FBI JOINS SEARCH FOR TENNESSEE GIRL SUMMER WELLS, 5
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.2 • 8.2K Ratings
🗓️ 11 June 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nancy Grace investigates the baffling disappearance of five-year-old Summer Wells, who vanished from her rural Hawkins County, Tennessee home in a matter of mere minutes. Alongside an expert panel—Nancy dissects the highly unusual layout of the home, specifically focusing on the narrow staircase into the basement where Summer slept. By analyzing walkthrough footage obtained by The Interview Room's Chris McDonough and scrutinizing the parents' highly detailed yet conflicting timelines, the panel evaluates the chilling probability of an outside abduction versus an inside tragedy. With a $10,000 reward offered for Summer's safe return, this intensive breakdown cuts through local rumors to keep the active search for Summer Wells alive.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Chris McDonough - (St. George, UT) Director At the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective in Oceanside, CA, has worked over 300 Homicides in 25 year career, Host of YouTube channel, "The Interview Room,” where Chris walked through the Wells' home with Summer's mother, Candus Bly
- Ben Powers - (Tennessee) Criminal Defense Attorney, Facebook: Legal Powers PLLC,
- Brian Fitzgibbons - (Plymouth, MA) Director of Operations for USPA Nationwide Security, Leads a team of investigators specializing in locating missing persons, former Marine and Iraq war veteran, Instagram: @uspa_nationwide_security,
- Kristen Quon - (Bristol, VA) News Anchor at News 5 WCYB, X: KristenQuon, Facebook: Kristen Quon WCYB
- Dave Mack - (AL) Crime Stories Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:03.4 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:05.8 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:10.8 | A five-year-old little girl gets a piece of candy from grandma, then goes back into her own home to play with her brothers and she's never seen alive again. |
| 0:26.7 | How can that be? Where is Summer Wells? Good evening. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. |
| 0:36.7 | Five-year-old Summer Wells lived with her family in a small Tennessee town. One summer |
| 0:41.4 | day she was helping plant flowers before going inside to play with her toys. When her |
| 0:46.4 | mother went in to check on her, Summer was nowhere to be found. I know she didn't walk |
| 0:51.6 | away from this property by herself or off this yard by her swing. |
| 0:58.0 | I feel in my heart that somebody has came up here and took her and has lured her away from here. |
| 1:05.0 | I knew right away that she was abducted. |
| 1:08.2 | You know, I knew that right away. |
| 1:09.8 | And that's what I taught him from the beginning. |
| 1:11.9 | From our friends at WJHL TV, how did the dad know she had been abducted immediately? That would not |
| 1:21.1 | spring to my mind immediately if I could not find my children. Either one of them. Where is Summer Wells? Straight out to a special |
| 1:32.4 | guest joining us tonight. Kristen Kwan News anchor News 5WC YB there in Bristol. What happened? |
| 1:41.2 | What happened at the time Summer Wells, just five years old goes missing? And everybody, as Kristen Kwan is speaking, I want you to take a look at the photos we have amassed of this five-year-old little girl. |
| 1:53.6 | Yeah, Nancy. So Summer Wells went missing on June 15th. That day, Candice Summer's mother told me that they had gone to run some errands. |
| 2:03.6 | They had taken her to a local park where she went swimming, and then they came back to the house, |
| 2:09.6 | their house on Ben Hill Road in Hawkins County. And at that time, she was playing outside |
| 2:16.6 | with her mom, with her grandmother. |
| 2:19.2 | And she wanted to go back inside to play with some of her toys in the house. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 10 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.