Tracestin interview

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0:00 Tatum Did you have anything to do with Nolan's death? No. Do you have personal knowledge of someone directly in your friend group having anything to do with Nolan's death?

0:13 Tracestin No, not at all.

0:19 Tatum So, you I saw you on television. You had an interview and I felt like you laid out a few things that I I think the world needs to know and be be clear about. Okay. And the first one is the relationship that you had with Nolan. Can you explain your relationship with Nolan? Yeah, I will. So his mom got on TV as everybody has seen and said that she didn't know me. And um man, that that can't be farthest from the truth. Uh me and Nolan, I met Nolan in ninth grade in my second block class. It was math.

0:57 Tracestin Um he was he was one of the first guys I made friends with. It was somebody I made a connection to like offer up. He was in he was an athlete. I could tell he was an athlete when I walked into class. We sat really close to each other and all he did, he turned around and asked me for a pencil when I first met him in ninth grade when I moved to Ocean Springs. Man, it was it was tough. And the relationship there has always been a best friend in my eyes. I never wanted to take away how close somebody else was with Nolan, but Nolan was my best friend. That was a guy I knew I could call at any point in time. He called me at 11 o'clock on the 4th to see where I was parked at. Man, me and Nolan have countless nights of him giving me advice on my girlfriend, on my life in general. Nolan has been the only friend, and I love my friends and my best friends in this group of guys, but Nolan has been the only person that ever tell me like he's proud of what I've done. He's proud of how hard I worked. He's proud of me going overseas to go play ball. That was my guy. Like, that was my best friend.

2:04 Tatum Yeah. And so how does it make you feel when the media activists are coming out and alluding to the fact that you may have something to do with what happened to Nolan on that day. Man, that hurts. It hurts is an understatement. I beat myself up every night I lay down. Beat myself up anytime it crosses my mind. Because in my head, if I wasn't drinking, if I didn't get into that altercation, maybe I would be able to do something. Maybe I would have known, saw something. Maybe I would have told Nolan, "Hey, man, you're not going with that girl. Just come back with us. We're going back a little bit later. We can go meet up with the guys later." Maybe it just plays out different. And then the fact that they're gonna play that is I'm already trying to mourn my friend's death as is and I'm blaming myself for it. To put that in my head is a next level of hurt that can't be truly explained cuz it's hard to put into words generally. It's it's backstabbing from a sense of a community that I thought I had with my skin color. And you know, they stay so strong together and I'm supposed to be one of them. But I come up and I speak and now I'm the person to blame. Now I'm not dark enough for them. I'm not black enough for them. And now I'm the issue. It doesn't It doesn't make sense in my head. It doesn't make sense. was was Nolan I mean obviously you were in the friend group but the way the media makes it seem is that almost as if Nolan was the only black person in this whole friend group now they they don't even mention you they don't they don't bring you up in this whole thing when it comes to you know what happened on the on at Horn Allen. So, what what's your what's your take on on Nolan being, you know, presented as like the only black kid in a group of all these white boys? That's crazy, man. Um, I know we've spoken a little bit, but that friend group that I'm a part of to this day was the first friend group I was in when I moved to Ocean Springs. It's a new kid coming in. I never knew any of them, any of them. I known one kind of sort of back from grade school cuz we went to the same private school together, but that was it. That was it. And him being the only black person minority any of that manager is insane. Our friend group is adverse from the max. Like we have a mixed guy. I mean, we had Nolan in our friend group. There's an there's an agent a part of our friend group. There's man, there's a there's a a Latino that they're trying to perceive as white. He's truly authentic Mexican. His parents are from Mexico. They came over legally and they did everything right and he's been here since. It It's It blows my mind because it's our friend group is not a friend group that sees race. Our friend group sees what good you do for other people, what good you bring, and how the type of person you truly are and where your morals lie. That's one thing in common. Me and our my friends might not agree on everything, but our morals align. Our morals know. So, for them to even make that narrative up really shows you have no idea what it's like down here on the coast. You have no idea how tight-knit Ocean Springs as a community is. You don't understand it. You don't You don't see the thousands of kids in the high school football stands cheering their team on. Nobody cares what color you are. We're there to have fun and to just live. And that's how no one lived. That's how I live now. It's I'm grown up and I have more big boy stuff, but in high school all I cared about was going to hang out with my guys. And I mean on a personal level that leads off of it is like it got me in trouble with my girlfriend just cuz I wanted to be with the guys. I've never once thought, man, they look at me different. Man, they I'm kind of an outcast to them. No. All their moms have always welcomed me with open arms. Anytime I needed anything, I knew I could call them and their parents and they would do anything in the world for me. So with Crump punching this narrative, it's wrong. Yeah. It's completely wrong. Especially about our friend group. Yeah. I I I find it, you know, especially after talking to you mean some of the guys that it seems like there was an agenda. But but can you walk us through just your perspective from that day? You know, I I don't know if you did you go with them initially. Were you a part of the the group that went to a Horn Island? So, yeah. So, I wasn't No, clear that up. No, I was not on the boat with them. Yes, I was a part of the group that was supposed to go out. So the only reason why I did not go on the boat is I was offered I got begged to go but my uncle we also took 12 people out on our boat not including us two so 14 and my uncle my uncle knows the passengers wouldn't have helped generally wouldn't have helped with anything with that many people on a boat you need a little bit of help so my uncle was like hey can you just ride out with me and you can go do your thing throughout the day on the island I don't care I don't need you I need help to get out there and then uh pick everything up because I know all these people are going to be drunk and they're not going to want to do the extras that nobody sees about going out on the boat, right? And um so I told Wyatt that and oops, my bad. But I told I I told him that and I and I told him everything which was go to plan. We were leaving a little bit earlier than them.

