BACK AT IT AGAIN

Tennessee Law Enforcement Launches New Search for Missing 5-Year-Old Summer Wells

A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesperson stressed that the search was not the result of any new developments.

Months after curtailing operations there, authorities in Tennessee have returned to a Hawkins County community in a fresh search effort for 5-year-old Summer Wells. Dozens of Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents and Hawkins County deputies were present in Beech Creek on Tuesday, according to a statement by the TBI. Agency spokesperson Leslie Earhart emphasized that there have been no new developments in the case. Instead, she said that law enforcement was back at Beech Creek as part of a scheduled winter search effort.

“Today, teams will be focusing on overgrown areas that were previously difficult to access due to high grass and heavy foliage,” Earhart explained. Tuesday’s heightened law enforcement presence comes five months after authorities demobilized a Beech Creek command center as they “[scaled] back search operations” for Wells. State police have said they have been “frustrated” by a lack of breakthroughs in the case as the search for Wells, who vanished on June 15, approaches its six-month mark.