ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – Don Wells, the father of 5-year-old Summer Wells, spoke with News Channel 11 about the disappearance of his daughter from their home in Hawkins County Tuesday night.
Wells wanted to first thank the community and responding agencies.
“We really appreciate the outpouring of love,” said Wells. “We’ve never seen so many good people in one place.”
According to Wells, Summer was planting flowers just before her disappearance Tuesday night.
“She was planting flowers with her mother and her grandmother and she wanted to go into the house, so my wife watched her go into the door and she went into the house,” said Wells. “And the boys were on the internet of course, and she wanted to go downstairs and play with her toys. So when her mother [came] in and she says, ‘Summer ‘ and she went down into the basement and she didn’t answer. So she went down there and she was gone. So she went out the basement door, which was unlocked, and we haven’t seen her since.”
“Some bad person grabbed her, but we have no idea,” said Wells. “The FBI and the police have covered every single place, everything that anybody can think of, they’ve covered.”
Wells said he believes there are people who come through the area seeking drugs, and that investigators have pursued that lead already.
“As we’ve stated before, the circumstances surrounding Summer’s disappearance remain unclear,” TBI’s Public Information Officer, Leslie Earhart said during a Thursday AMBER Alert briefing. “If we do develop information that she was taken and we develop a suspect.”
During TBI’s Friday update, Earhart said the agency had received 85 tips since Summer went missing.
“We know she wouldn’t leave the property, she doesn’t do that,” Wells said.
On Wednesday, TBI issued an AMBER Alert for Summer after initially issuing an Endangered Child Alert Tuesday night when she was reported missing. The agency chose to upgrade the alert because of “new information and growing concern.”
Summer Moon-Utah Wells is 3-feet tall with blonde hair who is believed to be barefoot. She was last seen Tuesday walking near her home in the Beech Creek community wearing a pink shirt and gray shorts.
The AMBER Alert lists the following details for Summer.
- Age: 5
- Sex: Female
- Race: White
- Hair: Blonde Eyes: Blue
- Height: 3′
- Weight: 40 lbs.
- NCIC: M476287498
- Missing From: Rogersville, Tennessee
- Missing Since: June 15, 2021
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office at 423-272-7121 or the TBI at 800-TBI-FIND.
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