8:20 Tracestin We were gonna have I was gonna try to have a spot saved out and Nolan Nolan calls me at 11 o'clock. I missed his phone call. Called me twice. I missed both of them. I saw Wyatt and Nolan on the boat. They pulled right in front of our boat and they were screaming. I turned my head and I was like, "Yo, there's a spot over there over there where where they end up anchoring out." I helped them set their stern anchor. From that, from the time they showed up until now, going back to it, 20 minutes before they left, I was with them. That's who I was with. I spent all day with them, minus the morning time before they got out there. But from the time they got out there to the time they went back in, I was with them. That was Those are my friends, man. Those are my guys. Yeah. I want to I want to get some a few more details. I'm sorry. I know that Yeah, go ahead. I know that um you were all over the news because there was a perceived fight people This is the thing that that gets me and I wonder can you clarify this? When I saw the video that they put out on the internet claiming that Nolan was saying, "Give me my effing phone back." The coach came out. Nolan's coach came out and said immediately he knew it wasn't Nolan's voice. And obviously it wasn't Nolan's voice cuz you were the one that was me yelling. Yeah. In there yelling and you got into an altercation with somebody.

9:53 Tatum What happened after that? Like put put me in in your place where the fight is over. Whatever happened happened. Nolan is somewhere. You're somewhere. You're hanging out. And when was the last time that you saw Nolan before you left Horn Island?

10:10 Tracestin So, um, after the fight, I didn't stay on Horn Island much longer. So, the objective, so I was really upset. So, with you hear me yelling, my uncle had told me to get on the boat and wouldn't let me back off the boat. Obviously, I was really mad and I wanted to fight. Wasn't a good oper wasn't smart, man. And um, so I was on the boat. I'm yelling and shortly after that, I left the island. I left probably 30 to 45 minutes after I got into a fight. We started to pack up and left because I was so upset. As Javon mentions that they were ready to get me back to land cuz I wasn't really mad. I was genuinely really mad. But the last time I saw Nolan, I was walking to the boat. This was before the fight. It's me and my old lady. We had just got out of a group of people. Nolan was walking towards Wyatt's boat. I was walking in the opposite direction towards my boat. And I dabbed no one up. I I made a slick comment about something actually about the girl that he was with. I made a slick comment to him. Us joking around and I kept going and not even 10 minutes after that is when I got into a fight. I do last thing I told Nolan was, "All right, buddy. I love you. See you later." I'm glad I said it. Uh, I had been under the influence a little bit and that's probably why I did say it at the time, just, you know, getting all loveydvey. But I'm at peace. I said it. I'm glad I said it. Uh, that was my last encounter with Nolan. Was telling him I love him.

