Amber Alert: Where is Summer Moon-Utah Wells? Tennessee girl, 5, goes missing from home
HAWKINS COUNTY, TENNESSEE: Summer Moon-Utah Wells, 5, from Rogersville, Tennessee, has been missing for more than a week. A report of her disappearance was filed on Tuesday, June 15. Her parents say she vanished from the basement of their home. Summer’s father Don Wells told an outlet that his daughter was engaged in gardening activities with her mother and grandmother and then went inside the home on her own.
Missing children cases have unfortunately always been on an uptick across the country. Last month 11-year-old Ryan Larsen went missing from his Nebraska home. The autistic child was last seen walking out of La Vista West Elementary School and is yet to be found. Investigation reveals he searched "how to hide from police", "how to avoid being spotted", and "hiding underground" before vanishing. Three-month-old Angel Overstreet went missing from her home in West Virginia on May 1. The police are yet to find her and are now searching the pond on her father Shannon Overstreet's property, assuming the worst.
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MORE: Here are additional photos of Summer Wells, who is missing from Hawkins County. She was reportedly last seen outside of her home in the Beech Creek community on Tuesday evening.
— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) June 16, 2021
Spot her? Call the @HawkinsCountySO at 423-272-7121 or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND. pic.twitter.com/BOR5GhrUAM
Where is Summer Moon-Utah Wells?
Wells said his daughter was last spotted around 6.30 pm on June 15, wearing a pink shirt and grey shorts. She may have been barefoot as well, he added. The missing girl's father believes she has been kidnapped, a theory that investigators are yet to comment on. Investigating authorities are tight-lipped about what could have happened. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation issued an Endangered Child Alert for Summer Moon on the day she vanished.
"She was planting flowers with her mother and her grandmother and she wanted to go into the house — wanted to go downstairs and play with her toys," Wells said. "I went down in the basement, and she was gone, so she went out the basement door, which was unlocked, and we haven't seen her since," he added. A report states, the Endangered Child Alert was upgraded to an Amber Alert on June 16. The TBI received close to 300 tips regarding Summer's disappearance in a 24-hour window after she went missing.
The investigating authority said they couldn't tie any suspects or any vehicle to this case. Search crews have combed through hundreds of acres in the search of Summer. They are said to have struggled during the immediate search due to poor cell service and challenging turf in the wooded area they were conducting the lookout in. Authorities also asked neighbors to check for signs of Summer and go through their surveillance cameras to look for any video or pictures that might help with the search operation.
As of June 24, 2021, TBI announced more than 106 agencies across six states have joined the search for Summer and have combed through 3,000 acres of land in her search. Law enforcement officials tied to this case have said they are physically and mentally drained from searching for the 5-year-old but are determined to "go to the end" to find the child. The latest searches have been conducted in the Beech Creek area of Hawkins County. TBI officials said they have taken this approach to ensure that they have covered all ground especially the ones lined with thick bushes and high grass. For regular updates regarding the search for Summer, please head here.