Summer Wells: Tennessee girl missing after 2 years

ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (NewsNation) — It’s been two years since 5-year-old Summer Wells vanished without a trace from a small town in Tennessee.

On June 15, 2021, Summer’s parents said she was helping her mother and grandmother plant flowers before going inside their Rogersville home to play with her toys.

Then, out of nowhere, Summer vanished. That was the last time her mother said she had seen her daughter.

“I yelled downstairs for her a couple of times, and I didn’t get an answer. Which was unusual because usually she always answers me, so I went down there to check and she was nowhere inside, she was just gone,” Summer Wells’ mother Candus Wells said.

Her family believes Summer may have been abducted, taken down a steep hill behind the home — possibly to a waiting car along the road.

“I know in my heart and in my mind she was abducted,” Don Wells, Summer’s father, told NewsNation. “Someone snuck up there and we were not exactly paying attention. And we don’t know if they came in the basement and grabbed her or if she stepped outside the basement and was walking to her swing or something.”

Two years after her disappearance, that’s still all that is known about the last time Summer was seen.

Almost immediately, Candus and Don became the center of an investigation but were never named as suspects. Police remained tight-lipped about Summer’s case, and there haven’t been any real leads or developments.

Recently, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released an age-progressed photo showing what Summer would look like now. They said there is no new information to make public but they are continuing to chase down leads in the case.

The Wells said they have had to move from their tight-knit community of fewer than 5,000 people because of all the threats and harassment they received.

The Hawkins County sheriff said the Wells have cooperated, but there is no evidence that Summer was kidnapped or abducted.

“We have not ruled anything out. Everything is possible,” Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson said.

Both Candus and Don passed a polygraph test, but Lawson’s statement that everyone is still a person of interest is leading some to wonder if the Wells may know more than they’ve said.

“She is a good mother. She loves her children,” Don said about his wife. “She is not going to allow any situation like that. The biggest mistake she might have made is choosing some wrong friends.”

When asked if any of those wrong friends have anything to do with Summer’s disappearance, Don said, “We don’t know.”

Don said he was limited in what he could discuss about the family and the case. Social services took Summer’s three brothers from the home shortly after Summer’s disappearance, and the Wells have not been able to communicate with them in half a year.

“I love, we love our daughter with all our hearts,” Don Wells said. “We miss her. We will do anything to have her back in that church with us she so loves.”

Summer’s father pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2022. Candus also filed an order of protection against him but then asked for it to be dismissed.

Don currently faces criminal charges in three states, including a domestic assault arrest in 2020.

“You know, everybody makes mistakes,” Don said.

He sat down with NewsNation to discuss where Summer’s case stands today.

“We’re doing better,” he said. “It’s still very rough for my wife.”

Candus hasn’t sat down for an interview since an appearance on “Dr. Phil” in 2021 where she walked out of an interview in tears.

During the 2021 interview, she said she felt she was being interrogated again and didn’t want to do the interview further.

Since Summer’s disappearance, Don said their life has been consumed by harassment from people online who believe they are responsible for whatever happened to Summer.

“Before you know it, you’re getting a mob going,” Don said. “My wife could go to the store and somebody would scream at her. You know, like, ‘baby killer’ or whatever.”

He sent NewsNation videos from one of his job sites where some people were demanding to speak with him about his missing daughter. He said it got so bad that he had to leave the state.

Now, the two live in a motel in Arkansas where Don was able to find a new job.

As for Summer’s case, her father said they have a private investigator working with the police.

The Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office is still working alongside the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, but both agencies declined interviews with our team.

Don said he hasn’t learned anything new from law enforcement either but has always said he believes Summer was abducted.

“Nothing pointing to abduction, nothing pointing to foul play, other than her walking outside the house and not being found,” Lawson had previously stated.

There was also a key tip from a neighbor in 2021: a woman and her teen children told police they heard a scream about and hour before Summer went missing.

“Wish every day that when I heard that scream I didn’t try to dismiss it,” the witness said.

But the sheriff said after multiple interviews, the tip led nowhere.

One clue police are still looking for is a pickup truck that was seen in the area around the time Summer vanished.

Detectives said they are looking for a red or maroon pickup truck with ladders on the back, but Lawson admitted he’s not even sure it is connected to the case.

Summer’s father told NewsNation that he still holds onto hope.

“I do have hope. You know, I have hope in God. He’s in control of all things. And so whatever the outcome is, I have hope in God and one day, either sooner or later, I will be with my daughter again,” Don said.

While the sheriff declined an interview, he emailed a response saying he expects to have an update on the case in the “near future.”

Brian Entin contributed to this report.