ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — This weekend marks four years since a Hawkins County girl was last seen.
Five-year-old Summer Wells was reported missing from her home on Ben Hill Road in the Beech Creek Community on June 15, 2021. There’s been an active AMBER Alert for her ever since.
“It’s four years too long,” her father, Don Wells, said from his yard, one of the last places his daughter was known to be. “My thoughts or feelings haven’t changed. I mean, it’s been heartbreak, continual heartbreak for the past four years.”
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl was only three feet tall at the time. She was reportedly wearing grey pants and a pink shirt with no shoes.
“We love and miss her very much and wish that she could come home very much because she was kind of the bossy boss around here,” he said. “We just miss our children, man. We had four children running around here.”
Crews searched the Beech Creek community for weeks. Law enforcement has received numerous tips that never panned out.
“We haven’t talked to [law enforcement] in a long time. We let Chris and Trudy [Colbaugh], our private detectives, deal with TBI and Hawkins County,” he said. “It’s just better that they do that.”
The last major update from law enforcement was two years ago, when the TBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an age-progressed photo of what Summer could look like.
Summer’s mother, Candus, has only spoken on camera with News Channel 11 once. She declined to be interviewed right before we began.
“She wanted to. But all that fear started creeping up, you know, of what happened, you know, in the beginning with the, social media and everything, hunting us down everywhere we go. And, trying to basically ruin us everywhere we go. And, she’s just having nightmares,” Wells said. “It’s very bad. And when you add the social media pressure, all of them saying that we’re suspects or whatever, that just adds to it. And it’s kind of living a nightmare.”
After Summer’s disappearance, the Wells’ three oldest boys were put into the Department of Children’s Services’ custody.
“We haven’t received any updates from them. No contact. And in fact, they deleted our phone number or blocked my phone,” Wells said. “As soon as we got done with that case and signed our children over.”
News Channel 11 inquired about the status of the Wells’ case with DCS.
“Pursuant to state and federal law, DCS investigations are strictly confidential and we are unable to provide information related to your request.“
DCS Spoksperson
The TBI declined to comment about the ongoing search for Summer, and the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to our requests.
You can read all of our coverage on the Search for Summer Wells here.
Anyone who has any credible information about the whereabouts of Summer Wells should contact 1-800-TBI-FIND.
The post Summer Wells’ father speaks nearly four years following her disappearance appeared first on WHNT.
