(WJHL) – Candus Bly, the mother of missing Rogersville 5-year-old Summer Wells, released a statement on Friday explaining her reasons for walking out during an appearance with Dr. Phil and The Behavior Panel.

In a YouTube video published on the family’s page, Bly said “there were many reasons” why she got up and left.

According to the statement, just before the Wells family’s appearance, a child was reported that matched Summer’s description somewhere “south of Tennessee.” Bly said the family was informed that authorities were tracking the girl down the afternoon of a shoot with Dr. Phil’s team and were prepared to leave California at a moment’s notice.

“Then we got word and pictures of the little girl that was maybe rescued,” said Bly. “It wasn’t Summer. It was not our daughter, Summer. It was like losing her all over again.”

After the close call, Bly said she and Don Wells were asked to do an interview with The Behavior Panel.

“Now this is something nobody else knows,” Bly said. “I was clearly told before ever agreeing to go to California that if anyone started to interrogate me on the trip, or any media anytime, then I was to just either go quiet, or walk away.”

Once her interview with the panel began, however, Bly says things took a turn for the confrontational.

“Dr. Phil’s team were told that and totally understood and agreed. They kept their word,” Bly said. “The Behavior Panel men didn’t know this agreement.”

Bly said the men’s first questions didn’t bother her, but as they asked her to relive the day of Summer’s disappearance, she began having second thoughts.

“Don’t take me back to hell when I feel like I’m sitting in hell,” Bly said. “Your children are who you are. Women take daggers in their hearts that no man will ever understand. So then they start asking me if I had anything to do with Summer missing. That was it.”

Bly said she then did what she had agreed to do with the Dr. Phil team and left.

Even after she stepped out, Bly said she didn’t believe Scott and Greg of the Behavior Panel were incorrect in their analysis of her behavior.

“Just because I bailed out at that moment, I do not want to say there are wrong about what they did or concluded,” Bly said. “They clearly showed by their world skill that I did not do the stuff people say.”

Bly also thanked the Behavior Panel and Dr. Phil’s team for spreading the word about Summer and hoped their appearance would bring her closer to coming home.

Summer Wells was reported missing from her home in the Beech Creek community on June 15.

The AMBER Alert lists the following details for Summer:

  • Age: 5
  • Sex: Female
  • Race: White
  • Hair: Blonde
  • Eyes: Blue
  • Height: 3′
  • Weight: 40 lbs.
  • Missing From: Rogersville, Tennessee
  • Missing Since: June 15, 2021

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office at 423-272-7121 or the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND.