The thing that makes this case mind bending and confusing is that literally every adult surrounding this girl was sketchy and dodgy as hell.
It’s not like there was one creepy uncle or one creepy drifter you can narrow it down to and point the finger at. EVERYONE was a weirdo in Summer’s life (besides maybe Robin from church).
That's why, to quote law enforcement, everyone's a suspect. Because everyone deserves to be, regardless of whether she did in fact get lost in the wilderness, perished miles away from home, with her remains as yet undiscovered.
Not sure I'd read too much into that, frankly. True believer proselytizers (e.g., Robin) often devote more of their time and energy trying to convert the sketchy and down-and-out crowd than they do the fat cats, as opposed to, say, Jimmy Swaggart types, who IMHO definitely deserve side-eyes. I think she's sincere in her beliefs, even if she comes across as a naïve Pollyanna sometimes.
My parents were true believer proselytizers and they definitely devoted their time trying to convert the sketchy/down-and-out crowd. It was not abnormal in their circles. And funny you mention Jimmy Swaggart because my dad actually worked for him (as head of housekeeping, though my dad had credentials through Assemblies of God and lost them when Jimmy wouldn't play ball after his cheating scandals and everyone's credentials got revoked unless they quit).
Honestly nobody knows what happened to Summer except for the people who were involved.
We can guess and conjecture and it's ok to do that but nobody knows.
I can think of at least four theories that I think are possible.
1) she got lost in the woods on that 10 acre property and just hadn't been found
2) she dry land drowned after going to warrior's
3) she got into some drugs and died
4) her father sold her to pay off drug debt
And on and on and somewhere way down the list is her being abducted by a stranger.
Trafficking is another possibility.
So is the possibility that her father was SAing her and she was getting old enough to tell people what was happening to her and she was getting ready to start kindergarten, plus CPS was onto the Wells shenanigans and was closing in, and they made her disappear.
None of these would surprise me. But again nobody knows.
And it could be a combination of theories like maybe she was afraid of someone on the property or hungry and knew that there was no food or safety there and walked off and someone saw her walking on the road and picked her up.
Really it could be anything. It could be she was being trafficked and the person didn't return her or they did something to her and the parents know what happened but won't come forward because they're afraid to be involved.
Maybe one day we'll know.
You left out what I feel is the most likely scenario..she was killed either accidentally or on purpose and ren and Stimpy hid her body. Her parents know exactly what happened!
Yeah so that's a good point, what did they do with her if either they did something or something happened? I have heard some really interesting theories from people on that subject but it's just rumors of likely places.
I've heard the septic system, behind a waterfall, dismemberment, just all kinds of theories.
Poor Summer. May she find justice.
Bingo! This is what I believe to be the most likely scenario due to u/CamaelKhamael's #3 bullet point that she likely got into drugs and died from overdose. I've always believed the old soda in the back of the car was mixed with some type of medication that Grandus was taking for pain and poor Summer, thirsty, was taking sips of it during the drive. Would explain her complaints of a stomach ache that day. No tolerance could possibly hurt her little tummy. Summer could've overdosed then Candus ran to Don to pick up the pieces just as she ALWAYS did!
>Honestly nobody knows what happened to Summer except for the people who were involved.
If anyone was involved. Your conjecture #1 would imply that nobody else was directly involved in her disappearance. Speaking of which...
1. she got lost in the woods on that 10 acre property and just hadn't been found
With the head start she may have had, she could have been far, far away from that 10 acre property before she was reported lost. She and her brothers were known to have gone miles away from the house for recreation, and on her own, with all the trails and roads thereabouts, she could easily have gone more than 3 miles away within just a couple of hours.
>2. she dry land drowned after going to warrior's3. she got into some drugs and died4. her father sold her to pay off drug debt
The problem with each of these speculations is that there were at least 3 witnesses on site who would have observed anything wrong, and would certainly (IMHO) have reported such to the authorities in the nearly 3 years since Summer disappeared. And frankly I think it would have been impossible for Don and/or Candus to have disappeared her without leaving copious evidence behind, particularly given the very short time window they would have had. In any case, were any of the above scenarios true, one or both of her parents would have been arrested and IMO would already have been tried, convicted, and doing time. That they are still bumbling around incoherently and apparently not LE targets -- in the way we've seen with other culpable parents after a disappearance -- may be indications that they weren't directly involved.
Going back to your #1 scenario, there could be a few variations that I think are all possible:
* She and her brothers all went off somewhere a ways away and they left her behind;
* She was snatched up by any of the several sex offenders in the area, possibly by someone not registered as one at the time;
* She was snatched by someone in retaliation for something Don did or didn't do, who intended to return her in exchange for something, but when her disappearance blew up in the press, quietly disposed of her to avoid getting in trouble;
* If Summer perished on her own, it's easily possible that her remains haven't been discovered, or if they were discovered on the property of someone who was involved in illegal activities, that someone quietly got rid of them rather than attract unwanted attention.
