Summer Wells, 5, Disappears From Rural Tennessee Home: Dad In Handcuffs

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace · Oct 30, 2026 · 28m · transcript

Five-year-old Summer Wells vanished without a trace from her rural Hawkins County, Tennessee home in June 2021 after heading inside to play, leaving investigators puzzled by a squalid, makeshift home and dead-end searches across the Appalachian terrain. Now, the case is back in the headlines after deputies rushed to the Wells residence late at night following a panicked text to 911 from Summer's mother, Candace, who reported that her husband, Donald "Don" Wells, had assaulted her during an alcohol-fueled rage and threatened to "get rid of her." Nancy Grace and her panel of investigative and…