11:49 Tatum Did you have any So, you leave the island. Did you have any encounters or association with these phones with the keys? Did you have any connection that uh I did not. So what I know Warren started I got my first call phone call from Warren at about 9:20. I didn't answer it. Um I was asleep. I'd been on the boat all day. I didn't feel like going to party anymore. I went to bed. So, I got my first phone call about 9:20 and um I didn't wake up again until a little after 11:00 and that was to uh my brother coming in the room being like, "Hey, Warren's trying to get a hold of you. Let's like you need to answer the phone. They're looking for Nola." and I'm half awake and I pick up the phone and by this time nobody had came to uh the house to grab anything and Nolan I mean Warren gets on the phone and he's just like hey man uh he was like hey have you talked to Nolan anything else? So I was like, "No, I haven't talked to him, man. He was with that girl." Last time I knew. And he was like, "Okay." He was like He's like, "Man, we can't get a hold of him. We don't know where he's at." And I was like, "Man, he's it's Nolan. He's probably just out somewhere with that girl." Like, "Get a hold of the girl. You'll probably find Nolan." It was no big deal. And he was like, "All right." He was like, "But we're starting to freak out. We're getting on the phone with Coast Guard." I was like, "Okay." And um at that time, he had already talked to his her mom, no one's mom. and um he was getting on the phone with the Coast Guard and I had called I need to be specific about this. I did not call Warren's phone. I called another one of our buddy's phone and it was on speaker phone. They were all together. I was talking with on my other buddy's phone talking to Warren.

13:47 Tracestin He was dialing Coast Guard because he hung up the phone. I was like, "Hey, this is him. Bye." And hung up the phone. And that was the last time I talked to him until the next morning when we all decided, well, when I woke up about 7:00 that morning, we had all decided that we were going to go out in the boat and go look for Nolan. Wyatt had already had his boat still in the water. We took that boat out. It was What day are we talking? This So that's Sunday morning. Sunday morning on the 5th. So it was Saturday the 4th was the 4th of July. The 5th was Sunday. We were on the water from 9:45 to uh 11 50 12:00 era about lunchtime. Um while we were on the water, we talked to a rescue guy and he told us to get off the water and said that they kind of had it their island in the water under control. That's the professionals, man. Yeah. They told us to get on social media and find out any information we can. And by that time, we had already talked to a good amount of people out there. So, it just made sense. So, we went back in and we concluded our search and started to search off socials and started sharing and sharing and sharing everything we could and try to get a hold of anybody that could have talked to Nolan that no one possibly would have reached out to. And that led into the night. It led all night long. I didn't sleep at all. Sunday. Monday, I was up at 5:00 a.m. I was putting fuel in our boat at 6. I got told that they were we were taking out another boat to Chandelier at 7. So, I put my boat back on the lift and I was I went to McDonald's and then I got the news after I left McDonald's that his body was found. So, it was already a it was already a plan that we were going and searching and trying to do everything we possibly can. And that's that's all I wanted to do is I wasn't there to help him out in his last minutes. But now I feel like as a friend and as a as one of my guys, man, it's I do everything in my power to help now. And that's why I have reached out to the family. I have donated to the family and I have given them just your normal death gifts, I would say, as you pay your respects. And do do you think do you think Benjamin Crump being involved in this case made it better or worse? 10 100,000 times% worse because why on the Tuesday after our civil where has your civil rights been broken?

16:49 Tatum Where has it been shown? You brought Benjamin Crump to stir up a community that's already tight-knit.

16:56 Tracestin Yeah, we might not be best friends with everybody, but I promise if you're talking about Ocean Springs as a whole, Ocean Springs is going to have Ocean Springs back 110%. We We back each other. Everybody I've seen, we back each other. And for them to push this narrative and really push it and push it just shows me is like you have no idea who you're dealing with or who you're messing with. And I think he's taking I think he's taking the grieving parents and manipulating and turning this and making it sound all bad. All bad because it's nothing's like that at all. No. Have you gotten death threats or you know because I I know that the other young young men that I spoke to about this, especially the white young men, they getting all kind of death threats. They're being accused of of killing Nolan. Did you get the same backlash and threats that that some of those guys have gotten? Yes, I've gotten the death threats, per se, but I've also gotten the threats along the lines of where it's like I've been cast out of the black community. I've been called white. I've been called a Um, all these things. They've I've been sent photos of me and my grandmother and they've been told that she's the devil. She She's just looking for the time to kill you. You need to be careful and blah blah blah. And it's like, man, if y'all want to know the story, the only people that's showed up for me in my whole life has been my white side of my family. So, for y'all to sit there and drag their name and to drag me down and I'm supposed to be one of y'all and you're supposed to have my back and we're supposed to be in this together and it's really eye opening. Did it shock you that that it turned this way? meaning that you know you see everything happen. Nolan was your friend. It it from from all the young men I talked to, it seemed like Nolan was the life of the party. Everybody loves Nolan. He gets along with everybody. Everybody's cool and everybody feels like like Nolan made them feel like everybody's his best friend, right? I mean, everybody felt connected to Nolan.