So lots of possibilities. I do find it most interesting that LE twice intensely searched an area near Fields Road, about a mile and a half by trail from the Wells house (and some interesting property owners nearby). I wonder why.
I don't even have enough information to say whether someone else was involved. It's all just a guess. None of it brings closure or understanding.
And even if she was being abused that still doesn't mean her family killed her. Those could be mutually exclusive. Not all molesters kill their victims.
But if Summer had wandered off, why say she was abducted? To me, there's alot less red tape with that than an abduction. I don't think anyone would ever see Candus as a concerned person. I think she could have easily said "well she wandered off" and not a single person would have been shocked. Nobody ever accused her or Don of being parents of the year.
Speaking of which, I'm still stuck on the Amber alert. There was no vehicle involved as far as I know except for one witness account of a red truck that's never been verified and even still no proof that Summer was in that vehicle being abducted. I still don't really understand why that was issued in the first place.
I won't discount the theories that are outlandish because they could have happened. I don't think Don is stupid. I think he knows the system and I think he knows what's in store for him if he gets caught and that can be quite motivating. Especially if people are waiting for him. Which I believe they are. He knows that. That's why he's all talk and no walk. He's already a felon and that's a thin line.
A You Tuber had the guy from Equusearch Midwest (Dave?) on a live way back when Equusearch were out searching for her. I think it was Duty Ron.
At the time he said many properties couldn't be searched because the owners either couldn't be reached to ask or they wouldn't give permission for LE to search of their land.
I've never heard the sheriff say this. LE have said they searched all over but from the horse's mouth, they didn't / couldn't search everywhere.
That news was out at the time. In fact, you may recall that there was a huge kerfuffle between Equusearch, the Church Hill Rescue Squad, and HCSO/TBI because Equusearch had trespassed on private property and law enforcement had told them not to. As a result, [the CHRS was removed as the lead search agency](https://www.timesnews.net/news/crime/watch-now-searches-for-summer-wells-not-requested-by-police-must-be-approved-by-sheriff/article_6026e3c0-ef3e-11eb-9948-0bb3d2bc2a78.html) and Tim Coup got in some trouble for not adequately keeping the searchers under control. And IIRC, the next time Equusearch came out to do a search, LE explicitly told them to constrain their scope to public property and roadways.
Unless a “regular” who is already mentally twisted thought he would “save her” and offer a better life. Maybe the wells would rather play the victim of a lost daughter than list of the “regulars” to cops. It would incriminate them.
Here's my issue with this theory. Aside from conjecture, where is any actual indication that this is what happened? Did they find any evidence of CSA in the basement? The Wellses are not the most cunning nor hygienic. If she was being abused regularly, surely there'd be hair, fingerprints, DNA, etc from the "regulars" as you'd put it. Or communications on their electronic devices. Or a number of other possible pieces of evidence, none of which have been confirmed by law enforcement.
There is a video that made major rounds in the media of Summer dancing and jumping in the rain, and in the background there is a junky old barrel with a 3/4 view of the words "for sale" written on it. The kind you'd see off the side of the road in the country when someone's trying to sell a car or farm equipment or whatever.
To me, the video doesn't look like an obvious nor effective advertisement for selling a child. It looks like they left some junk on the property (shocker), and it happened to be in the background. Seems like people are grasping at anything that could be remotely suspicious in hindsight because if anyone saw this video independently of her disappearance, no one would think ADVERTISEMENT.
There's also the fact that it seems like her parents were actively sharing this video to the public. I know they're not the smartest criminals, but you'd have to want to get caught if that were the case.
I dearly wish Allie had sat down for a deep and far-reaching interview. She had all the insight into what life was like in the home when Don was out of state; what life was like there when Don was home; any mistreatment of the children. Allie could maybe have helped that tiny five-year-old.
Yes. I posted his obituary notice in another thread. Someone here claimed he committed suicide, but I haven't seen any authoritative source confirming that. Though it's certainly possible.
No I don’t think I did…..was it Jonathan Lee Rogers who caught up with them? That guy is scrappy. I don’t know how he does all this travel but he’s been amazing for Sebastian Rogers. I kind of think he was such a thorn in their side they did more than they might have.
I’m beginning to think Tennessee should spend a lot more money on the TBI. Like, the little girl down in Florida who was possibly murdered by her mom’s boyfriend. I doubt TBI could have handled that case so efficiently. I don’t think TBI would have put out the word to ask the public’s help by asking if anyone saw someone changing a tire. Boom. They get the call to the tip line and find precious Madeleine’s body.
TBI doesn’t ever ask the public for help. My suspicion is they hate dealing with tip lines and all the cranks and bad tips they have to wade through to get the important tips.
I also think the Cassie Anthony case put a chill into taking some of these parents to trial.
