Content Advisory: This article discusses kidnapping, sexual assault, and a missing-person investigation. Reader discretion is advised.
Elizabeth Smart is not giving up hope in the search for Nancy Guthrie.
More than three months after Guthrie vanished from her Tucson, Arizona, home, Smart said she believes the 84-year-old mother of ‘Today’ co-host Savannah Guthrie could still be alive. Her view comes from a place few people understand as directly.
Smart was 14 when she was kidnapped from her Salt Lake City home in 2002. She was found alive nine months later after being spotted walking in Utah. Now 38, she works as an advocate for survivors and families of missing children.
During an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, Smart was asked whether Guthrie could have survived the alleged abduction. “Absolutely. She could absolutely still be alive,” Smart said.
Elizabeth Smart Says The Search Must Continue
Smart pointed to other missing-person cases where victims were found alive after long periods of time.
“We’re talking years and years, so she could absolutely still be alive,” Smart said. “Of course there is the alternative, but until we know, we have to keep looking.”
She added that “either way, [Guthrie] deserves to be brought home.”
That statement hit hard because Smart knows what public fear can look like during a kidnapping case. Her own disappearance and rescue became national news, and she has since spoken openly about what she survived. She also revisited her story in the Netflix documentary ‘Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart’, which was released in January.
Nancy Guthrie Disappeared From Her Tucson Home
Nancy Guthrie is believed to have been kidnapped from her Tucson home by a masked man in the middle of the night on February 1. No suspects have been publicly identified.
Investigators have faced forensic challenges in the case. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said mixed DNA evidence has complicated the search. Authorities also found Nancy’s blood on her front porch.
“We listen to our lab, and our lab tells us that there’s challenges with it,” Nanos told NBC News in February. He added that results could take “weeks, months or maybe a year.”
The FBI is also assisting with the investigation.
Savannah Guthrie Says She Will Not Fall Apart
The case has placed Savannah Guthrie in an agonizing public position. The 54-year-old journalist briefly stepped away from the ‘Today’ show before returning in April.
In a recent interview with longtime colleague Hoda Kotb, Savannah described the emotional fight she is trying to hold onto.
“I will not fall apart. I will not let whoever did this take my children’s mother from them. I will not let them take my joy,” she said.
Smart’s message now adds a difficult kind of hope to the case. It does not promise answers. It does not soften the fear. It simply insists that Nancy Guthrie’s story is not over until investigators know what happened.
Anyone with information about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance is asked to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
