone potential deletion of messages. When when did that occur and what what happened there?

Warren Interview (Part 3)