A body believed to be that of 18-year-old Nolan Xavier Wells was found in the water off Horn Island, Mississippi, where he was last seen with a group of friends Saturday afternoon, officials said.
Searchers discovered the body on Monday, but the cause of death has yet to be determined. No signs of injury were found, officials said.
Wells went missing during a Fourth of July boat trip with friends to the island off Mississippi's Gulf Coast. It remains unclear why Wells was left behind on the island or how he may have ended up in the water.
Wells was reported missing that night by his mother.
Detectives said they are interviewing people who were on the island that day and had interacted with Wells, and that those individuals are cooperating.
"From the people we've talked to, it sounds like he chose to stay on the island with the assumption that he was going to ride back to the mainland with someone else," Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter told The Associated Press.
His family has retained civil rights attorney Ben Crump amid an ongoing investigation into the circumstances of his disappearance.
In a statement released Tuesday, Crump said the family is searching for answers about the events leading up to his death.
"We will not rest until every fact about what happened to Nolan on Horn Island is brought into the light, and we call on investigators to pursue this case with the urgency and transparency this family deserves," said Crump, who also was recently retained by the family of a Mississippi 1-year-old who was killed when police fired into a moving car.
Wells, who would have turned 19 next month, attended Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he played wide receiver on the football team.
In a social media post, his mother, Christine Wonsley, said the family is seeking videos and other documentation from the island.
"My heart is broken for our sweet son who was always willing to cheer and uplift others," she said. "Nolan was a special soul, God took his time creating our son."
