Elizabeth Smart urges search for missing Nancy Guthrie

Nearly six months after the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, kidnapping survivor and advocate Elizabeth Smart is urging the public to maintain hope that the 84-year-old can still be found alive. Smart, who was abducted as a teenager in 2002 and rescued nine months later, made the appeal in an interview published on July 24, emphasizing that the absence of definitive answers means the search must continue.

Nancy Guthrie, the mother of "Today" co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was last seen at her home in the Catalina Foothills of Tucson, Arizona, on the evening of January 31. She was reported missing the following day, February 1. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI have been investigating her disappearance as an abduction but have not publicly identified a suspect or disclosed a motive.

"I want to remind people that there isn't a body, so there is still reason to have hope that she is alive and that we shouldn't give up until we find her," Smart said. She added that she hopes investigators have more information than has been made public and are making progress behind the scenes. Smart also called for compassion for the Guthrie family as they endure the ongoing uncertainty.