Mom Of Missing Summer Wells Allegedly Posted A Video Of Her With A 'For Sale' Sign A Day Before She Disappeared
She's been gone for 5 months.
Facebook On June 15, 2021, a 5-year-old girl named Summer Wells was reported missing from her home in Hawkins County, Tennessee.
Five months later, police have renewed their search in the hopes of finding the little girl.
As the case attracted media attention, some have accused both Donald Wells and Candus Bly of being involved in their daughter's disappearance.
Was Summer Wells trafficked?
No details have been disclosed by investigators about where Summer might be or who may have taken her.
But online, and even some close to the young girl fear she may have been trafficked.
The day Summer went missing, she had been gardening with her mother, Candus Bly, and her grandmother near their family home, according to them.
They explained that after awhile, Summer proceeded inside the family home and headed to the playroom to play with her toys after notifying her brothers. Later, Bly found her daughter missing.
Summer’s mother and father believe that their daughter was kidnapped. They believe she was abducted and forcefully taken into a car.
Bly says, “I feel in my heart that somebody has came up here and took her ... has lured her away from here.”
The police also spotted a red pickup truck in the vicinity of where Summer was last seen. They are trying to locate the driver of that truck who may be a suspect or a witness.
Bly claims to not know about such a pick-up truck, “It’s really strange that I’ve never seen this truck, and I’ve never heard of it until just recently. But I wish they would come forward and explain themselves. If you’re not a suspect, at least come forward and say what you’ve seen.”
Summer Wells's mother allegedly posted a video of her daughter with a ‘For Sale’ sign.
Online sleuths say that just a day before Summer went missing, Bly shared an odd video. Summer is seen dancing in the rain in front of a ‘For Sale’ barrel in front of a red car. The video has opened the door to many speculations by social media users.
Along with the accusations against Donald, the video does raise a few suspicions and leads to the question of whether Summer was trafficked.
Don Wells believes Summer was trafficked.
Wells said he believes his daughter may have been taken by human traffickers who became aware of her on social media.
The father has also attracted suspicion from online sleuths due to his criminal history.
Don has been convicted of multiple violent felonies and served prison time for convictions involving drugs and burglaries in Arkansas, Utah and Texas
Don has also said that his 34-year-old son, Donald Wesley Wells, is a convicted sex offender, having pleaded guilty in Arkansas in 2007 to sexual indecency with a child.
Not long after his daughter's disappearance, Don was caught driving while drunk. He was then arrested after failing the sobriety test.
Don discussed the incident and explained that it was part of the emotional toll of Summer's disappearance. In July, his three sons were taken away by child protective services.
“They [CPS] come at me and said – either posing – said they had the inside scoop with TBI [Tennessee Bureau of Investigation] and that they knew I sold my daughter for drugs, and I flipped out. I flipped out.”
Of course, none of this incriminates Don in his daughter's disappearance but scrutiny remains.
Many children have been trafficked by their parents in Tennessee.
Child trafficking is a concerning issue in the state.
Parents sell their children or even toddlers for sex at as young as 3-years-old. The National Human Trafficking Hotline says, "Traffickers promise a high-paying job, a loving relationship, or new and exciting opportunities and then use physical and psychological violence to control them"
One of the reasons it’s becoming prevalent in Tennessee is because of the direct routes from the southern states to the north by the interstates of Knoxville.
Family members that already have a history of drug abuse and sexual assault are more likely to fall prey to human trafficking. In 2011, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation conducted a study that showed 85% of Tennessee counties had a minimum of one case of trafficking.
This is not the first missing person case in the Wells family.
In 2009, Rose Marie Bly, Summer’s aunt was also said to have disappeared in Wisconsin. Summer's case has brought additional attention to that tragedy.
Bly hopes that her sister is found soon too, “I don’t know all of what happened or what did happen, but I hope that they find [Rose Mary Bly], too.”
Sanika Nalgirkar, M.F.A. is a writer and an Editorial Intern at YourTango who writes on entertainment & news, lifestyle, and pop culture topics.