Summer Wells' Father Arrested on Domestic Assault Charge in Tennessee

Donald Wells, the father of missing child Summer Wells, was arrested Tuesday on a domestic assault charge in Hawkins County, Tennessee, according to jail records. The 61-year-old was booked into the Hawkins County Jail at 4:15 a.m. and was scheduled for arraignment Wednesday morning. Specific details regarding the charge were not immediately available.

Wells has prior arrests for charges including domestic assault, driving under the influence, and firearms offenses, none of which were directly linked to his daughter's disappearance. He also had a civil order of protection filed against him on behalf of his wife in 2020.

Summer Wells was five years old when she was reported missing from her family's Rogersville home on June 15, 2021. She would now be 10 years old, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released an age-progressed image depicting what she might look like at age nine.

At the time of her disappearance, Summer was described as approximately 3 feet tall, weighing about 40 pounds, with blonde hair. She was last seen wearing gray pants and a pink shirt, and may have been barefoot. Her parents, Donald Wells and Candus Bly, have stated they believe she was lured from their property on Ben Hill Road.

Investigators have sought a witness who may have been driving a red pickup truck with ladder racks and white buckets in the bed. The couple's other children were removed from their custody following Summer's disappearance. According to the family's website, the parents were cleared by a Department of Child Services investigation but have not regained custody of their sons.

Summer's mother, Candus Bly, has a sister, Rose Marie Bly, who was reported missing from Wisconsin in 2009, a case that also remains unsolved. Anyone with information regarding Summer Wells' whereabouts is encouraged to contact the Hawkins County Sheriff's Office at 423-272-7121 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND.