Summer Wells update: Every concerned person is keen on knowing the latest update on Summer Wells, the 5-year-old girl who went missing on June 15, 2021, and has since not been found.
Several months after she went missing, she has still not been found. Her issue has caught international and national attention. People wish she can safely come back wherever she is. Many also believe she might have died by now.
An AMBER alert has been created for her and it is still active.
Recently, a few community members gathered at Borden Park in Kingsport to pray for the safe return of the missing Hawkins County girl. Her prayers have been praying since after she disappeared.
“Well, whoever has my daughter, I pray and hope that they have not harmed her and they bring her back to us safe and sound,” Summer’s mother Candus Bly Wells said in June.
That plea from Summer’s mom was echoed by her father months later. The parents said they believe their child was kidnapped.
“Me and Candus know for a fact that Summer was abducted, we know that,” Don Wells said in November.
From day one, however, law enforcement has maintained there is no evidence that she was abducted.
“However, all avenues continued to be explored, including foul play, and the very real possibility that she wandered off and became lost in the mountainous and rough terrain surrounding her home,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released in December.
The first ground search lasted almost two weeks, with law enforcement finding no evidence of an abduction.
“Like we said from day one, everything is still on the table, everybody’s a person of interest until we find Summer,” Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson said in November.
Questions remain after neighbors described their experiences from June 15.
A neighbor of Summer Wells says they heard a scream shortly before she went missing.
“It was a jumbled mess, she was like ‘Summer’s missing, I can’t find her,’ I’m like, ‘look, I heard a scream earlier, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I’m looking for her now,” JodiSue Brown recalled. “But every day I wake up and I wonder what I could’ve done.”
Table of Contents
Online threats to parents
Parents of Summer Wells have admitted that they keep receiving threats from unknown people online.
“The only reason we put all of her pictures out there and the only reason we done all these things was to try to help find Summer, but it turned into a living nightmare,” Don Wells said.
Support from Community members
The pain of one is the pain of all. So far community members have been doing all they can to find Summer Wells. People have voluntarily put up posters, social media posts with hashtags, and billboards to help find the sweet little girl.
“We need one person – one person – to say something. That’s all we need,” billboard organizer Brad Allen said, pleading anyone with information to come forward.
More search
In early December 2021, Beech Creek came back to the area where she was believed to go missing and search thoroughly once again, but, all to no avail, nothing concrete was found.
“Investigators have executed numerous search warrants, collecting all potential evidence. We’ve spoken with anyone and everyone associated with the Wells family, in some cases more than once. This includes neighbors, acquaintances, and those working in the area the day she disappeared,” the TBI released in early December.
The case has left veteran law enforcement befuddled.
“I’ve been through a lot in the last 44 years, seen a lot, investigated a lot, but this is one of the top ones,” Lawson said.
Her parents have continued to beg for her return.
“We just wish Summer could come home,” Don Wells said.
Tuesday morning, News Channel 11 reached out to the TBI for an update in the investigation and was told there are no updates but that the investigation is active and ongoing.
“It’s an active and ongoing investigation. We’re not going to stop until we determine what happened to her. And we’re just taking it one day at a time,” TBI spokesperson Leslie Earhart said at a press conference in June.
Summer was reported missing from her home in the Beech Creek area of Hawkins County in June and the AMBER Alert for Summer Wells remains active.
Anyone with information on Wells is asked to contact the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office at 423-272-7121 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
