Mysterious death of Mississippi Black teen. Doctor's ex-wife allegedly plots his murder. Plus, geofencing.

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It's a fascinating and interesting twist. Everything seems to be kind of pointing the husband's direction. I think we should pay attention to this one. [01:16] Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's July 16th and here's what's on our docket. In a wealthy Los Angeles suburb, new details in the prosecution's case against a woman accused of masterminding a hit on her ex-husband. It was no secret that there was bad blood between the two of them. In Dateline Roundup, an update on the Texas man who fled to Italy right before he was to stand trial for the murder of his pregnant wife.

[01:45] of Navy optician Larry Miliete. They were hugging each other a lot. It was emotional. There was a catharsis. Plus geofencing. The powerful tool allows investigators to identify people in the vicinity of a crime scene, but it's coming under fire in the courtroom. We'll explain why. There have been some examples of people even being arrested falsely, despite being completely innocent. But before all that, we're heading to southern Mississippi, where the mysterious death of a young black man [02:15] is making headlines across the country. [02:20] On the morning of Saturday, July 4th, 18-year-old Nolan Wells took a boat with some friends to Horn Island, seven miles off the Mississippi coast.

They met up with other teens to party on the beach and celebrate the holiday. But when Nolan's friends returned to the mainland that afternoon, Nolan was not with them. And later that night, his mother Christine got a panicked call from one of his friends. Here she is talking to NBC News senior national correspondent Kate Snow. [02:47] What did he say? He said, hey, Miss Christine, have you seen Nolan or talked to Nolan? I said, no, I thought he was with you guys. You know, he's like, no, nobody's talked to him.

Two days later, Nolan's body was found floating in the water off Horn Island. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation but said it didn't look like there were any signs of foul play. Nolan's family didn't buy it, raising questions about whether his race had something to do with why he ended up dead. [03:17] What happened? And why our baby didn't help home? NBC News national correspondent Aaron Gilchrist has been covering the story from day one and is here now to bring us the latest on this developing story. Aaron, thank you so much for being here.

Absolutely, Andrea. Glad to be here. Yeah. So, Aaron, before we get into the case, tell us about Nolan Wells. He sounds like he was a charismatic, popular kid just out there. [03:41] having fun on the holiday. Yeah, you're right. By all accounts, everything that we've heard about this young man is that he was universally loved, that he was the guy who made a friend every time he walked into a room, that people looked forward to having him around. He was a student at a community college there in Mississippi, was about to start his second year there, would have turned [04:11] he was supposed to be returning to school to start training for the next football season.

[04:16] This is truly an awful story. So we know that Nolan and his friends set off for Horn Island on July 4th. Set the scene for us. You know, why Horn Island? Our understanding is that Horn Island is a destination that people went to regularly. It is an uninhabited beach that apparently is just gorgeous. Nolan had been there before, and we've seen this in some of the video that's been circulating out there. [04:46] Thanks. [04:46] Erin, what did Nolan's friends tell his mom about? [04:49] Christine, about why he didn't come back to the mainland with them.

The understanding that we have from the mother of one of the young men who was in the group, apparently, with Nolan was that he opted not to return back to the mainland with his friends because he had met a girl in this gathering of people on the island and wanted to stay behind to talk to her and said that he was going to return with a different group of friends [05:19] story as one of the things that just doesn't make sense to them about this whole thing, that he had been taught that you return with the people you left with.

And that was something that he knew. [05:29] So after she got the first call, his mom reported Nolan missing to the police. He was finally found on Monday, July 6th. So tell us, you know, what condition his body was in. We heard early on that there were no immediate signs of physical injury to Nolan's body when it was recovered. The sheriff's office said that they at that time believed it was likely to be an accidental drowning. But they did say that they were going to continue to investigate this death. [05:59] and to try to get an understanding of exactly what happened before they would make any definitive statements.

[06:05] What has made Nolan's parents suspicious that this could be more than an accidental drowning? Well, their position is that this was a young man who was athletic, who knew how to swim and again, who would have been surrounded by people. And so the idea that he drowned and no one saw anything, no one heard him screaming for help, no one attempted to help just doesn't make sense to them. [06:35] family to [06:36] to sort of question things, right? His phone... [06:39] did not stay with him on the island. They were able to get his phone from a friend.

