Donald Wells, the 61-year-old father of missing Rogersville girl Summer Wells, was arrested again on a domestic assault charge, according to Hawkins County court records.
Jail records show Wells was booked into the Hawkins County Jail at 4:15 a.m. Tuesday. He was scheduled for arraignment at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Further details about the charge were not immediately available, and neither a spokesperson for the Wells family nor the sheriff’s office immediately responded to requests for comment.
Wells has a history of prior arrests unrelated to his daughter’s disappearance, including previous domestic assault, DUI and firearms charges. He was also served with a civil order of protection on behalf of his wife in 2020.
The Unsolved Disappearance
Summer Wells was 5 years old when she disappeared from her family’s home on Ben Hill Road in rural Rogersville. She would now be 10. The case remains unsolved, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has released an age-progressed image showing what she may look like at age 9.
Summer’s mother, Candus Bly, told police she last saw her daughter at the family’s home on June 15, 2021, after the child came inside from planting flowers with her grandmother. The family’s 11-acre property is where the parents believe someone entered, lured Summer outside and took her.
No suspects have been publicly identified, though investigators have sought a potential witness: the driver of a red pickup truck with full-sized ladder racks and white buckets in the bed.
When last seen, Summer was about 3 feet tall and weighed around 40 pounds. She was wearing gray pants and a pink shirt, may have been barefoot, and has blonde hair.
The couple’s other children were removed from the home after 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.
Both of Summer’s parents have criminal records. Bly’s sister, Rose Marie Bly, was reported missing from Wisconsin in 2009 in a case that also remains unsolved.
Anyone with information on Summer’s whereabouts is asked to call the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office at 423-272-7121 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND. Tips can also be emailed to [email protected].
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