Hours after her attorney said the Mississippi Board of Nursing had opened a professional misconduct investigation, Christine Wonsley said the case was closed

The Mississippi Board of Nursing opened a professional misconduct investigation into Christine Wonsley, the mother of 18-year-old Nolan Wells, based on an anonymous complaint, according to her attorney Ben Crump, who called it an attempt to “scare her into staying quiet.”

A short time later, Wonsley said the case had been closed and thanked everyone who has been praying for her and her family.

Wonsley has been calling for a transparent investigation into what led to the death of her son, whose body was found July 6 on Horn island off Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. Two days earlier, Wells traveled to the island by boat with a group of friends to celebrate the Fourth of July, but he didn’t return with them.

Some of Wells’ friends said they left the island that afternoon without him because he chose to stay after meeting a young woman. But Wells’ parents have publicly questioned those accounts, saying their son would not have voluntarily separated from the group he traveled with.

Early on, Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter said Wells’ friends were cooperating and that investigators did not suspect foul play. Christine and her husband, Elmore Wonsley, have criticized those early statements as a rush to judgment.

“Christine Wells Wonsley was robbed of her son one month ago, almost to the day,” Crump said in a statement Wednesday. “She has spent every moment since asking one question: what happened to Nolan? Now, someone is going after her nursing license, anonymously, without the courage to put a name on it.”

“This is a warning shot at a grieving mother, meant to pressure and scare her into staying quiet. It is a distraction, it is intimidation, and we will not let it stand,” he continued. “Christine had part of her identity stolen from her the day Nolan died. Now, someone is trying to take another piece of it. This cruelty knows no bounds.”

Crump went on to say that Wonsley has cared for patients in Mississippi throughout her career without a single complaint to the Board of Nursing.

“As she continues to grieve her son and seek answers about what happened to him, she is now also forced to defend her professional record,” he said. “No family should accept that, and no institution should tolerate it.”

Wonsley, a family nurse practitioner at Memorial Health System, said in a statement Tuesday, Aug. 4, that she wanted to make clear she remains employed and had taken time away from work to grieve her son’s death.

“Memorial Health System has been incredibly accommodating and supportive during this difficult time as I navigate the trauma of losing my son, along with the public scrutiny I have been experiencing,” she said. “For that, I am sincerely grateful.”

Shortly after Crump released his statement, Wonsley said the case had been closed.

“Thank you to all of those who have constantly kept us in your prayers,” she wrote in a statement on social media. “This definitely has added more hurt to an already devastating time because I love my job and I love my patients.

In response to an inquiry from PEOPLE on Wednesday, the Mississippi Board of Nursing said it could neither confirm nor deny whether Wonsley was under investigation because “all investigations are confidential and not subject to subpoena or record request.”

The board added that it “is required by law to investigate any and all complaints filed with the Board.”

Both the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Crump’s legal team are conducting investigations into the circumstances around Wells’ disappearance and death and have asked witnesses to come forward.

An official autopsy has been completed, but the results have not been made public. The report will be presented to a grand jury, as is standard practice in the county for deaths that are not from natural causes, Jackson County District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath has said.

An independent autopsy commissioned on the family’s behalf listed Wells’ cause and manner of death as undetermined pending further investigation. The report found no evidence of fractures or deep tissue injuries but noted a “red discoloration” on the back of Wells’ skull that the forensic pathologist, Dr. Roger Mitchell, said merits further investigation.

Crump said Wonsley would not be deterred by the complaint.

“Attacking a grieving mother’s career does not answer the question of what happened to Nolan,” he said. “It tells us the question matters and the answer is scaring somebody. We will keep asking questions and demanding the facts until Christine knows how her son died.”

Source: https://people.com/nolan-wells-mom-investigated-work-anonymous-complaint-lawyer-slams-attempt-scare-her-12035229