So the thinking is the phone stayed on a boat and made it back to the mainland and into the home of one of his friends. Now, we've heard some accounts that that island is so isolated that cell service is very unlikely there. That makes sense. And why you might leave it in a boat. Right. And so if you were getting into the water, the friend of his said, apparently, it would not have been totally unusual for people to leave their phones on a boat [07:09] with. [07:09] And Nolan's parents said that they were surprised that on the phone he didn't take any...

[07:15] You know, if there were no photos, kind of unusual for a young person, maybe on a holiday like that, to not take any photos, at least to post later. Right. His mother said that this is a young man who was the prolific user of apps like Snapchat. And when she was able to get into his phone, there were no photos that had been saved, nothing that was waiting to be sent or uploaded to the app. And that caused some concern for her as well. She is suspicious that something could have been deleted from his phone.

[07:45] The parents have brought up race in this, that they say there is concern for them that he was with kids who are white. Just tell us more about that whole element of this case. Yeah, I think their concern is sort of historic in nature, right? I mean, we're talking about the Deep South. Nolan lived in a community that is largely white, I think almost 80 percent white, a single digit percent black population in that area. [08:15] in some of the interviews that have been done with Rolling Stone, for example, that race wasn't a big issue in this friend group.

At the same time, this family says you cannot ignore the fact that this is a place that has a racist history. In some instances, they held a news conference on Friday with Ben Crump, their attorney. The history of Mississippi is crazy. [08:39] Something that... [08:41] They don't just read about in books. [08:45] But it's a lived experience for many black Americans. We are going to make sure that we get to the truth. [08:54] The whole truth and nothing but the truth because Nolan deserves it. Nolan's parents have sent [09:02] their son's body off for an independent autopsy.

Do we know when we could expect results from that? We don't know exactly when we may hear details about that independent autopsy. At the same time, the state medical examiner is performing an autopsy as well. And our understanding is that they're still waiting for some toxicology results. Aaron, you spoke to the Jackson County Sheriff. He told you the investigation will be fair and accurate. Let's take a listen. Our investigators [09:32] around the clock, working diligently to get the facts out, mainly to get the facts to the family because that's what they deserve.

Do you feel like you're getting useful information that's been helpful to figuring out what happened? Yes, sir. We're getting very useful information. [09:47] All this pressure and publicity can't hurt, right, in trying to draw out information. And the case, as we know, is just getting a ton of attention. There's a lot of things swirling around online, which, you know, can be good and bad, I guess. Yeah, I think you're right. The Internet really paying attention to this story can be helpful in sort of making sure that it doesn't get swept under the rug.

At the same time, there's this very real concern about misinformation. [10:17] out there early on, a young woman told NBC News that she had shot this video and that it was really just a wide sweep of that area on the island where you could see people on boats and you could see people in the water and you could see people standing on the island. And the speculation that had been out there, and Ben Crump had suggested as well, that Nolan was in that video, that he was heard arguing with someone.

And since then, we have heard from a friend of Nolan saying [10:47] connected to that video. And so there you have people trying to [10:51] I don't know. Sometimes I suppose people are trying to be helpful, but sometimes it's just sort of fueling the misinformation out there. It just creates another layer of frustration when this family is having to deal with a very real moment of the loss of a child. On Wednesday morning, Nolan's parents and their attorney, Ben Crump, met with the local district attorney for an update on how the case was going.

[11:21] The DA told NBC News that a grand jury presentation after an investigation is over is standard procedure for cases dealing with unknown causes of death. Meanwhile, Erin, Nolan's mom, Christine, said she still has questions, but it's time now to think about Nolan. His funeral is on Monday. [11:42] To the community, thank you so much. Just the outpouring of love, support and to his friends. Stay strong and please just take care of your mental health, because I know this is a lot. It's a lot for us. And I know you guys are feeling some of that, too.