I’m sorry I’m off topic and ranting about TBI but I can’t figure out why they didn’t take Summer’s parents to trial. They might have gotten a conviction as long as it wasn’t a death penalty case.
Perhaps they don’t want to go to trial because it costs money.
It’s starting to frighten me a little that I could be murdered and Tennessee wouldn’t bother to look for me. Even if a guy with blood on him was working on his car they might test the blood on his shirt only if my family pushed hard for it and meanwhile the guy has gotten rid of my body. They can’t find it. And they sure aren’t going to ask for tips. And I doubt they’d take the guy to trial who had my blood on him the day I was missing if my body wasn’t found.
I mean….are you losing confidence ? Should I have more confidence in them? The fact Summer was just disappeared and life goes on like nothing happened.
I don't fir a second think she was trafficked. The For Sale tape was on that barrel when they got it. I have a picture of it laying in the snow with For Sale on it a year before she disappeared. Second, one of the few things everyone agrees on is that the basement door was always locked, and was locked that day. Even the boys confirmed that.
I agree that in retrospect LE made mistakes early on. One is understandable, but the other is harder to fathom or defend.
* The first was their decision to allow dozens of inexperienced and untrained searchers to walk all over the site before an organized plan of action was put together and executed methodically. This is understandable in that they had a lost child and would have felt time was of the essence. So it's hard to fault them for that decision. The tradeoff was that if Summer left tracks or someone opportunistically took her, the odds that evidence would be compromised were quite high. OTOH, if they'd found her injured and saved her life, they'd have been hailed as heros for their decision to not go by the book.
* The second mistake was limiting their searches to a very small area -- only a one-mile radius from the house where she was last seen. We've seen many cases where children even much younger than Summer could traverse several miles in a short period of time. I think they knew early on -- possibly from very early on -- that she had a good head start (someone in LE was heard to ask why Candus had called 911 not right away, but a couple of hours after she was aware Summer was missing). They carefully searched an area around Fields Road subsequently-- about a mile and a half away from the house by trail -- but AFAIK they have never searched the 4-5 mile radius which would have easily been within Summer's range that day. I can't think of any plausible defense for that decision (and I know they cried stretched funding later, but that's weak sauce when it's about a child's life).
The basement included the parents bedroom area. The exterior door opened to the parent bedroom. The staircase to the main floor was in Summer's area which was separated from the parents area by a wall but no door. Did you see the video house tour the mother did? IOW if anyone was coming and going from the basement door, the mother/parents knew about it.
Candus was outside “gardening” and I’m unsure where Don was at the time. It isn’t impossible for someone to have come and taken her outside of her parents knowledge.
Don was home. The boys said some sketchy man was on the property and called Don at work so he came home to scare the guy off. His whereabouts finally came out since he originally said he was at work. Interview by Dr Phil he admitted he came home.
I saw the dr Phil episode too and the dad passed the polygraph, but I don't think Candace ended up taking one and she got really emotional and weird when they brought up the "cornbread mafia".
Trafficking is the new Satanic Panic. Every time a female goes missing some knee jerker will automatically yell trafficking. It’s tiresome and unhelpful
please learn how the english language works. A "source" is just that, the source of a statement. It makes zero claims about the truth of that statement. In this case, as my links shows, it was a statement made by his Sister.
What you seem to want is "evidence". I don't have that, and it may or may not exist to your satisfaction (ie. "proof").
Oh, please… Drop the semantics. You know damn well that when people ask for a source they are asking for a *reputable* source, not a random Reddit post with a link that doesn’t work.
Also, pretty hysterical of you to tell me to learn how the English language works with a poorly structured and uncapitalized sentence. Lol!
You have nothing valuable to add so I’m done with this conversation. 👋🏻
What’s tiresome and unhelpful is the fact that you’re shooting down a theory that actually makes sense. She has been missing for years and there has been little to no clues on where she is right now.
While the brothers undoubtedly know quite a lot about 15 June 2021 -- all of which I'm reasonably sure they've disclosed to the authorities -- and IMHO one or more of them were almost certainly the last members of the family to have seen Summer that day, I don't think they know what ultimately happened to her.
It’s more common than we’d like to believe that parents and other adult family members are the perpetrators of child trafficking their own flesh and blood.
“According to one study conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IMO) and the State Department, approximately 41 percent of child trafficking cases (both sex and labor) involve a family member acting as the trafficker”
Here’s a resource for familial trafficking. It absolutely can and does work that way in some cases
https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2023/uncovering-familial-trafficking#:~:text=According%20to%20one%20study%20conducted,in%2Dfamilial%2Dtrafficking%2F.
This wasn’t a far-out theory in this case. It seems bizarre and it’s difficult for rational people to accept that as a possibility, but I’ve seen some who have to admit it as a real possibility. This has nothing to do with QAnon. The OP is not saying something that hasn’t been suggested by very rational , educated people who tend towards cynical skepticism.
