Summer Moon-Utah Wells was born on February 4, 2016, to her parents, Donald Wells and Candus Bly. She had three older brothers between the ages of 7–12; she lived with them, her parents, and her grandmother. The family lived in an unincorporated, rural community called Beech Creek. The terrain is described as “rocky” and “mountainous,” and the closest road to their house dead ends in an area with dense forestry, rocky peaks, and a nearby stream.

As for Summer, not much is known about her as a person. The information we do have paints a picture of an active, playful little girl who enjoyed playing outside. She also loved Paw Patrol and Frozen.

DISAPPEARANCE

On the day Summer disappeared, her mother (Candus) noted that at 5:30 PM, she was planting flowers with them near the house, about 20 feet away. Donald, her father, was reportedly away at work. According to Candus, she went inside to find her brothers and told them she wanted to go to the basement and play with her toys. However, a short while later, she went inside to look for her daughter but realized that Summer was no longer there. By 6:30 PM, Summer was reported missing to the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office.

Once the Sherriff’s Office got involved, it wasn’t long before the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) got involved. The TBI would release an endangered child alert at midnight on the 16th, which would be upgraded to an Amber Alert less than 12 hours later.

The number of agencies assisting in the investigation would grow to over 72, both from within Tennessee and neighboring states, including North Carolina and Georgia. Within the first six days, authorities and volunteers would thoroughly search thousands of acres of land surrounding the family’s house, even despite the rugged terrain and poor cell service. Despite extensive searches, Summer was never found.

Investigators then turned to the community, asking them to check any cameras and surveillance footage, as well as their buildings and properties, for any signs of Summer. They also set up a roadblock to question residents to see if anyone saw or heard anything out of the ordinary that day.

Eleven days after her disappearance, the authorities announced their first big break. Reportedly, a truck was seen in the late afternoon or early evening on June 14 and 15. It was described as a red or maroon Toyota Tacoma from 1998–2000, and it had a full-bed ladder rack with white buckets in the bed. Despite requesting more information, the vehicle and driver have never been identified. While this person is not a suspect, authorities believe they might have seen or heard something that day.

Throughout the investigation, the authorities examined the family and discovered some alarming revelations. Reportedly, there had been incidents of domestic violence between Donald and Candus on multiple occasions, to the point where he was arrested multiple times. There were also reports that Candus was abusive towards the children, although I was unable to independently verify these reports. Interestingly, all three of Summer’s older brothers were removed by CPS. Once they were removed, investigators questioned them about the case. However, if they learned anything from these interviews, it hasn’t been shared publicly.

Authorities have not announced any other breaks in her case, and her case remains unsolved.

My Thoughts

The Summer Wells disappearance is incredibly convoluted and confusing. In the aftermath of her disappearance, her parents gave several interviews where they stated contradictory information about their timelines. Between this and all of Candus’s social media posts, people have been speculating and throwing out wild theories.

I opted to include only things that have been verified by police and the local media for a few reasons. The first is that there’s so much information that if I included every little bit in this post, it would be the length of a novel. The second is that with all of the speculation and rumors, it’s easy to lose sight of who matters here, and that’s Summer. At the end of the day, she’s the one who’s affected the most by her disappearance. Any time we discuss her case, our focus should be only on her.

However, if you’re interested in doing a deep dive into this case, a good place to start would be the Crime Weekly podcast. They did a three-part series about Summer back in 2022, and their analysis of the case was insightful.

With that being said, I find it interesting that there’s so little information that’s been confirmed. Summer disappeared over two years ago, and there haven’t been any major updates since 2021.

In this case, there are three main theories: wandering off, abduction, and murder. Let’s go one by one and figure out which is the most likely.

First, we have the theory that Summer ran away or wandered off. At face value, this seems likely. After all, it’s pretty common for young children to wander off, especially if they see something that captures their attention. However, this theory gives me pause for a couple of reasons. First, we’re not sure if she disappeared with shoes or socks. Considering that the area around her home had thick vegetation and forestry, I find it hard to believe that she could’ve gotten far. Granted, a lot of kids in rural areas go barefoot outside, especially in the summer. I wonder if it was normal for Summer to go barefoot. If not, then that raises all sorts of red flags.

Keep in mind, the authorities arrived quickly and searched the area extensively, but no one ever found her. Unless she fell into a hole or something, how would she have gotten so far away that no one saw or heard her? Except for her falling into a hole, hitting her head, or something similar, I can’t see her running off. If she was safe in the forest, someone would’ve heard or seen her.

Second, we have the theory that Summer was abducted. I don’t put much stock into this theory either because they were in a very rural part of Tennessee. It’s so out of the way that you have to know that it’s there to find it. For a stranger abduction, someone would’ve had to drive to the house, walk around to the basement, grab Summer, and take her back to the car, all without being noticed. That doesn’t seem very likely. This is an area where unknown vehicles and people would be quickly noticed. At a minimum, Candus, the grandmother, one of the boys, or some combination would’ve said something to the authorities, and the authorities likely would’ve released information about that, such as a physical description, a car description, or even a license plate. Considering it’s been over two years since her disappearance, I can’t imagine they would’ve held onto information about a potential abductor for so long.

Lastly, we have the theory that Summer was killed, either accidentally or on purpose. For me, this is the theory I have the easiest time believing. Candus was allegedly abusive towards the children, but I couldn’t find anything objective to back up this claim, like police reports or newspaper accounts. As of this writing, the only evidence I could find were videos of neighbors giving interviews. I’m not saying that anyone was lying, but at the same time, I can’t give you this information as fact when it’s a case of he-said, she-said. Just like in a court of law, we have to stick to what we can prove happened.

Even though I couldn’t verify the abuse claims, multiple sources reported that there were domestic violence incidents between Donald and Candus. If that’s the case, then it wouldn’t surprise me if something had happened to Summer during one of these incidents. When I was in college, I worked with kids who experienced domestic violence. Many times, they would try to protect their moms from their dads during a fight, and they would end up getting injured in the process. Because Summer was so small, it wouldn’t have taken much for Donald and/or Candus to severely injure her, if not kill her.

As I mentioned during the Roxanne Paltauf disappearance, Domestic Violence doesn’t just go away on its own. Without aggressive intervention, it will get worse until the unthinkable happens. Sadly, many cases go unreported. Many times, the only reason it gets reported is that an argument gets so loud that a neighbor calls the police, only to discover that someone was badly hurt or killed.

Assuming that Summer was injured/killed during a fight, it’s plausible that Candus and/or Donald hid her body in an attempt to cover up what happened. They could’ve been afraid of CPS taking custody of the older three boys, especially if they knew they were responsible for what happened to Summer.

Ultimately, I think that Candus and Donald know a lot more than they’re saying. Until they come forward and tell the police everything they know, the chances of Summer being found are slim.

The Summer Wells disappearance is one that’s incredibly heartbreaking and confusing. There’s so much speculation that you could make a case that anything and everything happened here. Amid of the information and theories is missing 5 year old Summer Wells, a little girl who loved Disney’s Frozen, Paw Patrol, and playing outside. Who knows what her life could’ve been like. One day, we’ll figure out what happened to Summer Wells, but until then, her case remains unsolved.