Do you know what's next, Aaron, in all of this? So we are very much in a wait and see position at this point. Right. [12:12] to Nolan, who his family is still going to have to bury here. Aaron, thank you for filling us in on this very tragic story. I really hope that the family gets answers soon. We all do for sure. Thank you, Andrea. Coming up, California prosecutors outline their case against a doctor's ex-wife and the people who allegedly helped her kill him. [12:40] A strange thing happens when you put off finishing your college degree.

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On the evening of August 23rd, 2024, Dr. Hamid Mirshouje was walking to his car in the parking lot of his Woodland Hills clinic when he was shot dead by a masked gunman. Days later, friends and family members gathered just steps from where he died for a memorial. His ex-wife Ahong was there along with their children. [14:42] my father. I know he touched a lot of people's lives in a lot of different ways. But then, months later, Ahong was arrested and charged with masterminding Hamid's murder. Three other people were charged in connection to the crime.

All of them have pleaded not guilty. Now, in a recent series of pretrial hearings, we're getting our first glimpse of the prosecution's case against Ahong and her co-conspirators. Here to walk us through it all is Dateline associate producer, [15:12] Rachel, before we get into the case, let's start with Hamid himself. Give us a quick snapshot of who he was. [15:19] So Hamid was an emergency care physician. He specialized in addiction medicine and was known for the relationships he built with his patients. We mentioned that Hamid and Ahang were divorced, but Hamid had actually remarried, right?

Yes. So he and Ahang divorced in 2010. And then in 2022, he remarried. And at the time of his death, he had a six-month-old daughter with his new wife, Ghazal. Take us through the scene of Hamid's murder. What happened? What did investigators [15:49] were able to find surveillance footage from cameras in the plaza. And you see a man run up to the doctor as he walks to his car, shoots him in the head, and then runs off. But he's wearing a mask, so he's not easy to identify. The shooter also left a shell casing behind.

And Rachel, this was not the first time... [16:08] Hamid had been targeted? No, back in May. So just three months before the murder, he'd been beaten up by two men with a baseball bat and they got away. OK, so then how do detectives then make this turn where they start looking at a Hong as... [16:25] possibly connected to all of this. It was no secret that there was bad blood between the two of them. It turns out that Ahang and Hamid were embroiled in litigation. They had mutual business interests that had gone sour.

For one thing, Ahang owned that shopping plaza where Hamid had his clinic. And six months or so before the murder, Hamid sued Ahang, saying she owed him $270,000 that she'd failed to pay him. According to the indictment, the other people charged alongside [16:55] the alleged gunman, a getaway driver. How do prosecutors... [17:00] allege that Ahong met these alleged co-conspirators? This is what we found out at a recent preliminary hearing, mainly through the testimony of the two lead detectives. They testified that the alleged gunman, a man by the name of Evan Hardman, worked security at a hookah lounge in the shopping plaza.

The detectives revealed that Ahong ended up calling Evan. She told him she had surveillance video of Evan breaking into another business in the plaza and she'd go to the police if he didn't [17:30] say they think she meant by that. According to the detectives, it was things like evicting tenants from an apartment building she owned. But then she came up with another task for him, rob her ex-husband, Hamid, and beat him up. And this is the incident we were talking about earlier. Prosecutors say Hong and Evan were the ones behind the incident where Hamid got beaten up.

[17:48] Okay, so Rachel, prosecutors are saying that Ahong asked Evan to murder her ex-husband, and she promised to pay him a lot of money, $400,000? That's right. According to the detectives, she provided Evan with the gun, a getaway vehicle, and even gave him a deadline to carry out the killing. [18:06] How did the detectives get all of this information? This was something I had no idea about until the prelim. It turns out Evan, the alleged gunman, spoke to detectives at length in recorded interviews not long after his arrest. [18:18] Ahong and Evan have pleaded not guilty.

[18:21] And Ahong's defense attorney at the prelim hearing was Mark Garagos. He is a very famous celebrity defense attorney. He represented Sean Combs and a slew of other high-profile defendants. What did he have to say about the prosecution's theory? Garagos questioned the credibility of Evan's alleged story. He said that it was noteworthy that during the interview, Evan hadn't talked about Ahong by name. He called her boss lady. [18:51] might have fed Evan the story. He also raised questions about Nick, Ahang's son. Garagos asked how hard investigators had looked into him as a possible suspect.

