East Tennessee 5-year-old now missing for four weeks
By Chuck Morris
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ROGERSVILLE, Tennessee (WSMV) — The search continues for 5-year-old Summer Wells, who was reported missing from her Rogersville home four weeks ago.
Summer was last seen around 6:30 p.m. on June 15 at her home on Ben Hill Road in a remote area of Hawkins County.
An Endangered Child Alert was issued by the TBI on the night of her disappearance and was upgraded to an Amber Alert the following morning.
Summer has blonde hair, blue eyes, stands 3’0” and weighs around 40 pounds. She was reportedly last seen wearing gray pants, a pink shirt and was possibly barefoot.
“Typically, on an Amber Alert that I’ve been involved in since I’ve been involved in this program, within a couple of days, we have a tip or we have an idea if they’ve been abducted, if they maybe left into the woods, if someone saw something that leads us, hopefully, to get an answer to where the child went or if they were taken,” said Shelly Smitherman, TBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, in a video released by the TBI. “We’re going to have some tip or lead, and that’s the frustrating part for law enforcement in this case and for the public.”
Smitherman said the TBI is using every resource available in the search for Summer.
“We will continue to investigate and search for Summer,” said Smitherman. “In the public’s eye, there may not be as much media attention given to this case, but that does not mean that we stop what we’re doing. We will continue to use every resource we have that we can utilize to try to find Summer.”
On Monday, Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson said in a video released Monday by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that “everything is still on the table.”
“We’re still trying to find out what happened to Summer. Everybody is still a person of interest,” said Lawson.
The TBI reported on Monday it had received 935 tips in connection with the disappearance of Summer Wells.
Lawson emphasized to residents of the area on Monday to check any trail or home security cameras for anything suspicious.
“We never know who was going to be in that area and we’re still looking for a red Toyota truck,” Lawson said on Monday. “Everything that we do is trying to put a piece of the puzzle together to find Summer. It may not be something that means anything to the people, but it may mean everything to us.”
A maroon or red 1998-2000 Toyota Tacoma with a full bed ladder rack along with white buckets in the truck bed was seen in the area of Beech Creek Road and Ben Hill Road in the late afternoon to early evening on either Monday, June 14 or Tuesday, June 15.
If you have information about Summer’s whereabouts, contact the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND.
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