AMBER ALERT TN - Summer Moon-Utah Wells, 5, Rogersville, 15 Jun 2021 #31

[Willow Knight]

LE has been outspoken on the harm social media has done to this case,

Rumors on social media are derailing search for missing Summer Wells, officials say

BBM
“We want to urge you only to share information from official sources,” Leslie Earhart with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said in an update Thursday. “The misinformation and speculation simply don’t help the case. Our teams continue to sift through hundreds of tips and it turns out most of them are rooted in rumors and bad information spread on social media.”

.

SBM

Powerful read. Especially this:

We want to urge you only to share information from official sources,” Leslie Earhart with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI)

“The misinformation and speculation simply don’t help the case. Our teams continue to sift through hundreds of tips and it turns out most of them are rooted in rumors and bad information spread on social media.”

Rumors on social media are derailing search for missing Summer Wells, officials say

I just want to add that I don't consider this site to be social media. I could be wrong but I think more of FB and YT as social media.

 

[everybodhi]

snipped
I just want to add that I don't consider this site to be social media. I could be wrong but I think more of FB and YT as social media.

I don't either since SM is not even allowed here lol.
But..if reddit and quora are considered SM under the "discussion forum" catagory, I guess this site qualifies too.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

In Summer’s case, the pitfalls were two-fold: Social media sleuthing both bogged down investigators and took a toll on her family members — some of whom have been accused in a plot to hurt her.

I will never understand what there is about human nature that makes some people delight in causing even more pain to people who are already suffering from having a loved one go missing.

Long ago, when I was young, long before the internet, a girl I knew went missing. She was an 18 year old student at UC Berkeley at the time. Her case grabbed the interest of the national news media and was covered extensively on TV, newspapers and magazines. She was the beloved only child of much older parents who vowed to never move or change their phone number as long as she might be alive. What her parents had to endure was heartbreaking. People would come to their house unbidden, their mail was so upsetting to them that their friend started opening it for them, and the phone calls were the worst. The calls would come any time of the day or night. There was one man who would call and say he had their daughter, and then a woman could be heard screaming in the background. There was a tracer on their phone, but the worst calls always came from phone booths. This went on for two and a half years until hikers found their daughter's skeletal remains. At that point, her parents moved to a remote location. They said they were grateful to all of the people who had supported them, but they were so disillusioned with the cruelty they had had to endure that they wanted as little contact with people as possible -- they just wanted to be alone. That was before the internet and Social Media -- so human nature hasn't changed, but now there are so many more opportunities, for those who are so inclined, to terrorize the families.

 

[everybodhi]

I will never understand what there is about human nature that makes some people delight in causing even more pain to people who are already suffering from having a loved one go missing.

Long ago, when I was young, long before the internet, a girl I knew went missing. She was an 18 year old student at UC Berkeley at the time. Her case grabbed the interest of the national news media and was covered extensively on TV, newspapers and magazines. She was the beloved only child of much older parents who vowed to never move or change their phone number as long as she might be alive. What her parents had to endure was heartbreaking. People would come to their house unbidden, their mail was so upsetting to them that their friend started opening it for them, and the phone calls were the worst. The calls would come any time of the day or night. There was one man who would call and say he had their daughter, and then a woman could be heard screaming in the background. There was a tracer on their phone, but the worst calls always came from phone booths. This went on for two and a half years until hikers found their daughter's skeletal remains. At that point, her parents moved to a remote location. They said they were grateful to all of the people who had supported them, but they were so disillusioned with the cruelty they had had to endure that they wanted as little contact with people as possible -- they just wanted to be alone. That was before the internet and Social Media -- so human nature hasn't changed, but now there are so many more opportunities, for those who are so inclined, to terrorize the families.

Thank you so much for sharing this.
Without this ugly side of human nature, there would have been no Salem witch trials, no holocaust, no Abu Ghraib.
Mob mentality always dehumanizes the target and believes in their own righteousness, destroying others for the good.
It is what Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil" in referring to Eichmann, "he never realised what he was doing.. due to an inability to think from the standpoint of somebody else".

 

[K9Enzo]

Madisonville K-9 program used to help in Summer Wells’ search disbanded

 

[CSIDreamer]

Madisonville K-9 program used to help in Summer Wells’ search disbanded

That's pretty awful.