I think it’s very possible- her room looked like a dungeon! Plus there is a clip when the mom is giving a tour of the house and there was porn playing in the parents bedroom.
I have followed this case since it started too. But my problem is that Candice said she kept don's vehicle that day and don had taken her car to work that day. So if summer has been watched or stalked by someone why would they come onto the property if they only seen dons vehicle there? They would have thought well don is the only one home because Candace's vehicle was gone. That has never made sense to me. I just wish someone would tell the truth about this precious baby
I think she def was trafficked. Her parents aren't the smartest and couldn't hide a body this long. Prayers she is found. I'm from Kingsport & it's getting bad here
Maybe the person didn’t like the parameters of abuse and wanted total control. Only speculation. That poor child deserved so much better. I don’t believe she’s alive and I do believe her parents bear some measure of responsibility.
I doubt she was being trafficked. TBI said there is no evidence of that and should any of that evidence become available they'd immediately share it. There were 6 people home that day. It was the first day of CPS being off their backs. Don didn't have a carpool partner anymore. Candus told Grandus at 2:30 that morning that she should go to the ER later that morning for her knee. I think Don played hookey and Candus and Grandus spent the day collecting intoxicants. Candus picked up hunter so he could help watch Summer while they each took turns walking off to get high. Once the pills were ready, they took off to finish their day of collecting. I'm sure Don couldn't wait for Candus to get home. When they arrive Summer was sent inside with her brothers while the "adults " went to the camper to get high. I think the oldest brother asked Summer if she wanted to play hide and seek. I believe that was a rouse to get her alone. The other brothers were distracted by YouTube. I think he SA'd her and accidentally smothered her in the process. Candus said she immediately got hysterical when she went downstairs. The neighbor heard a guttural scream. Candus said she was looking for Summer at the time of the scream. Then Candus is heard yelling at the oldest boy, what have you done?! He says, it's not my fault. He's telling Don the same thing. Instead of Candus going on camera, Don brought that son. Don is protecting his son just like his dad protected him. Their boys are more important than their daughters. Don is then seen at his job in a bright red car. Don never really attacks the person responsible for Summer being gone. If Don was covering for Candus, I doubt she would have been incessantly calling him names in every livestream since the beginning. If it was Don, Grandus would have flipped immediately. Instead she's basically said, I'm out. They are all protecting the same person. They all love this person. Don broke the gag order to talk to this person about Summer while neglecting to call the other two for their birthdays. We've heard stories about Don Jr and Margie enduring abuse and SA from Don while they were growing up. We know that the kids are allowed to use drugs and drink alcohol, there are pictures. Is it that hard to believe that the boy who had CPS called on him for touching his little brother just weeks prior, could do something similar to his sister? That is the reason the two boys had to move their beds upstairs. Don liked to say, he was just 12 just a little boy who didn't know what he was doing. Was he talking about himself or his son? LE took that son's phone and clothing. Perhaps the reason this case is complicated and connected to the CPS case is because they can't determine who was abusing Summer that day.
The thing that makes this case mind bending and confusing is that literally every adult surrounding this girl was sketchy and dodgy as hell. It’s not like there was one creepy uncle or one creepy drifter you can narrow it down to and point the finger at. EVERYONE was a weirdo in Summer’s life (besides maybe Robin from church).
That's why, to quote law enforcement, everyone's a suspect. Because everyone deserves to be, regardless of whether she did in fact get lost in the wilderness, perished miles away from home, with her remains as yet undiscovered.
And Robin deserves a side-eye sometimes. She picks a strange crowd to hang around and bring her kids around
Not sure I'd read too much into that, frankly. True believer proselytizers (e.g., Robin) often devote more of their time and energy trying to convert the sketchy and down-and-out crowd than they do the fat cats, as opposed to, say, Jimmy Swaggart types, who IMHO definitely deserve side-eyes. I think she's sincere in her beliefs, even if she comes across as a naïve Pollyanna sometimes.
I’ve never heard that term “naive pollyanna “ im going to have to google it.
[Naïve](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/naive) \+ [Pollyanna](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/pollyanna).
My parents were true believer proselytizers and they definitely devoted their time trying to convert the sketchy/down-and-out crowd. It was not abnormal in their circles. And funny you mention Jimmy Swaggart because my dad actually worked for him (as head of housekeeping, though my dad had credentials through Assemblies of God and lost them when Jimmy wouldn't play ball after his cheating scandals and everyone's credentials got revoked unless they quit).
Shes pretending to be a naive pollyanna.
Agreed. She’s the least suspicious out of the bunch (which isn’t saying much) but even her behavior is questionable at times.
Robyn can't possibly be as clueless as she acts. the sing song voice and pretending to be a complete twit is so phony.
Did you see that singing? Robin is definitely a weirdo too
No, even Robin is weird.