19:18 Tatum Were you shocked that it it turned like this? I mean, where this community was tight-knit, Nolan's friend group was tight. He he ends up losing his life in an unfortunate situation which nobody know exactly what happened. Did it shock you that it it turned into some racial thing? Yes, racial. I do agree. Now it going famous or going viral? It that that part didn't shock me thinking about it and being honest like that's not a surprise cuz everybody didn't love Nolan, especially around here. Everybody loved Nolan. So for people to repost that they know Nolan. I mean, they know he did not have one hateful thing in his heart and racism. No, that was a shock. That was a complete shock from his mom and from his his stepdad. Like, that's a shock. That's that's an utter shock because it's like first off, I'm not gonna I don't know how to word this. Nolan wasn't fully black. No one's mixed. No one has a little bit of Asian in it. You don't hear that though. You don't. So to turn it as like somebody's harping down on Nolan because of the color of his skin, you don't know us. You don't know our community. You It's crazy that people are just running with a lie. And it's so easy for people to believe it from the outside looking into Mississippi's history, per se, but it's like you're looking at history. Let's go to each state's history. I bet they're not the best with black people. Like, people change. You learn history so you don't repeat it. Everybody knows that. What's the cra What's the craziest lie that you've seen floating around there about this situation? I know there's a lot of a lot of mysterious things, but like what to you? What's the craziest thing that you've heard somebody say about this? that my buddy in the photo was his lover. That was wild. That's been that's been the utmost craziest because it's like what? Like where did you get that from?

21:46 Tracestin Um I mean also the lies of just how how racist Mississippi is or how racist the coast is and Ocean Springs and Yeah. know, you don't you don't know this, man. Like, you have no idea.

22:06 Tatum And what I thought was crazy lie from the beginning was he's the only black person on the boat. He's the only black person on the island.

22:15 Tracestin No, not at all. Like, not once. Like, where'd you get this background information from?

22:24 Tatum How many people are on that island from from your vantage point? On the 4th of July. Yeah. Thousands. 13 miles. Like I mean you're talking hundreds and hundreds of boats that are carrying minimum four to eight nine people. Like I'm talking like on the lower end, man. We're talking about smaller vessels here, man. Um, if I had to take it, if I had to take a rough estimate in my area of the island that I was in, 400 500 people easy. If I'm taking a an actual estimate, about 400 to 500 people easy. And our group and the group of I would say young adults that were in the group of Nolan Wells, 100 150 200 people. So, the idea that Nolan went out with four white boys and they took him to a deserted island and he was allegedly last seen with a girl and they just abandoned him. What What do you What do you say to that? That's no we from the time they left including myself and also when I left the island I could have named 50 people I really trust behind the helm of a boat that no one knew that he knew that he could go talk to even if they he was left there was tons and tons of people out there. There was 10 people, 10 boats that camped out at Horn Island. I know a boat that didn't leave Horn Island until 8:00 that night. Nobody Nobody would have ever seen. Nobody Take that back. Nobody would have ever left somebody on Horn Island. That's a place of everybody loves to go. Loves to go and hang out. That's their peace. Nobody wants to see anybody out there, especially in the voting community. And I can speak on that like genuinely. I grew up in it. That that's that's absurd. It's absurd. So, can can you help me understand the fight a little better because I interviewed Warren, who's your friend, and he had made mention that his brother was involved in the fight. So, can you explain who actually started fighting and were you fighting his brother or were you fighting somebody else? Like, how did that happen? Yeah. And I can see now especially it's all been blown out of proportion. But so the originally I'll go back a little couple steps. Originally me and my girlfriend we were I wouldn't even call it an argument. She was upset that I lost the lid to her koozie. I dropped it in the water. Generally speaking, that's how it started. And I dropped her lid, her new koozie in the water. And so she started to let me hear it and basically told me I was paying for it and she was really upset with me and mad about it and I needed to kind of sober up a little bit. And um so we're walking back and during that time this guy that I'm not I'm not friends with. I know of him. I don't know him. I didn't even recognize him when I got in original fight. He had buted himself into my conversation and basically was telling me how I needed to handle or address the situation with my girlfriend. And man, we weren't we weren't even yelling at each other. We weren't arguing. It was more along the lines of I literally told her I was like, "Man, I just want a beer." And she was like she was like, "Well, go give one." Blah blah blah. Well, when I said that, she um she ducked her head under water and he had walked up and he told me that I needed to watch how I talked to my girlfriend. And I looked at him and I told him, I was like, "This has nothing to do with you. We're good. This has nothing to do with you." And he sat there and he was like, "Well, I'm going tell you, I better not hear it again." And I looked at him. I was like, "You need to excuse yourself from the situation." And after I came out, he swamped. He threw the fresh punch and I we went back and forth.

