Samar Wells' missing father arrested on domestic assault charge in Tennessee
Donald Wells faces a new domestic assault charge in Hawkins County as his daughter Samar Wells' case remains unsolved after four years.
Donald Wells, the 61-year-old father of missing Summer Wells, has been arrested again — this time on domestic assault charges, according to court records in Tennessee.
Hawkins County Jail records show he was taken into custody at 4:15 a.m. Tuesday and was scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
Further details were not immediately available. Neither a spokesman for the Wells family nor the sheriff's office immediately responded to requests for comment.
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Photo by Don Wells at Hawkins County Reservation Photo. (Hawkins County Sheriff's Office)
The elder Wells was previously arrested on domestic assault, DUI and firearms charges unrelated to his daughter's disappearance that remain unsolved. He also received a civil protection order from his wife in 2020.
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Summer's mother, Candace Belli, told police she last saw her daughter at their home on Ben Hill Road in Rogersville on June 15, 2021 — when she said the child came inside from planting flowers with her grandmother.
Summer Moon-Utah Wells in an age-advance picture of what she might have looked like as a 9-year-old. She has been missing since June 15, 2021, when she was 5 years old. (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
The parents believe that someone entered their 11-hectare property. He dragged the girl out and took her.
No suspects have been publicly identified, but investigators were looking for a potential witness — the driver of a red pickup truck with large ladder racks and white buckets on the bed.
When she was last seen, Summer was about 3 feet tall and about 40 pounds. At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing gray pants, a pink shirt, and may have been barefoot. She has blonde hair.
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Summer Wells in an undated family photo released by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation shortly after she disappeared in June 2021. His whereabouts are unknown. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
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The couple's other children were taken from their home after Samer disappeared. According to the family's website, the parents were exonerated by a Department of Child Services investigation but have not yet regained custody of their sons.
Summer's parents both have criminal records, and Belli's sister, Rose Marie Belli, disappeared in 2009 in an unsolved case from Wisconsin.
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 be emailed to TipsToTBI@tn.gov.
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