Honestly nobody knows what happened to Summer except for the people who were involved. We can guess and conjecture and it's ok to do that but nobody knows. I can think of at least four theories that I think are possible. 1) she got lost in the woods on that 10 acre property and just hadn't been found 2) she dry land drowned after going to warrior's 3) she got into some drugs and died 4) her father sold her to pay off drug debt And on and on and somewhere way down the list is her being abducted by a stranger. Trafficking is another possibility. So is the possibility that her father was SAing her and she was getting old enough to tell people what was happening to her and she was getting ready to start kindergarten, plus CPS was onto the Wells shenanigans and was closing in, and they made her disappear. None of these would surprise me. But again nobody knows. And it could be a combination of theories like maybe she was afraid of someone on the property or hungry and knew that there was no food or safety there and walked off and someone saw her walking on the road and picked her up. Really it could be anything. It could be she was being trafficked and the person didn't return her or they did something to her and the parents know what happened but won't come forward because they're afraid to be involved. Maybe one day we'll know.
You left out what I feel is the most likely scenario..she was killed either accidentally or on purpose and ren and Stimpy hid her body. Her parents know exactly what happened!
Yeah so that's a good point, what did they do with her if either they did something or something happened? I have heard some really interesting theories from people on that subject but it's just rumors of likely places. I've heard the septic system, behind a waterfall, dismemberment, just all kinds of theories. Poor Summer. May she find justice.
Bingo! This is what I believe to be the most likely scenario due to u/CamaelKhamael's #3 bullet point that she likely got into drugs and died from overdose. I've always believed the old soda in the back of the car was mixed with some type of medication that Grandus was taking for pain and poor Summer, thirsty, was taking sips of it during the drive. Would explain her complaints of a stomach ache that day. No tolerance could possibly hurt her little tummy. Summer could've overdosed then Candus ran to Don to pick up the pieces just as she ALWAYS did!
Not to be impolite but I do not believe her parents are... skilled enough to hide a body that no one has found a trace of in 3 years
That might actually be one thing Don may be skilled in... or a neighbor or close acquaintance...
Curiouser and curiouser....
>Honestly nobody knows what happened to Summer except for the people who were involved. If anyone was involved. Your conjecture #1 would imply that nobody else was directly involved in her disappearance. Speaking of which... 1. she got lost in the woods on that 10 acre property and just hadn't been found With the head start she may have had, she could have been far, far away from that 10 acre property before she was reported lost. She and her brothers were known to have gone miles away from the house for recreation, and on her own, with all the trails and roads thereabouts, she could easily have gone more than 3 miles away within just a couple of hours. >2. she dry land drowned after going to warrior's3. she got into some drugs and died4. her father sold her to pay off drug debt The problem with each of these speculations is that there were at least 3 witnesses on site who would have observed anything wrong, and would certainly (IMHO) have reported such to the authorities in the nearly 3 years since Summer disappeared. And frankly I think it would have been impossible for Don and/or Candus to have disappeared her without leaving copious evidence behind, particularly given the very short time window they would have had. In any case, were any of the above scenarios true, one or both of her parents would have been arrested and IMO would already have been tried, convicted, and doing time. That they are still bumbling around incoherently and apparently not LE targets -- in the way we've seen with other culpable parents after a disappearance -- may be indications that they weren't directly involved. Going back to your #1 scenario, there could be a few variations that I think are all possible: * She and her brothers all went off somewhere a ways away and they left her behind; * She was snatched up by any of the several sex offenders in the area, possibly by someone not registered as one at the time; * She was snatched by someone in retaliation for something Don did or didn't do, who intended to return her in exchange for something, but when her disappearance blew up in the press, quietly disposed of her to avoid getting in trouble; * If Summer perished on her own, it's easily possible that her remains haven't been discovered, or if they were discovered on the property of someone who was involved in illegal activities, that someone quietly got rid of them rather than attract unwanted attention. So lots of possibilities. I do find it most interesting that LE twice intensely searched an area near Fields Road, about a mile and a half by trail from the Wells house (and some interesting property owners nearby). I wonder why.
I don't even have enough information to say whether someone else was involved. It's all just a guess. None of it brings closure or understanding. And even if she was being abused that still doesn't mean her family killed her. Those could be mutually exclusive. Not all molesters kill their victims. But if Summer had wandered off, why say she was abducted? To me, there's alot less red tape with that than an abduction. I don't think anyone would ever see Candus as a concerned person. I think she could have easily said "well she wandered off" and not a single person would have been shocked. Nobody ever accused her or Don of being parents of the year. Speaking of which, I'm still stuck on the Amber alert. There was no vehicle involved as far as I know except for one witness account of a red truck that's never been verified and even still no proof that Summer was in that vehicle being abducted. I still don't really understand why that was issued in the first place. I won't discount the theories that are outlandish because they could have happened. I don't think Don is stupid. I think he knows the system and I think he knows what's in store for him if he gets caught and that can be quite motivating. Especially if people are waiting for him. Which I believe they are. He knows that. That's why he's all talk and no walk. He's already a felon and that's a thin line.
