Missing Summer Wells' Mother Hits Back at Social Media Rumors Over Girl's Disappearance

The mother of a missing 5-year-old girl has spoken on camera for the first time since her daughter disappeared two weeks ago, saying she believes her daughter has been abducted and hitting back at rumors on social media.

A massive search effort was launched after Summer Moon-Utah Wells was reported missing from her home in the Beech Creek community in Tennessee's Hawkins County at around 6.30 p.m. on June 15.

Over the weekend, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said officers have been "working around the clock" to locate Wells. The bureau put out an appeal asking the driver of a Toyota pickup truck that was near the home around the time the girl went missing to get in contact.

The bureau also emphasized the driver is not a suspect, but a potential witness who may have information that could help locate Wells.

On Monday, Wells' mother, Candus Bly, told News Channel 11 that she believes her daughter was abducted and urged the driver of the truck to come forward.

"I feel in my heart that somebody has came up here and took her... has lured her away from here," she said. Of the driver, she added: "If you're not a suspect, at least come forward and say what you've seen."

Bly said she and her mother had been planting flowers shortly before her daughter went missing, and she had asked the girl's brothers to watch her.

"Within two minutes, I came back, and I asked the boys where their sister was, and they said, 'She went downstairs, Mom, to play with her toys in the playroom,'" Bly said.

"And I yelled downstairs for her a couple times, and I didn't get no answer, which was unusual because usually she always answers me. And so, I went down there to check, and she was nowhere in sight."

In the interview, Bly addressed rumors and speculation about her daughter's disappearance that have been circulating on social media platforms, including TikTok and Facebook.

"We love our children with everything we have," she told the station. "That's my baby and nobody would ever treat her like that as long as I was around."

The girl's father, Don Wells, added: "There's always going to be haters, you know, and they are always going to be that way in this world."

Bly said her daughter's head was shaved because she's a "tomboy."

"I shaved my head," she said. "She wanted to shave her head like me and the boys did."

Bly also spoke about another family member who went missing more than a decade ago. Her sister, Rose Marie Bly, was last seen in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, in August 2009, according to The Charley Project. The case remains unsolved.

"I don't know all of what happened or what did happen, but I hope that they find her too," she said.

According to the state-wide AMBER Alert issued for Wells, she has blonde hair, blue eyes, is 3-feet tall and weighs around 40 pounds. She was reportedly last seen wearing gray pants, a pink shirt and was possibly barefoot.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND or the Hawkins County Sheriff's Office at 423-272-7121. Tips can be emailed to TipsToTBI@tn.gov.