Investigators say they are still working to find Summer Wells, who went missing 3 years ago
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT/Gray News) - Saturday marked three years since Summer Moon-Utah Wells was reported missing in Tennessee.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation marked the anniversary Friday, releasing a video outlining the latest in the search.
Criminal Investigation Division Assistant Director Josh Melton spoke about his emotions surrounding the case.
“When I see the picture of Summer Wells, I see my daughter,” he said. “If my daughter was missing, I’d hope that somebody was out looking for her.”
Summer’s family, including parents Don Wells and Candus Bly, reported last seeing the girl around 6:30 p.m. June 15, 2021, at the family’s home. She was last seen wearing a pink shirt and gray shorts and may have been barefoot at the time.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Endangered Child Alert for the then-4-year-old the same day. The agency joined several others in the search, including groups of volunteer search parties.
The following day, authorities issued an Amber Alert on Summer’s behalf, meaning they thought she was in immediate danger.
A few days after Summer’s disappearance, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced it was investigating Wells’ claims that Summer had been abducted.
Three years later, there are no answers to Summer’s disappearance.
“We don’t have the evidence in this case to know for sure whether or not Summer was abducted or whether or not she walked away from her home and became lost,” Melton said. “It’s very important for us to not just focus on those two.”
The search is still ongoing, Melton said. The latest update from Tennessee Bureau of Investigation representatives said agents are still working the area, hoping to find out what happened to the girl.
“We continue to focus on ground search efforts,” Melton said. “We continue to focus on interviews with people about vehicles that may have traveled throughout the area or technology that could have been used that may give us a lead.”
The case took the country by storm in 2021, garnering attention from amateur sleuths, podcasters and YouTubers.
“Many people have speculated what they think has happened in this case,” Melton said. “The difficult part of speculation is that, if we as investigators speculate and focus our efforts in one direction, we’re making a huge mistake.”
Melton finished by saying the agency plans to keep working on the case as long as it needs to.
“All stones are being turned over. We have some of our most talented agents assigned to this case,” Melton said. “We have brought in experts from across the state brought in. We have thrown everything that we know to throw at this case, but we don’t have the answers we need in this case. We’re not going to allow this case to sit on a shelf. We will keep working on this case until she’s home.”
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