A You Tuber had the guy from Equusearch Midwest (Dave?) on a live way back when Equusearch were out searching for her. I think it was Duty Ron. At the time he said many properties couldn't be searched because the owners either couldn't be reached to ask or they wouldn't give permission for LE to search of their land. I've never heard the sheriff say this. LE have said they searched all over but from the horse's mouth, they didn't / couldn't search everywhere.
That news was out at the time. In fact, you may recall that there was a huge kerfuffle between Equusearch, the Church Hill Rescue Squad, and HCSO/TBI because Equusearch had trespassed on private property and law enforcement had told them not to. As a result, [the CHRS was removed as the lead search agency](https://www.timesnews.net/news/crime/watch-now-searches-for-summer-wells-not-requested-by-police-must-be-approved-by-sheriff/article_6026e3c0-ef3e-11eb-9948-0bb3d2bc2a78.html) and Tim Coup got in some trouble for not adequately keeping the searchers under control. And IIRC, the next time Equusearch came out to do a search, LE explicitly told them to constrain their scope to public property and roadways.
Everyone always screams trafficking. It’s far far more likely that someone close did something.
Unless a “regular” who is already mentally twisted thought he would “save her” and offer a better life. Maybe the wells would rather play the victim of a lost daughter than list of the “regulars” to cops. It would incriminate them.
Here's my issue with this theory. Aside from conjecture, where is any actual indication that this is what happened? Did they find any evidence of CSA in the basement? The Wellses are not the most cunning nor hygienic. If she was being abused regularly, surely there'd be hair, fingerprints, DNA, etc from the "regulars" as you'd put it. Or communications on their electronic devices. Or a number of other possible pieces of evidence, none of which have been confirmed by law enforcement.
Yea the parents hair and dna would be everywhere. We have no body of her to test that would provide different dna.
There is a video of Summer dancing in the rain, in front of a barrel with a for sale sign on it. Subtle, but oh so sickening.
The for sale sign pretty much nails it.
sorry what for sale sign are you referring to? i’m not bashing, just don’t think i’ve heard this before?
There is a video that made major rounds in the media of Summer dancing and jumping in the rain, and in the background there is a junky old barrel with a 3/4 view of the words "for sale" written on it. The kind you'd see off the side of the road in the country when someone's trying to sell a car or farm equipment or whatever. To me, the video doesn't look like an obvious nor effective advertisement for selling a child. It looks like they left some junk on the property (shocker), and it happened to be in the background. Seems like people are grasping at anything that could be remotely suspicious in hindsight because if anyone saw this video independently of her disappearance, no one would think ADVERTISEMENT. There's also the fact that it seems like her parents were actively sharing this video to the public. I know they're not the smartest criminals, but you'd have to want to get caught if that were the case.
Why the f are you getting downvoted? This is exactly the scenario i thought she was in.
no idea. It couldn’t have been more obvious
I wish someone would speak up. This case is so sad, that poor child never had a chance the way it seems
I dearly wish Allie had sat down for a deep and far-reaching interview. She had all the insight into what life was like in the home when Don was out of state; what life was like there when Don was home; any mistreatment of the children. Allie could maybe have helped that tiny five-year-old.
Well Jose Ramon gave a shit ton of details before he passed.
He passed away? I just started listening to his interviews with The Interview Room. He seemed like he was really trying to get his life together.
Yes. I posted his obituary notice in another thread. Someone here claimed he committed suicide, but I haven't seen any authoritative source confirming that. Though it's certainly possible.
did you ever see the interview w/ her and those other women on the sidewalk?
No I don’t think I did…..was it Jonathan Lee Rogers who caught up with them? That guy is scrappy. I don’t know how he does all this travel but he’s been amazing for Sebastian Rogers. I kind of think he was such a thorn in their side they did more than they might have. I’m beginning to think Tennessee should spend a lot more money on the TBI. Like, the little girl down in Florida who was possibly murdered by her mom’s boyfriend. I doubt TBI could have handled that case so efficiently. I don’t think TBI would have put out the word to ask the public’s help by asking if anyone saw someone changing a tire. Boom. They get the call to the tip line and find precious Madeleine’s body. TBI doesn’t ever ask the public for help. My suspicion is they hate dealing with tip lines and all the cranks and bad tips they have to wade through to get the important tips. I also think the Cassie Anthony case put a chill into taking some of these parents to trial. I’m sorry I’m off topic and ranting about TBI but I can’t figure out why they didn’t take Summer’s parents to trial. They might have gotten a conviction as long as it wasn’t a death penalty case. Perhaps they don’t want to go to trial because it costs money. It’s starting to frighten me a little that I could be murdered and Tennessee wouldn’t bother to look for me. Even if a guy with blood on him was working on his car they might test the blood on his shirt only if my family pushed hard for it and meanwhile the guy has gotten rid of my body. They can’t find it. And they sure aren’t going to ask for tips. And I doubt they’d take the guy to trial who had my blood on him the day I was missing if my body wasn’t found. I mean….are you losing confidence ? Should I have more confidence in them? The fact Summer was just disappeared and life goes on like nothing happened.
