Disappearance of Lateche Norris

"It's okay to cry," a crytic post stated from now missing and considered endangered, Lateche Norris. The 20-year-old has mysteriously disappeared after leaving home on November 5th to meet up with her boyfriend, Joseph "Joey" Smith. Smith had just left a rehab facility and was reportedly living on the streets in San Diego. 

Lateche Norris made a phone call to her mom, Cheryl Walker from a stranger's phone, telling her mom that she had been in a fight with Joey and needed his cell phone number to contact him. Her mom is unsure why Lateche was not using her phone, or what the fight was about. She promised
her mom that she would call her back the next day. After not hearing back from her daughter a day later, Walker filed a missing persons report with the San Diego Police Department.

Cheryl Walker has told the media, that "she definitely would have called me back," explaining that her daughter wouldn't let more than a couple of days go by without talking with her. "Something is wrong," Walker told NBC Dateline, "now the days are just flying by with no word from her. And, we're terrified."

The 20-year-old's social media activity has all but ceased since November 5th. The last post was an odd, crytpic Facebook message, "It's okay to still cry over things u thought you moved past."

The couple have had a rocky relationship, Walker stated that there is a history of domestic violence incidents. Law Enforcement informs that the case is open and active, but they do not believe Lateche is considered "at-risk." 

The boyfriend, Joseph Smith has been unreachable, not responding to any of Walker's calls or messages. He has a criminal record including arson and vandalism, but this may not have anything to do with his or Norris' disappearance.

 

Lateche was last seen on November 4th at a 7-Eleven located at 222 Park Blvd, the evening before she called her mom.
 

Cheryl Walker and her husband, Amir have flown out to San Diego from their home in Indiana to search for Lateche. There have been no signs of her thus far.

Disappearance of Summer Wells

On June 15th, 5-year-old Summer Wells went missing from her family's home in Rogersville, TN. She was last seen at approximately 6:30pm after gardening with her grandmother. Wells went inside and told her three older brothers that she was going to play in the basement with her toys. When her mother, Candus Wells came inside the home a short time later, Summer was nowhere to be found. The 5-year-old was last seen wearing grey pants and a pink shirt.

 About 16 hours later, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) issued an Amber Alert. This sparked a weeks-long manhunt in the rugged, mountainous terrain of Hawkins County. Out of the hundreds of tips that have been called into the TBI, nothing has panned out and have lead to dead ends.

On June 26th, the TBI asked that the driver of a Toyota pickup truck to come forward after a witness reported seeing the vehicle in the Beech Creek area in the late hours of June 14 or 15th. Authorities believe that the person may have seen something related to the little girl's disappearance. The truck was described as a "1998-2000 maroon or red Toyota Tacoma with a full bed ladder rack along with white buckets in the truck bed." To this date, the driver or the truck have not been located.

By July 12th, authorities confirmed that they had received over 900 tips and that "everything is still on the table." Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson told the public that "we're still trying to find out what happened to Summer, so everybody is still a person of interest." 

Summer's father, Donald Wells as well as his wife and his mother-in-law have all passed lie detector tests during the early days of the investigation. Almost five months later, Summer is still missing, and the TBI continues to follow up on all leads. 

Anyone who has tips on the case can call the TBI at 800-TBI-FIND, or contact John Walsh at 1-833-3-PURSUE. Information can also be submitted online at InPursuitTips.com. Both the phone number and internet tips through John Walsh can be made anonymously.
 

 

The family has set up a website at https://www.findsummerwells.com/

 

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