Elizabeth Smart Has Surprising Theory About Nancy Guthrie’s Disappearance

During an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, which aired on Tuesday, May 5, Smart was asked whether she thought Guthrie could have survived the abduction, as she once did

Elizabeth Smart, Nancy Guthrie

NEED TO KNOW

Elizabeth Smart believes Nancy Guthrie could still be alive, citing her own kidnapping experience as well as other cases where missing persons were found years later
“Of course there is the alternative, but until we know, we have to keep looking,” Smart told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an interview which aired on Tuesday, May 5
Nancy, the mother of journalist Savannah Guthrie, was kidnapped from her Tucson, Ariz., home in February by a masked man

More than three months after Nancy Guthrie disappeared, kidnapping survivor and advocate Elizabeth Smart says she believes Guthrie could still be alive.

During an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, which aired on Tuesday, May 5, Smart was asked whether she thought Guthrie could have survived the abduction, as she once did.

“Absolutely. She could absolutely still be alive,” Smart, 38, said.

She pointed to other missing-person cases in which victims were found alive years later. “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.”

Smart was 14 years old when she was kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City in 2002, during which she was subjected to daily rapes and endured physical abuse and starvation. She was reunited with her family nine months later, after she was found by authorities while walking the streets of Utah.

She is now an advocate for sexual assault survivors and the families of missing children. Smart also opened up about the ordeal like never before in the Netflix documentary Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart, released in January.

At the time, Smart’s kidnapping and eventual rescue dominated headlines — much like the intense attention surrounding Guthrie’s disappearance today, despite Guthrie not yet being found.

The 84-year-old mother of Today co-host Savannah Guthrie is believed to have been kidnapped from her Tucson, Ariz., home by a masked man in the middle of the night on Feb. 1. No suspects have been identified in the case.

Missing person poster for Nancy Guthrie

Nancy Guthrie’s missing person poster.FBI

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said that mixed DNA evidence recovered amid the investigation has complicated the search for Nancy, whose blood was also found 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, noting results could take “weeks, months or maybe a year.”

The FBI is also assisting in the investigation.

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Savannah, 54, stepped away from the Today show for a brief leave of absence before returning in April.

“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,” the journalist said in a recent interview with longtime colleague Hoda Kotb.

Anyone with information about Nancy’s disappearance is asked to please contact 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.