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INVESTIGATORS probing the disappearance of Summer Wells have released a new image showing what she could look like – four years on from when she vanished.
Summer vanished without a trace in Tennessee in June 2021 at the age of five, leaving her parents mystified and sparking a huge search effort.
More than four years on, cops are no closer in solving the mystery on what may have happened to Summer.
The exact circumstances behind her disappearance still remain unknown although her dad believes his daughter was snatched.
Cops at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have not been able to confirm this theory.
On Wednesday, the TBI released a new age progression image of Summer. She would now be nine years old.
The image was created by a forensic artist who worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
“A new updated depiction as to what that child might look like could be a key ingredient and a big factor in generating the public’s attention, forwarding the investigation, maybe causing someone to recognize them from that image,” artist Colin McNally told the NBC affiliate WSMV-TV.
Summer was reportedly helping her grandma and mom, Candus, plant flowers before she went into the family’s home in Rogersville, Tennessee, before vanishing on June 15.
Days after she was reported missing, her dad, Don, said she went into the basement to play with her toys.
He claimed that she hadn’t been seen since.
Candus was stunned when her daughter didn’t reply to her shouting her name.
She noted how that was unusual before realizing that Summer had gone.
Summer’s family have touted theories that she could have been taken down a hill located by their home.
“I know in my heart and in my mind she was abducted,” Don told NewsNation in 2024.
“Someone snuck up there and we were not exactly paying attention.”
Don believed someone took his daughter away in a car.
In June, Don told The Mail his family had gone through a “living nightmare” the past four years.
Investigators have revealed that three large scale searches have taken place in a desperate bid to find Summer.
K9 teams have combed the property and buildings have been searched.
Dive crews were drafted in the area to scour bodies of water and drones were used to identify potential areas worth searching.
Don and Candus were also questioned by cops following Summer’s disappearance on several occasions.
Police also combed through surveillance footage, examined cell phone data, and quizzed registered sex offenders known in the location.
But, they were unable to obtain a specific clue that led to a discovery or information about Summer’s disappearance.
The TBI has described Summer’s case as one of the most “exhaustive” it has ever probed.
An Amber Alert for Summer remains in place. There are six Amber Alert cases in Tennessee.
The Amber Alert system was launched following the case of Amber Rene Hagerman.
She was abducted in Arlington, Texas, on January 13 1996 before being found dead days later.