 

[Willow Knight]

I will never understand what there is about human nature that makes some people delight in causing even more pain to people who are already suffering from having a loved one go missing.

That was before the internet and Social Media -- so human nature hasn't changed, but now there are so many more opportunities, for those who are so inclined, to terrorize the families.

That was a heavy read, those poor families. Didn't the same thing happen in the Jaycee abduction. I for one, will learn from these situation and choose my words carefully.

It was great to see a smile on Candice's face in the video. Maybe if we keep talking, keep thinking, something will give, anything to bring our little Summer home.

 

[Willow Knight]

Madisonville K-9 program used to help in Summer Wells’ search disbanded

From your link:

Fadeley said the Hawkins County Emergency Management Agency invited them up to search for Summer Wells, the missing 5-year-old girl from Hawkins County.

“It was rough terrain, up mountains, down mountains. Just letting these dogs work trying to find the little girl,” said Fadeley.

 

[2.curious]

From Findsummerwells.com today:

Thank You Everyone who is making, buying and sharing flyers to help us find our Daughter Summer. Maybe today will be the day someone sees her somewhere and we can have her back home. Love and Prayers, Don&Candus

Thank You Everyone For Flyers (findsummerwells.com)

 

[sk716]

Over on the Morphew thread @Puzzles8 mentioned abandoned wells and while I don't think it would be an issue in that area of Colorado, I think abandoned wells might very well be a danger in east Tennessee. That area has been continually inhabited since the 1700s, it's possible that "city water" still might not be available in the Rodgersville area.

 

[Allabouttrial]

For what's it worth. On their first joint interview, I actually felt for Candus and figured she may have been telling the truth.

I actually cried for her when she was at the water hole with Chris. She said something to the effect of - everyone's against me, and I'll admit it hit me hard.

Then Don made the decision to go on SM and that's when things took a drastic turn.

You have all heard him and his view on all things "family". I, for one can't ignore his tainted view on reality and yes it raises huge red flags for me.

Candus for her part has been quiet, which Don should have done ages ago. Don has brought Candus' into the mix, no one else. The hoax call wouldn't have been made public if Don had remained silent.

Could this all have been as they said? Maybe, I can't say for certain as no one can. His stories from that day keep being added to and changed. This does make me doubt them (as well as other things).

We can't re-write the narrative and pretend they lived a wholesome, picture perfect life with the boys and Summer before all this happened, and hope that they end up skipping into the future holding hands. It's just not their reality and by the sounds of it, never was.

I've never outright accused them, but something was VERY off that day and until we know the truth (if we ever do), then I can't rule them out.

I'm very interested to see what Candus has to say on Dr. Phil. Hopefully, she can clear up some things that Don has muddied.

All my opinions which exclude all the noise that resulted from their (mainly Don's) interviews.

 

[Willow Knight]

From Findsummerwells.com today:

Thank You Everyone who is making, buying and sharing flyers to help us find our Daughter Summer. Maybe today will be the day someone sees her somewhere and we can have her back home. Love and Prayers, Don&Candus

Thank You Everyone For Flyers (findsummerwells.com)

They are closed today. I'll try on Monday, do ya'll think it's ok to ask for flyers even if we are not in the local area? I would love to get Summer's picture and information in different areas. She could be anywhere and I think the more people that she her picture, the more change we have of finding ... anything.

 

[bellesnwhistles]

It’s a real pity so much energy went into trying to pin Summer’s disappearance on her father. Probably took the spotlight off the real offender.

Serious question: has DW been cleared?

 

[flashy09]

Serious question: has DW been cleared?

Nobody has.

 

[December]

What i am trying to say is this is not a situation where maybe you think someone is maybe selling pot like a lot of you are asserting.

I am saying that before someone marches in and accuses a real drug dealer of kidnapping a child they are CERTAIN this person is a drug dealer and one that deals in a lot of money. Such as they're probably selling high volume of something expensive.

I am not saying that this knowledge comes directly from using, but it comes from somewhere. This is not the kind of thing you wish to make a mistake about.

