Nancy Guthrie's impact on dozens missing in her community

Nancy Guthrie's kidnapping represents one of more than 80 reported missing persons cases in the Tucson, Arizona, area, and calls attention to families' ceaseless efforts to locate loved ones.

As law enforcement searched for clues in Nancy Guthrie's case in February, a team of retired law enforcement officers was trying to find Jimmy Hendrickson, a 12-year-old Tucson boy who vanished in 1991, his sister Tammy Tacho told News 4 Tucson (KVOA) in a March 23 news segment.

"Back in the '90s we didn't have social media like now; we made homemade posters, we walked this neighborhood," Tacho said. She also weighed in on the Guthrie family's situation, saying, "They are just going through so much pain… and nowadays with social media, the anger talk and the ugly talk, it's just not fair. Can we have compassion?"

The group is part of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Team Adam program, which assists nationwide law enforcement and federal agencies by rapidly deploying to aid in serious missing children cases.

"It is a group of retired law enforcement officers no longer active, but they have had a long distinguished career [and are] sometimes a second set of eyes of looking at what's available through the optics of today," John E. Bischoff III, vice president vice president of the NCMEC's Missing Children Division, told News 4 Tucson.

Guthrie family took action amid 'personal heartbreak'

Bischoff also addressed Savannah Guthrie and her family's pledge in February to donate $500,000 to the organization as investigators continued to search for clues that might lead to her mother's recovery.

"What a wonderful and generous gift from the Guthrie family," Bischoff said. "In their time of pain, in their time of uncertainty, to recognize, to understand, that there are so many families out there looking for this type of media coverage, looking for this type of attention."

In a Feb. 24 post on social media, the NCMEC shared Guthrie's video and thanked her family "for turning their personal heartbreak into a commitment to helping others."

"Because of their generosity, NCMEC will be able to assist more families of missing children going through some of the hardest days of their lives," the caption read. "Our hearts remain with the Guthrie family as they continue to fight for Nancy."

Guthrie, who has not been seen since Saturday, Jan. 31, was first reported missing the following day, on Feb. 1. The Pima County Sheriff's Department has said they believe she was taken from her home outside of Tucson against her will.

Local law enforcement, with the help of federal agencies, has been looking into DNA samples collected from Guthrie's Catalina Foothills home, as well as a backpack worn by a suspect who "tampered" with her doorbell camera the night of her disappearance, for more information about her suspected abduction.

Law enforcement previously confirmed the discovery of DNA in Guthrie's home that does not belong to Nancy Guthrie or her inner circle. They have not provided updates on this analysis.

Guthrie family asks Tucson residents to 'search their memories' for clues

The Guthrie family issued a plea for "renewed attention to our mom's case" in a March 23 statement shared by News 4 Tucson.

"Someone knows something. It’s possible a member of this community has information that they do not even realize is significant. We hope people search their memories, especially around the key timelines of January 31 and the early morning hours of February 1, as well as the late evening of January 11," the statement read.

It continued, "We desperately ask this community for renewed attention to our mom’s case – please consult camera footage, journal notes, text messages, observations or conversations that in retrospect may hold significance. No detail is too small. It may be the key."

Tips can be submitted by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or visiting tips.fbi.gov.

Missing persons over 80 years old are rare

There are 88 missing persons cases in Tucson, dating back to August 1966 — and Guthrie's is the latest.

It's rare for people in their 80s to go missing long enough to end up on the Department of Justice's National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, or NamUs. Nancy Guthrie was added to NamUs Feb. 9, more than a week after she was reported missing. However, it can sometimes take years since someone went missing before being added to the database.

As of March 24, NamUs has 26,319 people in the United States listed as missing.

If you limit that to people who are 80 or older at the time they went missing, that number drops to 318. If you limit it further to people 80 or older who went missing in Arizona, six people come back — one of whom is Nancy Guthrie.

Of the six Arizonans over 80 who went missing between 1976 and 2026, four went missing in the Tucson area. Besides Guthrie, they were Marion Bowers, 83, in December 1984, Dan Srubow, 84, in October 2016, and Reuben Benevidez, 85, in June 2021.

There are also disproportionately high rates of violence and missing reports for Native Americans and Alaska Natives; the Missing and Murdered Unit within the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs is dedicated to Missing and Murdered Indigenous People.

Savannah Guthrie has said a $1 million reward is on the table "for any information that leads us to" her mom's recovery, while the FBI is offering a $100,000 reward. The Pima County Attorney's Office's anonymous tip line 88-CRIME has put out its own $102,500 reward.

Law enforcement asks anyone with information to contact 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov, the Pima County Sheriff's Department (520-351-4900) or 88-CRIME.

Contributing: Perry Vandell, The Arizona Republic