ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) – Several people from the Tri-Cities and beyond gathered in Crockett Spring Park to pray for missing 5-year-old Summer Wells.
Wells was reported missing from her home in Beech Creek on June 15. The candlelit vigil took place hours before the four-month anniversary of her last reported sighting.
The park in Rogersville, just over a 30-minute drive from where Wells was last seen in Beech Creek, played host to a night of song, prayer and hope for the safe return of Summer.
The event organized by the Awaken Church brought over 30 people to the park, where they held candles and prayed for Summer’s safety.
Joseph Broadwater led the group in prayer to start the evening.
“We don’t want this to fade away,” Broadwater said. “This represented lighting the way to bring her back and hopefully lighting the way to find her.”
Hayley Justine Thompson drove all the way from Florida to come to the vigil. She had followed the case from the beginning and wanted to pray for her in the area she once lived.
“This whole event is for Summer and bringing awareness to her case,” Thompson said. “We’re right around the four-month mark, so it’s very important for us to keep her name out there.”
Thompson said the event was a show of unity amid divisiveness over the case.
Four months after Summer was reported missing, Broadwater said it gets hard at times to believe Summer is still out there. He said events like this provide hope.
“There’s been struggles and dark moments when hope kind of gleams a little bit but we’re hanging onto hope above all else because we believe she is still alive,” Broadwater said.
Broadwater said they plan to continue the prayer circles until Wells is found.