I live in the real world just like everyone else here and people get straight up murdered for less. I can think in my head whatever crazy thing i want, but as soon as i try to go irl and make direct accusations to people's faces... That is really serious and i am having a hard time imagining this going well.

DW has wanted to go confront what i assume must be specific people. I am figuring he somehow has much more than a hunch that these are the right people. How does he know this? Idk.

Of course, he could be delusional and somewhat desperate who knows...

ETA i have not lived every day of my life in a small town. I have lived places that i minded my own business. Because there were gangs.

 

[mooseandcoffee]

SBM

Powerful read. Especially this:

We want to urge you only to share information from official sources,” Leslie Earhart with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI)

“The misinformation and speculation simply don’t help the case. Our teams continue to sift through hundreds of tips and it turns out most of them are rooted in rumors and bad information spread on social media.”

Rumors on social media are derailing search for missing Summer Wells, officials say

I just want to add that I don't consider this site to be social media. I could be wrong but I think more of FB and YT as social media.

Except we relied heavily on YT for this case.

 

[Tiff23fr]

I haven’t had time to look for recent articles. This one is a couple weeks old. It appears they take statements from DW, and then compare them to statements from Sheriff Lawson. I am not sure what to make of it, other than there is a lack of alignment between these two and the situation IMO. At 5:10 Sheriff Lawson states “Everyone involved in Summers case is still a suspect”. Bolding was done by me for what caught my attention most.

Excerpt 1 in article DW:
“Well I think whoever grabbed her probably had her mouth covered, and I think she was gasping for air by the time she got somewhere down here because our neighbor heard a scream. A really funny scream and she’s been telling us that all along,” says Wells.

Excerpt 2 in article Sheriff:
Sheriff Lawson also spoke to us about the report of a scream heard by a neighbor.

“Best I recall it’s been a couple months ago and I think that was unfounded,” shared Lawson.

Excerpt 3 in article DW
Well, you get all kinds with the drug trade and there are... you know…. We’ve seen quite a bit of stuff surrounding the meth thing. We had them parked in.... Our neighbors caught them parked at our road, in the driveway in the middle of the night, or early in the morning. Stuff like that and run them off, and get mad. They’d raise cane. We’d had quite a bit of problems out of them, but since we’d been all over them and everything with camera crews and whatever, it’s quiet down a lot. But it was pretty bad for quite a while,” said Wells.

Excerpt 4 in article Sheriff:
Sheriff Lawson spoke about the drug activity in that area of Rogersville, saying it’s not a hotspot.

“I’ve heard rumors of there is maybe a drug dealer on that road, but it’s just like anywhere... Ben Hill Road isn’t any different than any other road in Hawkins or any other county or even Knox County. We all have drug problems, but no that’s not that problem, that’s not correct either. No, it’s a dead-end road, so there’s very little traffic, if any,” shared Lawson.


Father of missing five-year-old Summer Wells shows trail where he believes his daughter went missing

NOTE: Video in article is worth a watch. At the end Lawson states “Everyone involved in Summers case is still a Suspect” (5:10 Mark)

 

[December]

DW told the Behavior panel that he had $3,000 in the bank when SW went missing. He says he has heard the rumor that some think it was a drug debt situation.

If he had the $3k (which i see no reason to disbelieve, really, that is not an outrageous amount of money) and other assets (cars, tools, electronics, idk what he has, but things that can be sold/pawned)... Well, i do have to say money and valuable inanimate objects seem like a better way to pay any kind of debt for all concerned. (I am not accusing him of having a drug debt or even using drugs, i don't know his life).

So, if SW was taken for any kind of "debt", it is some next level stuff we're talking about here. I put debt in quotes because it might not be money someone thinks he owes them. Remember, a lot of criminals who do extremely serious crimes are (in my opinion and from what I have seen irl and researching cases) extremely petty.

SW, the victim if there was a crime, is only five. She has never done anything to anyone. She's a baby.

I submit to you maybe the idea that DW is desperate and just trying to think about the worst people he knows about... That maybe the sheriff is right and this is a dead end.

 

[kittythehare]

Serious question: has DW been cleared?

Cleared of what?

 

[Mom24]

So if I understand everything, they did use dogs and the dogs followed her scent to the edge of the property and then there was nothing. Was it ever stated what edge of the property?