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The Tennessee parents of Summer Wells, the 5-year-old girl who went missing from her family’s rural home just over two weeks ago, each have criminal records in other states, court documents show.
Don Wells, Summer's father, has been convicted of multiple violent felonies and served prison time for convictions involving drugs and burglaries in Arkansas, Utah and Texas. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was cited for numerous parole violations.
Summer’s mother, Candus Bly, also has a criminal record in the state of Wisconsin, most recently a guilty plea on misdemeanor domestic abuse charges in 2003.
Tennessee search and rescue teams aren’t giving up in the hunt for Summer Wells after the 5-year-old disappeared almost two weeks ago, but crews are "scaling back" the efforts. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation)
Local media had uncovered Wells’ criminal history earlier this month, and in an interview with the Kingsport Times-News newspaper, he was pressed on his past but declined to talk specifically about his charges.
TENNESSEE 5-YEAR-OLD SUMMER WELLS GOES MISSING FROM OWN HOME
"I found God in prison," Wells told the outlet. "I started studying the Bible intently as I wanted to change."
But he was arrested again in October 2020 after Bly accused him of domestic assault and deputies found him allegedly driving drunk up his own driveway.
A criminal complaint from that incident alleges that deputies responded to the couple’s home and encountered Wells pulling up the driveway, reeking of alcohol and with a pistol in the glove box, which he was not allowed to possess.
(Tennessee Bureau of Investigation )
Bly and the children were granted an order of protection, after she wrote that, "He drinks and throws things. I am afraid of being hurt. He is abusive physically and mentally toward me. I am afraid for my children and myself. My mother fears he is going to hurt her because she is staying in her camper on the property."
But she had it dropped less than a week later, court records show, the domestic charge was dropped and the two appear to have reconciled.
Wells later pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm while under the influence.
Wells, Bly and their four young children live in a 780-square-foot house near the center of an 11-acre wooded lot in Rogersville, Tenn., property records show.
The parents told local media they believed their daughter had been lured outside and abducted.
They did not immediately return calls from Fox News seeking comment.
Teams have searched approximately 3,000 acres for signs of Summer, with more than 100 agencies contributing to search efforts by air and land. (Tennessee Bureau of Investigation )
Bly told WJHL-TV she left her daughter with her three brothers in the kitchen for about two minutes. When she returned, she said the girl was gone.
"I asked the boys where their sister was, and they said she went downstairs," she told the station.
But Summer wasn’t there – and hasn’t been seen since.
Bly has said that she was gardening with Summer and her mother, who lives in a separate structure on the property, shortly before the girl went missing. The grandmother did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.
In addition to Summer’s three young brothers, Wells has an adult son, also named Donald Wells, who was convicted of child sex crimes in Utah and is a registered sex offender. He does not live at or near the Tennessee property, according to investigators, and the elder Wells said in the Times-News interview that his son was in Utah at the time of Summer’s disappearance.
It’s not the first time one of Bly’s close relatives has gone missing.
Her sister, Rose Marie Bly, was last seen leaving her home in St. Croix Falls, Wis., on Aug. 21, 2009.
Police found her car in a truck lot five days later in Grantsburg, about 15 miles north of her destination in Cushing.
Authorities are seeking a potential witness who was seen on Ben Hill Road in Rogersville the day Summer vanished. This person is believed to have been driving a late 1990s maroon or red Toyota Tacoma with a full-sized ladder rack and white buckets in the bed.
"We want to stress that this individual is not a suspect, but is a potential witness who may have heard or seen something that may help us in our search for Summer," the TBI said in a statement Saturday.
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That driver and anyone who may have information on Summer’s whereabouts is asked to call state investigators at 1-800-TBI-FIND. Residents near Ben Hill Road are also being asked to check their security and trail cameras for any clues.
Summer is about 3 feet tall and weighs around 40 pounds. She was last seen wearing gray pants, a pink shirt and may have been barefoot. She has close-cropped blonde hair and blue eyes.
Investigators say the circumstances surrounding her disappearance have yet to be determined – but they said they were looking into "all possibilities."
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