Photo: Getty Images
Christine Wonsley, the mother of Nolan Wells, is pushing back against online criticism directed at her family as they continue grieving the loss of their son.
Wonsley addressed the criticism Monday (August 31) after a photo of her sitting next to another man at a football game sparked online comments about her marriage and questions about the whereabouts of her husband, Elmore Wonsley.
“If you’re going to take pics make sure to include Nolan’s father Elmore who is ALWAYS present for his children because that’s the kind of father he is!” Wonsley wrote in a Facebook post.
She also had a message for those continuing to criticize the family, writing, “KEEP YOUR DEPLORABLE COMMENTS TO YOURSELVES.”
The post comes as Wonsley continues to publicly share how her family is navigating grief nearly two months after Nolan’s death.
In another Facebook post Monday, she wrote that “grief has no time limit” and that the grieving process “is different for everyone.”
“Every day I wake in a panic with a flurry of emotions because I’m reminded of what we have lost and the future we will not get to see lived out by our son,” she wrote.
Wonsley said her family’s home is “definitely more melancholy” without Nolan, who had been with them for 18 years and was only away from home when he was attending school.
“It’s just hard and it hurts,” she wrote, adding that despite the difficulty, “we must persevere.”
Wonsley said the family’s ultimate goal has not changed: “We only want to know WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR SON NOLAN.”
The criticism is not new. The family has faced repeated online attacks since Nolan's death.
As BIN previously reported, one of Nolan's friends, Jax Pitalo, accused Wonsley of fueling online backlash against him and two other friends, an allegation she denied.
Wonsley was also the subject of an anonymous professional misconduct complaint filed with the Mississippi Board of Nursing, which briefly opened an investigation before closing it the same day, according to Wonsley.
Nolan’s father, Elmore, has also publicly shared how the family is navigating Nolan’s absence, particularly as football season gets underway.
In a post shared last Thursday (August 27), Wonsley wrote that he was sitting in the bleachers watching his two youngest sons play and wishing he could also watch Nolan play his first junior college game of the season.
“Tonight is a hard night for me because I won’t get the chance to experience all those events because my Nostro is no longer with us,” he wrote.
He remembered Nolan as someone with “high character, integrity and humble” qualities and recalled their final conversation, which centered on trust.
Nolan was a standout football player at Ocean Springs High School before attending Southwest Mississippi Community College.
He disappeared July 4 during a boating trip near Horn Island, Mississippi. His body was found two days later.
The official state autopsy has also been completed, but its findings have not been publicly released.No one has been charged in connection with Nolan’s death, and the investigation remains ongoing.
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