And the detective said they did look into Nick and came up with no evidence linking him to Hamid's murder, but conceded he was fighting with his dad over money too. Okay, so you did say there were multiple alleged co-conspirators. What do we know about the other defendants in this case? The alleged getaway driver, a woman by the name of Ashley Sweeting, admitted she picked up Evan after the murder, but said [19:21] She didn't know what he was planning or that a murder had even happened. Ashley was very emotional in court and even mouthed, I'm so sorry, to Hamid's widow.

[19:30] The other co-defendant, Sarala Jawed, said he was never told there was going to be a murder. After listening to the prosecution make its case over three days at this preliminary hearing, the judge made a big decision, Rachel. Yes, the judge dismissed the murder charges against both Ashley and Sarala Jawed, saying the prosecution didn't have enough evidence against them, leaving them to face lesser charges. [20:00] no longer part of the case. [20:01] What about Ahong and the alleged gunman? Ahong and Evan Hardman remain in custody and are heading to trial.

And in an interesting development, Ahong decided not to retain Mark Garagos, so she's asked for time to get a new attorney. OK, and the next hearing is set for July 23rd. Rachel, thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Andrea. Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup, an update on the Texas man who fled to Italy right before his murder trial, [20:31] accused of murdering his wife, Maya, will take you inside the courthouse. Plus, the Supreme Court weighs in on geofencing, a tool investigators use to identify potential suspects at a crime scene.

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[22:09] Therapy can help you sort through what's taking up space and quietly affecting you. [22:13] With BetterHelp, connect with a licensed therapist online and switch anytime. Maybe it's time to close a few tabs. Visit com. [22:29] Welcome back. Joining us for this week's Roundup is Dateline booking producer, Caitlin Cutt. Hey, Caitlin. Hi. So, Caitlin, first, we are heading to your neck of the woods. We're heading to San Diego County, where a verdict has been reached in the murder trial of Navy optician Larry Miliete, a man prosecutors say killed his wife, Maya, back in 2021 and hid her body somewhere that's never [22:53] Caitlin, before we get to the verdict, just give us a quick recap.

Absolutely. So for seven weeks, prosecutors portrayed Larry as a man spiraling out of control as it became clear his wife was planning to leave him. Now, obviously, one of the standout witnesses from this trial was a man who called himself a spellcaster who said Larry paid him to cast spells on Maya to keep her close to him. [23:23] let alone that Larry had murdered her. Yeah. So, I mean, this trial has been a wild ride. The jury finally got the case last Thursday. What happened next? They came back after only five hours of deliberation.

What did they decide? They found Larry Miliate guilty of first degree murder despite the lack of a body. Wow. Caitlin, how did people respond in the courtroom when the [23:53] there were lots of sniffles and tears coming from Maya's family. They were hugging each other a lot, consoling each other. It almost just, it was emotional. There was a catharsis. Okay, so that's Maya's side. What about Larry and his family? Well, Larry's family sat still in silence as the verdict was read. After hearing the guilty verdict, his attorneys whispered something to Larry, and Larry leaned over and appeared to thank them, and his eyes looked pretty red.

[24:20] After the verdict, Caitlin, the prosecutors held a brief press conference with Maya's family. Let's take a listen to Prosecutor Christy Bowles. No verdict can erase the pain. [24:30] of losing May, [24:32] or the years of uncertainty that have endured. [24:36] But we hope today's outcome provides a measure of justice and accountability. [24:40] It's clear that Bowles felt strongly about this case. I mean, if you remember, she got emotional during her closing arguments. Maya's sister Mary Chris thanked Christy Bowles and her team, but she made it clear that closure will be hard because Maya's body has never been found.

Justice probably have been served today. [24:59] But we still have to bring my sister [25:01] Home? I always still ask the Alblake for help. [25:05] Maybe. [25:06] you know [25:07] One of these days, we can bring her home. That certainly isn't the end of the family's journey or Larry's. He's got another trial coming up, right? [25:16] Yeah, that's right. He's facing another criminal trial for a gun charge. In 2021, after Maya disappeared, the police confiscated multiple unregistered firearms from his home. So he's facing trial for that. He pled not guilty and opted for a bench trial.