26:46 Tracestin Um I remember at one point in time I look over and I see my uncle and my uncle's yelling at me to get in the boat. I stopped fighting as soon as me and him made eye contact. I got in the uncle I got in the boat. I'm sorry. And I listened to my uncle.

27:03 Tatum And what was Warren's brother's involvement in this? And so I was getting there. So, when I'm on the boat and I'm trying to they're trying to cool me down. I'm trying to get back off the boat cuz I I see the crowd forming up on the island. Well, my my little brother and Carter are like really good friends, like best friends, I would say. He's over at our house all the time. Carter heard him still talking crap as he's getting out of the water and I'm on the boat and the situation is like done and over with, right? Well, he sees him talking crap. So Carter gets up and more along the lines of defending me and for what he was like, "Well, if you got a problem with Tristan, we can handle it right here." So what's the what's the racial breakup of the of these people that are involved? So the guy that you fought was white. White. I'm the only black guy involved in this whole entire thing. Yeah. And at all like I mean I don't know. Carter. Carter was is white. The dude I got in a fight with is white. I was the only black guy involved with this. My girlfriend's white. My uncle's white. There was no other black guy involved. And I know Ben Crump tried to run with a story saying that was Nolan. Well, I was like, nice try, but there was another black guy on the island, so now your whole narrative needs to change again. Right. Right. Like, you know what I mean? But that was Carter's involvement and that was kind of it. Like after the fight, man, I kind of I I remember getting off the boat. I got off the boat and I walked up to the island and I I was telling people I was like, "Hey, like I just need to cool off. Like, let me be." This is after everything dispersed. There was no crowd anymore when I walked off the boat. And I was like, "Let me be." Well, again, my uncle yelled at me and I was like, I don't care what you're doing. Get back on the boat. We're leaving. So, I got back on the boat. when we left shortly after that and and you we well Lisa I I I know you from the interviews that you've done. Some of the other boys haven't spoken out at all. Yeah. You've had a chance to use your voice to put the truth out there. You made um you did an interview with I think ABC and you also did an interview with the Rolling Stones. That was my first interview. Yeah. With Rolling Stones. The first interview was Rolling Stones then ABC. And then ABC. Yes. Now, from what you told me before this interview is that the Rolling Stones gave you a very fair interview, seemed like the young lady who interviewed you articulated very clearly what you told her with no fluff, no nothing added. And she Yeah, she really she she cared. She really did care and she she made sure that what she was telling was the complete truth behind everything with me, with my uncle, and then also factecking on her side as being in media. And it all aligned, man. And when they came out with that, it was really genuine. When I felt that, it brought me to tears because it was like, that's the truth. That's exactly how it needed to be worded. And I I really I appreciated her. I appreciated her a lot and we tooken her out to uh Horn Island this morning to do another little bit. But I really she she's done well and that's the truth. Her her story is nothing but the truth. Now ABC on the other hand, did they treat you fairly or how did that go?

30:32 Tracestin So I don't want to say they treated me unfairly. the he the quotes that he used in the article. He did ask me for my permission on it and I gave it to him to an extent. I changed up some stuff and that he initially didn't change when he came out with it. And then the voice recording, that's really that's really what gets me because that's that's what the main people are listening to, right? They're not going in and reading in depth in the article and really seeing everything. They're just going off about what's on TV cuz people don't like to read these days. But how they made that and cut a lot of my voice sounded horrible. Sounded bad. I didn't I didn't like it. I didn't like that side of it, but it already aired. So, what was I going to do really? And at one point, I could have sworn you said that you didn't feel comfortable doing the interview on camera. Yes. And and did you do that because you didn't want to be visibly promoted on television or what? How did that

