Father of missing Summer Wells arrested on assault charge

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 14 Oct, 18:39 · Archive

Donald Wells, father of missing five-year-old Summer Wells, has been arrested on a domestic assault charge in Tennessee.

Donald Wells, the 61-year-old father of missing Summer Wells, has been arrested on a domestic assault charge in Tennessee. Hawkins County Jail records show he was booked into custody at 4:15 a.m. on Tuesday and was scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Additional details were not immediately available.

Wells has been arrested before on domestic assault, DUI and firearms charges unrelated to his daughter's disappearance, which remains unsolved. He was also served with a civil order of protection on behalf of his wife in 2020. Summer Wells was five when she vanished from her family's home in rural Rogersville on 15 June 2021. She would now be ten.

Summer's mother, Candus Bly, told police she last saw her daughter at their home on Ben Hill Road when the child came inside from planting flowers with her grandmother. The parents have maintained that they believe someone entered their 11-acre property, lured the girl outside and took her. No suspects have been publicly identified, though investigators have been seeking the driver of a red pickup truck with full-sized ladder racks and white buckets.

How it is being reported

• Missing Summer Wells’ father arrested on domestic assault charge in TennesseeDonald Wells, the 61-year-old father of missing Summer Wells, has been arrested again — this time on a domestic assault charge, according to court records in Tennessee.New York Post · 14 Oct, 18:18
• Missing Summer Wells' father arrested on domestic assault charge in TennesseeDonald Wells faces a new domestic assault charge in Hawkins County as the case of his missing daughter Summer Wells remains unsolved after four years.Fox News · 14 Oct, 15:45

In this story: Donald Wells · Summer Wells · Candus Bly · Rogersville · Hawkins County · Tennessee · National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

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