And that means a judge will hear both sides and then decide his fate. He's due back in the courtroom on July 20th for a status hearing for that. Now, as for the murder conviction, we're not sure when sentencing will be, but he's facing 25 years to life. [25:47] Next, we are heading overseas. On Wednesday, Lee Gilly, the Houston entrepreneur accused of murder who fled before his trial, appeared in court in Italy. Caitlin, remind us about that case. OK, sure. So in 2024, Gilly was accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Krista.

He pled not guilty. [26:06] Then he was released on a $1 million bond with an ankle monitor. But then a few weeks before he was set to go to trial, he cut that ankle monitor off and fled the country. Prosecutors, Caitlin, say that Gilly traveled from Houston to Canada before catching a flight to Italy where he was finally stopped. How did he get caught? Well, according to a federal criminal complaint, Border Police stopped Gilly after he showed them fake Belgian travel documents. [26:36] deportation, according to prosecutors, Gilly admitted his real identity and told the Italian border police that he was seeking asylum.

He said the only reason he fled was to avoid facing the death penalty. Yeah, because this is a capital murder trial. And had prosecutors in the United States confirmed that they were seeking the death penalty? It's not clear if they were. But, you know, remember, Italy and the entire EU does not allow the death penalty. And Italy might not agree to [27:06] Gilly back to the United States and [27:08] unless the S. promises not to seek the death penalty. Yeah, I had another story where they needed to know about the prison conditions before they would extradite a defendant.

So they take that very seriously overseas. Gilly has been in Italy since May. His June trial date came and went, and an extradition hearing finally got underway on Wednesday. What happened? Lee appeared in the touring court of appeal Wednesday morning. Once again, Gilly asked not to be extradited, and he got emotional. [27:38] Italy and they want to punish me. And I'm asking for protection for myself and my children. Now, presumably he's referencing his two young children who he had with Krista and they're currently in temporary custody with Krista's parents. What did the Italian judge decide, Caitlin?

Well, the turn court of appeal reserved its decision for now, but they have to rule within six months. So we're going to be keeping an eye on what happens next. Okay. There's one more strange new detail in this case, according to reporting by our NBC affiliate KPRC2 in Houston, [28:08] while Gilly has been overseas, someone is claiming ownership of his house in Texas. Andrea, that is correct. [28:16] A week after Gilly fled to Italy, a man claimed the home where Krista was murdered was his. He filed a deed in Harris County, and property records show a transfer of the home.

[28:28] This happened days after investigators executed a search warrant on that house and [28:32] after Gilly fled the country. Caitlin, so many twists in this. Thank you for bringing us the latest on all these cases. Thanks for having me. A few weeks ago, before the S. Supreme Court justices broke for summer recess, they released an opinion about a powerful but controversial investigative tool. It's called geofencing. Detectives asked tech companies to give them [29:02] digital dragnet that can lead them to their suspect. Defense attorneys and privacy advocates, however, are concerned that innocent bystanders are getting caught up in investigations they have nothing to do with.

Here to tell us more about how geofencing works is Matthew Toxen, professor of law at the University of Utah. Welcome to the podcast, Matthew. Thank you for having me. Okay, so first of all, tell us what geofencing is. [29:32] In the past, when you sign up for an app like Google Maps or something like that, you typically give permission for them to collect your location information and the police can use it to retrace your steps. OK, so our location history is, of course, I think most people know this, you know, by now that it's stored in their phones and it can be available to the police, which can get people in trouble.

[29:56] Yeah, that's right. It's used in a lot of cases these days. If there's a murder or a bank robbery, geofences are sort of drawn around the area. And Google can provide investigators with all the phones, at least using Google Apps in that area. So you can narrow it down to 20 people who are in the area of the bank at the time of the bank robbery. So these are like virtual fences. [30:26] fenced-in area is at least susceptible to being identified to the police. It's usually anonymous at first, and they go through the sort of process to whittle it down.