31:48 Tatum So, the so the side of that and I didn't want to be on camera for two main reasons. I never wanted to do an interview and get famous. I never wanted any attention, per se, famous attention. I don't care about the negative side of it. I'm doing what I think is right. I never wanted any positive attention, let's say. I all I wanted to be is for my guys to know that I had their back and I got Nolan's back. And I didn't want the investigation on especially on social media side I guess and with Ben Crump and their legal team to go down the wrong path at all. That was my sole purpose is to tell the truth and to clear up lies. When I talked to ABC they wanted to do an inerson interview and I told them no. I told them no because I'm for first I'm getting death threats and I'm not I don't like him. It is what it is. cuz I'm not putting myself out there anymore than I need to and I'm not get sit behind a camera and so for somebody to watch me talk about my best friend and I told him I was like if you want to do an article it's okay I'll talk and you can do the article on that side of it. I never originally wanted to go on TV period. He convinced me into only using my voice, which now I regret. And I wish I would have just sat in front of a camera so you can visibly see the cuts. But they they manipulated that interview pretty well. They made it sound a lot worse. And I know for a fact most of that interview I'm you can't understand me because I was in tears the entire time talking about it. when he asked me about no one's death and he put it at he if you listen to it carefully he cuts it and I just say die. Nobody want to see him die. Don't talk like that man. That's not what I said. I did say died during at one point in our interview but I said we didn't want to see his life being taken from us. Period. They didn't put that. They twisted some things around and they made they almost made almost a different narrative to where it's like now people are coming out and lying. And it's like, man, no. I was wondering if you were going to I remember I was like I could have sworn he said he didn't want to be on camera and they put your picture all over the news. I mean, was how did you feel about that? Was that something that you were okay with them doing it or? I kind of accepted it. Um, I accepted it because I gave Roland Stolen permission to do it. So, I know that's where they probably got that original photo of me and him standing next to each other. But still, that's kind of weird that you tell them, "I don't want to." Even if you gave me the permission with Rolling Stones, you go, "I don't want to be on camera." And they put your picture up there on camera anyway. I agree with you. It's weird. Yeah, it's weird. It's odd, but I genuinely speaking, man, like I'm not I'm worried about my family's safety, but I have no regrets in what I've done and what I've said. Not one. I don't I sleep better at night now that I've spoken up and I felt like I've done my part of the good and I'm willing to help any other time if anything else pops up that I can't help with. And I genuinely just want the truth to be heard about it all. And I it kills me and it breaks my heart that my best friends are going through this. Like this is at home. This isn't something I'm just watching through a screen listening to you talk about it or listen to somebody else talk about it. I'm living this. I I'm getting the calls from my buddies crying asking me how I'm not scared out of my mind. How am I okay dealing with all this? So, one thing that kind of stood out to me that was a big contradiction on television was you said in your interview that you were really really good friends with Nolan, his best friend. Nolan's mother said on television that as if she don't even know you and she she don't know who you are and you're definitely not, at least is what she alluded to, you're definitely not his best friend. So, what's the truth in that and how did that affect you? How did that make you feel? So, yeah. So, she she originally touched and she said that we weren't childhood best friends. And she's not wrong. She's not wrong. I moved to Ocean Springs in 9th grade. I met Nolan in ninth grade as I've stated in my Rolling Stone interview. Um Nolan was my best friend though. She can believe it or not. That was my best friend. No, me and her never had a sit down in depth conversation like me and you're having now. It was always, "Hey, how are you doing?" Um, I've been to her house multiple times. I've taken Nolan to school multiple times. I've live I've left my vehicle at her house multiple times. Even including the new vehicle I just got has gotten left at her house for two days. And I just got it. I haven't even had it for 4 months. My vehicle before that stayed at her house for almost a week. Me and her son went on trips together. We went to Florida for spring break together. You don't know me. I'm in all these homecoming and prom photos as our whole friend group. Me and Nolan are standing next to each other. You don't know me. Nolan's last name is Wells. My last name at one point in time was Walker. We were by each other in the alphabet when we graduated. Man, that it's that's mindboggling. It's insane. Me and Nolan have multiple classes together. Me and Nolan has always stayed tight. Nolan has always known that he could call me whatever. And like I've mentioned, like I got a new phone number two months ago.

38:04 Tracestin Nolan was the only friend that had my phone number out of the friend group.

