Father speaks two years after the disappearance of Summer Wells
Summer’s father, Don Wells, said in an interview with WVLT News that his home in Hawkins County was once filled with joy.
HAWKINS COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) - The silence on Ben Hill Road two years after the disappearance of Summer Wells is deafening. The Wells property was once filled with police, search and rescue themes and members of the family.
Summer’s father, Don Wells, said in an interview with WVLT News that his home in Hawkins County was once filled with joy.
“It was really pretty awesome. You know, I always look forward to coming home to the kids and having a good time with them,” he said. “Um, I worked all the time, but, um, I always loved to come home.”
Wells and Summer’s mother, Candus Bly, are not staying in East Tennessee right now. Wells is working out of state. This week, the two are remembering the events of June 15, 2021.
“When I got home, and there were a couple of police cars there. We were really scared to death and was just hoping, you know, for the first few days that she’d be found,” he said.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation sent out an AMBER Alert for the then-five-year-old on June 16, 2021. In the following days, 19 agencies and several volunteers were called in to help in the search.
“We want to encourage the public, especially residents living in the area of ben hill road to check any trail cameras or security cameras they may have that could have captured Summer in video or photographs,” TBI official Leslie Earhart said in 2021. “We also encourage residents to check any crawlspaces, outbuildings or sheds, that might make for good hiding places.”
Unreliable cell phone service and hazardous terrain created hurdles for those searching. For ten days straight, hundreds of people combed the most remote parts of Hawkins County to no avail.
The last potential clue released to the public? A red Toyota Truck seen near Ben Hill Road around the time of Summer’s disappearance. That information came out on June 26, 2021, but the driver has still not been identified.
The TBI has said there’s no evidence of Summer being abducted, but her father has a theory of his own.
“What we think, that this is some kind of a professional situation that took her and had probably been watching for a while,” he said.
His theories don’t stop there, however.
“She’s obviously not in school anywhere, or there’s no record of her anywhere. So, she’s either you know, in someone’s basement, deceased, or we just don’t know- or in another country,” he said. “It’s fairly easy to get anything out of the country in my opinion. It’s not easy to get in the country, but it is easy to get out.”
When asked if he thought Summer is still alive, Wells said he wasn’t sure.
“I have no idea. I have no clue. If she is, I mean- I don’t,” he said. “I really don’t know. there’s no way of telling.”
There are still few clues, despite investigators working thousands of hours on the case. Search warrants, cell phone data and other evidence has been collected, but there’s no sign of Summer.
Wells might have theories about where Summer might be, but he wasn’t sure how to answer one question: does he know what happened to Summer?
“I don’t know how you answer a question like that,” he said. “I mean, I’ve had that question asked to me before. I mean, if I asked you that question, how would you answer?”
The TBI has said there’s still an active AMBER Alert for Summer, and investigators are still looking. Her parents are still hoping she’ll come home.
“Only thing I can say is please let her come home,” Wells said. “Let her have her freedom and her life.”
Copyright 2023 WVLT. All rights reserved.