And what do you mean by it's anonymous at first? Yeah, it's usually a three-step process where Google initially gives them a bunch of just serial numbers of the people who are there, and then the police try to narrow it down and request a little more information about the police. [30:52] certain numbers, you know, they'll say, oh, tell us where this person was an hour before we started the geofence and an hour after. And then once they've really sort of drilled down to a few suspects, they'll say, okay, give us their names and, you know, their actual phone numbers.

Yeah, because I mean, if you're a bank teller, [31:11] and your numbers popping up, obviously, you're going to be ruled out pretty quickly that you're not the person. And I guess it's a process of elimination, right? Yeah, right. At least, hopefully, someone who has been at the bank for six hours and clearly works there would be ruled out. Someone who goes, you know, who travels out of state immediately after the bank robbery, that might be more suspicious. Wow, that's so interesting. Because like, you know, we hear about these [31:36] things on Dateline all the time, but we don't always think about, well, what went into obtaining this data and using geofencing.

So is some of the argument then that innocent people who, you know, have nothing to do with a crime are sort of getting caught up in this digital dragnet, if you will, before investigators get to their prime suspect, you know, that they're on investigators' radar when they haven't done anything wrong? [32:06] up a whole bunch of people, only usually one or two of which have anything to do with the crime. There have been some examples of people even being arrested, you know, falsely, despite being completely innocent, because they, for example, rode their bicycle near a house that was being burgled at the time.

There's a definite concern about innocent people's privacy rights and innocent people potentially getting arrested. How did this issue make its way to the Supreme Court? [32:30] It started off in a case of a bank robbery. Okello Chattree allegedly robbed a bank in Virginia, went to trial, and the trial court allowed geofence evidence to come in. He was convicted. He then appealed it to the Intermediate Appeals Court in the Baltimore region. They also said, yep, this evidence can come in. He petitioned the Supreme Court, and so that's how it ended up at the Supreme Court.

Chattree's defense attorney argued that... [32:56] his client's Fourth Amendment right was violated. Just remind everyone what the Fourth Amendment says and how does it relate to Chautry's phone data? [33:05] The Fourth Amendment says that people have the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, which typically means that the police need to get a warrant before engaging in search or seizure that's covered by the Fourth Amendment. And the big issue in this Chattery case was, is this covered by the Fourth Amendment? Yeah, I mean, you need a search warrant for pretty much everything else, you know, when you think about it.

Yeah, for a great many things, certainly to search someone's house or to, you know, go into someone's phone or something like that. [33:35] Google, he gave up his right to privacy. It's a, you know, it's a third party. So what did the Supreme Court decide? The Supreme Court rules that you do need a warrant to do geofences. And the Fourth Amendment did protect location history information. [33:51] before some other courts have said you don't even need a warrant, you can sort of do them whenever you want. The Supreme Court has now declared that you do need a warrant.

And what's still to be determined is how exactly should you write that warrant? How specific does it have to be in order to be valid? We should say the Supreme Court didn't weigh in on whether the warrant used to get Chautry's data was valid or not. The justices left that to a lower court to decide. So we'll need to wait and see what happens in that particular case. [34:21] Matthew, is there anything the average person needs to know about this ruling? Well, you might want to be careful about the information that you disclose to your phone apps and things.

But for the most part, the Supreme Court seems to be taking account of modern technologies and the realities of modern life. And so I think they're going to protect people's information from abusive searches and things like that. And also just don't commit a crime. How about that? Exactly. As long as you don't commit a crime, you probably don't have much to worry about [34:51] been fascinating. Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium.

Coming up this Friday on Dateline, it's a story we've been following closely here on the podcast, so if you've been tuning in, you might remember it. It's about a man who committed one of the most diabolical crimes I've covered here at Dateline. And now we're giving you the full [35:21] lost a family of really good [35:25] people. And they were. They were really good people. Watch Slow Burn on Friday at 10, 9 Central. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Carson Cummins, Caroline Casey, and Kiani Reed. Our associate producers are Ellery Gladstone-Groth and Aria Young.

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