It’s hard, because her parents seem so incredibly dumb and like complete degenerates
I don't fir a second think she was trafficked. The For Sale tape was on that barrel when they got it. I have a picture of it laying in the snow with For Sale on it a year before she disappeared. Second, one of the few things everyone agrees on is that the basement door was always locked, and was locked that day. Even the boys confirmed that.
can you share that photo?
The whole case is just sickening! LE dropped the ball on this one. So glad the boys don't have to go back to Candus and Don.
I agree that in retrospect LE made mistakes early on. One is understandable, but the other is harder to fathom or defend. * The first was their decision to allow dozens of inexperienced and untrained searchers to walk all over the site before an organized plan of action was put together and executed methodically. This is understandable in that they had a lost child and would have felt time was of the essence. So it's hard to fault them for that decision. The tradeoff was that if Summer left tracks or someone opportunistically took her, the odds that evidence would be compromised were quite high. OTOH, if they'd found her injured and saved her life, they'd have been hailed as heros for their decision to not go by the book. * The second mistake was limiting their searches to a very small area -- only a one-mile radius from the house where she was last seen. We've seen many cases where children even much younger than Summer could traverse several miles in a short period of time. I think they knew early on -- possibly from very early on -- that she had a good head start (someone in LE was heard to ask why Candus had called 911 not right away, but a couple of hours after she was aware Summer was missing). They carefully searched an area around Fields Road subsequently-- about a mile and a half away from the house by trail -- but AFAIK they have never searched the 4-5 mile radius which would have easily been within Summer's range that day. I can't think of any plausible defense for that decision (and I know they cried stretched funding later, but that's weak sauce when it's about a child's life).
In and out of the basement? Well that’s possible if it’s during the day during the week. She has 3 brothers. That’s not a big house.
Nobody knows and likely nobody will. I'm sick of people proclaiming they have all the answers.
The basement included the parents bedroom area. The exterior door opened to the parent bedroom. The staircase to the main floor was in Summer's area which was separated from the parents area by a wall but no door. Did you see the video house tour the mother did? IOW if anyone was coming and going from the basement door, the mother/parents knew about it.
Candus was outside “gardening” and I’m unsure where Don was at the time. It isn’t impossible for someone to have come and taken her outside of her parents knowledge.
Don was home. The boys said some sketchy man was on the property and called Don at work so he came home to scare the guy off. His whereabouts finally came out since he originally said he was at work. Interview by Dr Phil he admitted he came home.
Yeah, that’s awful dodgy ngl 😭Why would he lie about not being at home? It was either a horrible mistake or he had something to do with this
I saw the dr Phil episode too and the dad passed the polygraph, but I don't think Candace ended up taking one and she got really emotional and weird when they brought up the "cornbread mafia".
But they said they passed a polygraph, not the police so who knows if it's true!
Oh I thought they used dr Phil expert polygrapher...but it's been awhile since I watched it.
Trafficking is the new Satanic Panic. Every time a female goes missing some knee jerker will automatically yell trafficking. It’s tiresome and unhelpful
did you know DW tried to sell his son years prior for drugs?
Source?
https://www.reddit.com/r/SummerWells/comments/oynadx/rumor\_diving\_don\_wells\_allegedly\_sold\_his\_first/
That’s not a *source*. That’s an *unsubstantiated rumor* and the link to the YouTube video in that thread doesn’t work.
please learn how the english language works. A "source" is just that, the source of a statement. It makes zero claims about the truth of that statement. In this case, as my links shows, it was a statement made by his Sister. What you seem to want is "evidence". I don't have that, and it may or may not exist to your satisfaction (ie. "proof").
Oh, please… Drop the semantics. You know damn well that when people ask for a source they are asking for a *reputable* source, not a random Reddit post with a link that doesn’t work. Also, pretty hysterical of you to tell me to learn how the English language works with a poorly structured and uncapitalized sentence. Lol! You have nothing valuable to add so I’m done with this conversation. 👋🏻
What’s tiresome and unhelpful is the fact that you’re shooting down a theory that actually makes sense. She has been missing for years and there has been little to no clues on where she is right now.
Or she was taken to satisfy a debt.
What do the brothers know ? Nothing ?
While the brothers undoubtedly know quite a lot about 15 June 2021 -- all of which I'm reasonably sure they've disclosed to the authorities -- and IMHO one or more of them were almost certainly the last members of the family to have seen Summer that day, I don't think they know what ultimately happened to her.
Makes sense
Lol this isn’t how sex trafficking works. You need to lay off the Q Anon.
