UPDATE
Aug 5, 2026 8:30 AM CDT
The number of people charged with making threats tied to the investigation of Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells' death now stands at three. NBC News and the Sun Herald report court documents allege Edward James Porter of Berwyn, Illinois, made multiple threatening phone calls to two witnesses on July 31. Per the probable cause affidavit, Porter said he would kill them and their families and that he knew where they lived, and sent one witness a text message containing that person's Mississippi address. He allegedly told the second witness he would dismember them and place their remains in a suitcase. Read on for more about the two others who have been arrested.
Aug 2, 2026 7:31 AM CDT
Federal authorities say a second person has been charged with making threats tied to the investigation of Mississippi teenager Nolan Wells' death. Court filings allege 52-year-old Michelle Francine Edwards of Cincinnati placed nearly 30 bomb-related calls on July 23 to two Mississippi government offices involved in the case, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. She's accused of using a blocked number while repeatedly phoning the George County Chancery Clerk's Office and the Jackson County Sheriff's Office, allegedly warning employees not to go outside, saying "the clock is ticking," and telling them they would die.
Investigators say emergency requests to phone carriers, plus a Cash App account and police records, linked the number to Edwards. She's charged with transmitting interstate threats to kill or injure and to damage property, a federal offense that carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Her arrest follows that of 27-year-old Joseph Alfredo Vasquez of Sacramento, who is accused of sending explosive-related threats via Facebook to a chancery judge whose daughter was with Wells when he vanished after a July 4 party, per People. Autopsy findings are still pending.
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