Federal investigators charged two out-of-state residents Friday with transmitting threatening communications in the probe of Nolan Xavier Wells’ death, court records show. Ohio resident Michelle Edwards and Illinois resident Edward Porter each face a federal count of transmitting threatening communications to kill or injure, court records show. The complaint did not list a maximum penalty, but the statute cited carries prison terms of five to 20 years, court records state.
The criminal complaint alleges Edwards called in bomb threats July 23 to the George County Chancery Clerk’s Office and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, investigators with an FBI task force said. Edwards allegedly used a blocked number to call the clerk’s office 21 times between 1:34 and 1:42 p.m., saying, “Do not go outside,” “the clock is ticking,” and “die,” the complaint says. Two calls to the sheriff’s office using a *67 function prompted a building lockdown and a sweep by a bomb-detection dog, the complaint says.
The complaint says telephone-company disclosures and a Cash App record tied the number to Edwards, and cell-site records placed activity in a Cincinnati area where she has two listed addresses. Agents say an Ohio phone number was identified through those requests, the complaint says.
The complaint accuses Porter of threatening to kill a witness identified as “W-1” and another person identified as “W-2,” telling W-1 he knew their address and providing it as proof, and telling W-2 that he would “cut them up and put them into a suitcase.” Agents say the threats came from a Gulfport-area TextFree number. Investigators say records from Pinger tied two IP addresses to Porter and included a Chicago-area number and a Maywood, Illinois, address; cell-site data placed an iPhone registered to Porter at his Berwyn, Illinois, residence.
Court records show the charges were unsealed Friday, the same day authorities arrested a California man accused of sending a bomb and death threat to a Mississippi chancery judge who is the stepmother of a friend who traveled to Horn Island with Wells on July 4. A park ranger found Wells’ body on Horn Island on July 6 after his friends had returned home, investigators said. The cause of death has not been released, and investigators said the case will be presented to a grand jury when the inquiry is complete. The FBI said it is probing threats made against Wells’ friends, their families, Wells’ parents and local and state officials; so far, investigators said, threats against Wells’ family have not led to arrests.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