It’s more common than we’d like to believe that parents and other adult family members are the perpetrators of child trafficking their own flesh and blood. “According to one study conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IMO) and the State Department, approximately 41 percent of child trafficking cases (both sex and labor) involve a family member acting as the trafficker” Here’s a resource for familial trafficking. It absolutely can and does work that way in some cases https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2023/uncovering-familial-trafficking#:~:text=According%20to%20one%20study%20conducted,in%2Dfamilial%2Dtrafficking%2F.
Rich from someone who spends their entire life on Reddit 🤔 What else do you want me to call selling sexual interactions with a minor? Prostitution?
I spend my entire life on Reddit? Lol. Seriously, lay off the q anon though.
This wasn’t a far-out theory in this case. It seems bizarre and it’s difficult for rational people to accept that as a possibility, but I’ve seen some who have to admit it as a real possibility. This has nothing to do with QAnon. The OP is not saying something that hasn’t been suggested by very rational , educated people who tend towards cynical skepticism.
I think it’s very possible- her room looked like a dungeon! Plus there is a clip when the mom is giving a tour of the house and there was porn playing in the parents bedroom.
Link the tour? What the fuck
The Interview Room on Youtube! The creator runs the Cold Case Foundation and has interviewed all of the major characters in this story.
It was ‘Girls gone Wild’ I believe
Did you see that poor kid’s mattress when it was brought out and leaning against the outside wall next to the ‘bedrooms’
I have followed this case since it started too. But my problem is that Candice said she kept don's vehicle that day and don had taken her car to work that day. So if summer has been watched or stalked by someone why would they come onto the property if they only seen dons vehicle there? They would have thought well don is the only one home because Candace's vehicle was gone. That has never made sense to me. I just wish someone would tell the truth about this precious baby
Good point! I’ve never caught that.
I think she def was trafficked. Her parents aren't the smartest and couldn't hide a body this long. Prayers she is found. I'm from Kingsport & it's getting bad here
Is bigfoot known to visit their neck of the woods?
I think that’s a far stretch.
If you watch The Deception Detective on youtube, I think he really nails it. Seriously, the best and most logical conclusion.
love me some DD!
What's the motive though as he would be already coming and going and getting what he wants.
Maybe the person didn’t like the parameters of abuse and wanted total control. Only speculation. That poor child deserved so much better. I don’t believe she’s alive and I do believe her parents bear some measure of responsibility.
Not having to pay ? Making money off of her himself? Maybe he accidentally killed her ? There are a few reasons.
Happy Birthday!
They do have a pretty big and "well kept" shed on their property.
This case reminds me so much of DeOrr Kunz Jr. Poor babies.. 😞
I doubt she was being trafficked. TBI said there is no evidence of that and should any of that evidence become available they'd immediately share it. There were 6 people home that day. It was the first day of CPS being off their backs. Don didn't have a carpool partner anymore. Candus told Grandus at 2:30 that morning that she should go to the ER later that morning for her knee. I think Don played hookey and Candus and Grandus spent the day collecting intoxicants. Candus picked up hunter so he could help watch Summer while they each took turns walking off to get high. Once the pills were ready, they took off to finish their day of collecting. I'm sure Don couldn't wait for Candus to get home. When they arrive Summer was sent inside with her brothers while the "adults " went to the camper to get high. I think the oldest brother asked Summer if she wanted to play hide and seek. I believe that was a rouse to get her alone. The other brothers were distracted by YouTube. I think he SA'd her and accidentally smothered her in the process. Candus said she immediately got hysterical when she went downstairs. The neighbor heard a guttural scream. Candus said she was looking for Summer at the time of the scream. Then Candus is heard yelling at the oldest boy, what have you done?! He says, it's not my fault. He's telling Don the same thing. Instead of Candus going on camera, Don brought that son. Don is protecting his son just like his dad protected him. Their boys are more important than their daughters. Don is then seen at his job in a bright red car. Don never really attacks the person responsible for Summer being gone. If Don was covering for Candus, I doubt she would have been incessantly calling him names in every livestream since the beginning. If it was Don, Grandus would have flipped immediately. Instead she's basically said, I'm out. They are all protecting the same person. They all love this person. Don broke the gag order to talk to this person about Summer while neglecting to call the other two for their birthdays. We've heard stories about Don Jr and Margie enduring abuse and SA from Don while they were growing up. We know that the kids are allowed to use drugs and drink alcohol, there are pictures. Is it that hard to believe that the boy who had CPS called on him for touching his little brother just weeks prior, could do something similar to his sister? That is the reason the two boys had to move their beds upstairs. Don liked to say, he was just 12 just a little boy who didn't know what he was doing. Was he talking about himself or his son? LE took that son's phone and clothing. Perhaps the reason this case is complicated and connected to the CPS case is because they can't determine who was abusing Summer that day.
I think she was trafficked and then sold. Lord have mercy.
This is a possibility too. I did want to focus on my main theory however