38:08 Tatum And I still call them my best friends, but we so we communicate on other social medias. But it's like no one called me on the day to meet up with me on the fourth out there, but we weren't good friends. We weren't close friends. And when I say best friend, man, I don't want to take away anybody how close they were to no one. But when I think of a best friend, I think of no one. Somebody I can call, somebody that I've stayed up and I've cried to. that that was one of my best friends generally speaking. She might not think it. That's okay. Me and Nolan knew knows where we stand with each other and period. Nolan knows that. Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that. Um, you know, with interviewing with me, right? You know, we came out here to Mississippi. We just wanted to give the boys a voice, give you guys a voice. And out of I'd say all the other outlets that you could have spoken to, why do you feel that you wanted to talk to me tonight?

39:16 Tracestin Honestly, I'm a big fan. I know uh when I look at news articles, big news articles obviously, and then I know you talk on them. I make sure I go read the I watch the full thread of videos. I think our morals align alike and I when we spoke off camera like it didn't seem like you were out here like another news reporter that just wanted the next big story like you just said. It's like you generally wanted us to have a platform to be able to speak and to be able to tell the truth and that's that's what I like. And I I know I it I don't know talking to Warren and knowing Miss Katie and being close to them and them trusting you was like, "Okay, I can sit down. I can have this conversation and we can go through it and we can have the interview on camera and people can see me really, I guess you could say, and talk about it and whatnot." I appreciate that. I really do. And uh my last question, you know, with all this stuff going on and you knew Nolan very well, what what do you think Nolan how Nolan would feel about how this all has transpired with with Benjamin Crumb with, you know, the statements from his mom, with the accusations against you and his other friends, you know, how would you think he would he would address this or feel about this? Well, I know people like these a turn like they would turn over in his grave. If Nolan could dig himself out of his grave right now, he would. No doubt. I Nolan would be livid as an understatement. Nolan would never want anything pursued this way at all. Um, I think he would be really upset with his parents about how they went about the situation. I think he generally would. I don't think he wouldn't support it. I know that for 110%. I know he wouldn't support any of it. I think he would want the truth and he would search for answers, but he wouldn't go about it like this. He wouldn't he wouldn't let us get dogged out like this. If no one could have spoke up, he would already said something about our friend group and saying, "Yo, y'all are on the wrong path." Generally speaking, he like he would be mad. Like he would be mad.

41:45 Tatum And I don't understand how people don't see that and how people are just okay with even some of his, I guess you could say, other best friends, man. How they were coming out and how they're acting behind it. I was like, man, Nolan was never like that. Nolan was an aggressive, threatening person. Don't get me wrong. No one would defend himself if he needed to defend himself.

42:08 Tracestin Nolan was loving and kind. Nolan was the furthest thing from a fight. Like furthest thing from a fight. And I remember personally, I was I was in a heated argument and Nolan comes up cracking joke and like, "Bro, it's not even worth it. Like, come on." And it's like that just shows his character wouldn't be like this. I know he wouldn't want people chanting at his funeral. I know that for a fact. I know nobody would want me or the rest of our friends to get dragged through like this. I know he would want all of us to feel comfortable going to that funeral. And all of us didn't cuz we're scared. And that says a lot. That says a lot. We're scared to go in our hometown to who we called our best friend. We're all over his socials, man. Like, I don't know how you're discrediting and thinking that we could have hurt him. we could have known somebody that hurt him because like I told everybody, I would put myself in whatever position he was in a hund times before I let him pass away. And I mean that. I genuinely mean that. That dude, he was so loving and so kind. It was it's just wild. It's it's it's crazy. It's wild and it's heartbreaking. Yeah. Well, I appreciate you having the courage, man, to come down here and and and talk to us, give us, you know, your your point of view. And and I say this, like I said to Warren, man, my whole objective is that, man, I was watching an injustice happened before my eyes. and in an injustice meaning that the other side wasn't presented and people that don't live here came into this town and shook it up, brought racism in it. And based on everybody's statement that I hear about Nolan is that they didn't represent what he stood for. No. and and and they they bastardized his character and in my opinion, this is my opinion, to make money and build a GoFundMe instead of trying to actually get to the bottom of what happened to him. In none of this have I seen any of the activists pursue what actually happened there. They're somebody could have seen something and instead they're going after dead ends simply because of race, simply because of convenience, instead of pursuing any other lead or any other notion of somebody knowing what happened to Nolan.